Do Language Help Mould the Way We Think?

Topic: Do language help mould the way we think? If we all spoke the same language, would we think in the same way? Discuss the issue using examples, details, and your personal experiences of English and your native language.

Language, due to its specific properties, is one aspect that makes human beings unique in comparison to other animals and species. Philosophers and linguists’ standard conceive the language as basically a means by which speakers convey the content of their thoughts to others. In other words, language is as the window open human’s soul. However, language seems to vary across different cultures and with different people. Different languages use distinctive phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound, as well as describe and name ideas and concepts differently. Consequently, some cognitive psychologists believe that language may influence thought processes. Because of changing unpredictable of human’s thinking in different cultures, it is so difficult to define effects of a particular language on a particular thought pattern. So, the theory that: “If we all spoke the same language, would we think in the same way?” cannot happen.

Language is the way of communication, while the human languages are a way of presenting the thought. It is controversial how the humans think – by figures (images) or by concepts (words). In general, it is clear that thinking happens via ideas and imagination, which are expressed by words, and organized in speech. Sciences claim that thinking and language are so related, that changes in languages can organize thoughts, ideas, imaginations and human actions. When language is used in the normal way, the speaker has a thought with certain content and chooses words such that on the basis of those words the hearer will be able to recognize that the speaker has a thought with that content.

The issue of whether or not language influences thought is tricky since more than one factor affects thought patterns. Many researchers have used differing languages to study the relationship between language and thought, and they have come up with many different hypotheses. We propose that although specific languages would affect the part of the brain that one uses, it is not language alone that produces "linguistically" differentiated thought patterns. Rather it is one’s culture. In the United States of America, for where English is the predominate language; school systems have a specific method of teaching their curriculum to students. Though not all students are able to grasp this teaching process, most are this method, taught to them by their teachers, becomes a large part of their thought processes.

Language is defined as any body which can be written, spoken shown or otherwise communicated between people. Thus it is obvious that it is significant in all areas of knowledge, as well as balanced, making it absolutely necessary in learning. Without any form of language, any cooperation and communication would be almost, if not totally impossible. However, language is only one factor that influences cognition and behavior. If we all spoke the same language, we could not think in the same way.