Your language affects you
Image by Gustavo Fring from Pexels.
Your language affects you
The words we use affect our thinking and don’t even know it’s happening.
In Spanish, French, and Italian, you “take” a decision, like you’re taking a train to somewhere new.
In German, you “meet” a decision, like you would a friend.
In English, you “make” a decision, like it’s your own creation.
Here’s another example.
In English, pronouns such as “I” and “you” cannot be dropped if they are the subject of a sentence. You would say, “I went to the movie” but not “Went to the movie.”
Yet in many languages, pronouns can be dropped, as in Japanese for example. People living in pronoun-drop countries seem to have more collective values, such as greater loyalty toward employers.
Our constant reference to “you” and “I” may reinforce our perceived differences without us even realizing it.
Think about your words.
