solved Prompts: 1) In 150-250 words please summarize Lera Boroditsky’s TED

Prompts:
1) In 150-250 words please summarize Lera Boroditsky’s TED Talk.
2) In your own opinion, what does Lera mean when she states, “Does the language we speak shape the way we think? What does this mean to you?
     – Follow-up, how is this related to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?
3) How would you describe the way you use language and how does this affect your own perception of reality? (i.e., we all speak uniquely compared to others … how would you describe your own use of language and what impact has this had on the way you co-exist). 
4) Chose 3 different languages other than english and provide 3 unique facts/interesting ideas related to each of these languages. (i.e., what makes this chosen language unique compared to other languages – you have a lot of options here). 
In addition to posting your response to the discussion board please remember that you must also respond to at least 3 of your classmates (looking for 3 full sentences per response). 
Bonus Video* This is a really insightful video about language from 1988 (noticed how much has changed since then). I highly encourage you to watch this! There are no specific questions about this video, but you will gain knowledge by watching it!

1)
Lera Boroditsky’s TED Talk focused on the topic of language. While language is a broad spectrum, as Boroditsky explains, she narrows down her discussion to focus on the effects that language has in shaping the way we think. Simplified, Boroditsky defines language as the ability to transmit complicated thoughts to one another. But, being that there are about seven thousand languages all across the world, language is bound to differ and translate differently. Because languages have such differing structures it is a given that these differing structures will shape individuals differently as well. Boroditsky focuses her TED Talk on all the things that language can be and have which is big, deep, early, broad, and weight. Language being big focuses on space and time and how people lay out time in different coordinate frames. Second, language is deep in the sense of numbers where individuals use different count words and number words which unveils the world of mathematics. Next, she also explains language as early as it is related to color and the simple decisions, like color, that language still has an effect on (ex. necessary to decipher the difference between light and dark blue). Even further, language is also defined as broad which is correlated to grammatical gender which can be applied to all nouns in that spoken language. Lastly, language has weight, especially personal weight, in which we seek blame and punishment for things in our daily lives. Based on the language, all of these elements will wildly differ and this shows how linguistic diversity reflects how flexible the human mind is.
When it comes to my personal opinion on what the statements that Lera Boroditsky made mean, my thoughts closely align with hers. I do believe that the language we speak also shapes the way we think. I speak two languages myself and in conversation with my parents we often discuss how something in one language is much worse when translated than another. This shows that the simple interpretation of one word in one language can be so different from that word in another. I see this to be closely related to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis that states that the structure of language determines a native speaker’s perspective and interpretation of situations. If everyone were to interpret words the same exact way, it almost seems hard to then imagine a world with seven thousand languages. But because that is not the case, language is bound to lead individuals to decipher such things in their own way as this hypothesis also explains.
As I mentioned previously, I do speak two languages regularly. These two languages consist of English and Farsi, and I am always speaking in both interchangeably. Being that I was born in the United States, I do find myself speaking English far more, but there are specific times where I do speak Farsi, which is related to the way I use this language. Typically I speak Farsi when I am communicating with my entire extended family as that is their first language. I also find myself speaking Farsi when I am trying to have a more private conversation with my parents. Because of this, I have associated speaking in Farsi with close-knit family ties and moments. I haven’t found a large Persian community in San Diego as I may find in other cities, so my second language is only being utilized in the moments I spend with my family. Because of this, I associate the language with those times and as a means to grow closer to my family.
I strongly admire learning about different cultures and with culture comes language. When asked to choose three different languages besides English and provide an interesting fact, I immediately was first to choose Farsi, as that is what I speak. An interesting fact about Farsi is related to the vocabulary when it comes to family. While in English we have the terms “aunt” and “uncle” and that’s it, Farsi has a set name for the aunts and uncles on the mother’s side and a different set of names for the aunts and uncles on the father’s side. Because of this, you can easily say one term and a person who speaks Farsi would immediately know which side of the family you were talking about. The next language I picked was Spanish as I took that for three consecutive years in grade school. Spanish is interesting as it has grammatically gendered vocabulary related to every noun. The last language and interesting fact is the Italian language and that it only has twenty-one letters in the alphabet whereas the English language has twenty-six!

Hi Nika,
I think that is really cool that you can fluently speak two languages. I have always admired people with that ability. I also took Spanish in high school but only for a year, I remember being super interested that words have genders and there are different ways to conjugate words. It was something I was not used to because I only know English so it was a cool thing to learn about. Overall, I enjoyed reading your response, thanks for sharing!

2)
1) In Lera Boroditsky’s TED talk she discussed how language shapes our everyday lives and the ways we think. She describes language as a magical ability and how we are able to share complex messages with one another through the “air vibrations” which is speech. Our ideas are able to transmit across vast areas and our minds have the ability to create thoughts from language. She discusses that there are about 7,000 languages spoken throughout the world and they all are different in regards to sound, vocabulary, and structures. She gave an example of an aboriginal group in Australia who don’t use left or right, instead, they use cardinal directions. She compares this to the audience because they do not know the southeast direction to show the difference in how we think. Another difference she discusses is time. English speakers would lay out time-based on left to right because that’s how we formulate writing but a group like the Kuuk Thaayorre it would depend on what direction they were sitting in. For them, time is on the landscape, not the body so that shows a difference in thinking. Another difference is numbering because some languages do not have words for certain numbers. Another difference is colors, some have just light and dark and an example in Russia they have different words for the color blue. Another difference is assigning genders to words. Overall Lera Boroditsky shows the vast differences there are in so many different languages and how the words we use or have can shape the way we learn, think, and feel.
2) I believe Lera means that the words we use and have access to within our vocabulary can shape the way we think and feel about things. A great example she gave was that in some cultures where they don’t have numbers within their languages, they are unable to pursue things within mathematical fields because it is not within their language to do so. This is a major example of how language shapes the way we think because in English we think numerically and are able to do and understand mathematics which may not be the case for some cultures. The language we use helps us identify how we feel, what we need, and how to respond to certain situations. I think a great example of this is when someone is dual lingual and they only know how to describe something with a word in another language. This means other languages have different words to express emotions or feelings that some languages do not have. This idea directly relates to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis because it states that language affects the speakers’ worldview and cognition so our perceptions about the language are relative to the language we speak. These ideas are similar and communicate similar ideas about how language and our vocabulary can influence the way we feel and think about the world around us.
3) I think language has had an impact on me and the way I perceive the world. I think it is important to have ways to articulate the way I am feeling, what I need, and how to fix certain situations. Without language, I would feel miserable and trapped because there is no way to express my emotions. I think having language and the way I use it is vital to how I make connections with others and view the world around me. I use language to make friendships, make people laugh, share my hardships, and learn through mistakes. Language helps me coexist by giving me a tool to understand others and feel empathy for those around me.
4)The first language I chose was german. I found many interesting facts about the German language. The first fact was that the German language has three genders. In other languages, they have the male and female gender for words but in the German language, they take it even further by having three. Another interesting fact about Germany is that when it is written all nouns are capitalized. This is unlike the English language. Another interesting fact is that German has words that only exist in german. One of those words is “Fernweh” which is described as having the travel bug or lusting after adventure.
The second language I chose was Portuguese. I have a few friends who speak this language so I was interested to learn about it. I found out that only 5% of people who speak Portuguese actually live in Portugal. I also found out that they added 3 new letters to their alphabet in 2009, which is pretty recent. They also have 2 different words for “to be” which is different from English.
The final language I chose was Korean. Korean has many unique facts and is fairly different from English in regards to sentence structure. I found out that in Korean they actually put the verb at the end of their sentences. Next, I learned that they have two different counting systems. Finally, I learned that their alphabet was not officially formed until the 15th century.
sources from question 4:
https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/knowledge/six-fun-facts-about-the-german-language (Links to an external site.)
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/portugal/articles/11-fascinating-facts-about-the-portuguese-language/ (Links to an external site.)
https://www.listenandlearnusa.com/blog/9-surprising-facts-about-the-korean-language/

Hi Ruby,
I really enjoyed reading your post as you presented many thoughtful points! I really liked the way that you described the personal impact that language has on you. We are continuously taught and told the importance that communication has amongst family, friends, relationships, work life etc., so it only makes sense to value language as much as you do. Another interesting point you brought up that caught me by surprise was how the German language has three genders. It makes me want to learn more about when to use the correct terms. Great post!

3)
To begin, Lera Boroditsky emphasized that language is a tool to put ideas in other people’s heads. In order for me to understand something, I must accept the message through my ears and create the message through whatever language is being said to me. Lera Boroditsky’s TED Talk heavily highlighted the fact that communication amongst different languages and cultures can convey a different meaning depending on the view point. For example, the term, “lost in translation” has a whole lot of truth behind it. The structures of a language, as she mentioned, vary in a whole lot of ways. Some languages convey different meanings through pitches, which to me (as an English speaker) blows my mind! She also mentioned how nouns are gendered differently depending on the language. As a Spanish speaker I found this very funny, because I too think about certain nouns as gender now due to that reason! Different adaptations to meanings will occur due to these language differences, changing what each message means depending on the context.
My entire life my parents would make fun of me when I would speak in Spanish to them. Of course, hearing me speak it is endearing to them as it is their native language. And, while I am fluent and can understand very well, they tell me I sound like a little kid when I speak. My family tells me that my personality fully changes when I am speaking in Spanish, as I cannot communicate as well as I can in English. The language we speak changes the entire way we are! Of course it will change the way we think. The type of sarcasm I use in English is something I fluently do not know how to communicate in Spanish. I also have a hard time telling when someone is being sarcastic to me when they are speaking in Spanish, which ends up losing the meaning that was originally trying to be conveyed.
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis ties in with essentially everything that Lera Boroditsky explains in her TED Talk. She emphasizes the structure of a language multiple times, including how this structure will completely change the message being communicated. The hypothesis emphasizes the structure and how that factor will be the main factor in determining the way the speaker will perceive the information.
Like I previously mentioned, I have personally experienced feeling like I have different personalities depending on the language that I speak. I feel like I sound much younger in Spanish, as my vocabulary is more limited. However, Spanish has helped me understand multiple other languages. The plumber who would come to my house growing up was Brazilian, and I remember speaking to him in Spanish and completely understanding his Portuguese back. Of course, these languages are incredibly similar, however, I remember thinking he just wasn’t super good at speaking Spanish!

Hebrew. Hebrew is a language that has deep Jewish ties, making it a language that occurs in several religions. Hebrew has its own alphabet, and when writing, one starts on the right side of the page as opposed to the left. Lastly, Hebrew is a language with very hard pronunciations, making it a very “throaty” language (similar to French, in a way).
Mandarin. Mandarin uses different tones and pitches to convey different things. The alphabet consists of symbols and usually not as many as English. Mandarin is one of the most spoken languages in the world.
Farsi. Farsi is a language mostly spoken in Iran, different areas in Afghanistan, as well as the central Asian republic of Tajikistan. Farsi is also sometimes referred to as “Persian”. The culture surrounding Farsi is incredibly bright and happy.

Andrea,
I like what you mentioned about speaking Spanish with your family. I speak Portuguese (like you plumber!) and my family always gives me a little tease whenever I speak. Just like you I can understand everything and am fluent, but my thoughts are not always articulated as well as I want them to be. With that being said, I agree with you when they say language shapes who you are. Because I can’t speak Portuguese as well as I speak English, I can become a little shy around my relatives when in reality I am not shy at all.