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Language And The Way We Think
Language is a literal and linguistic tool that many believe is a fundamental basis of the way we think. Some have hypothesized (like the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) that many languages do not have room for certain thought patterns, and are able to alter our thoughts.
The underlying logic is just because there is no word in a certain language to express something, people who speak the language will not be able to think it, and if they learn a different language, new words and phrases are learned, leading to new ways of thinking.
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Languages Are Tied To Culture
- Culture is a way of perspective and identity, and people speaking the same language immediately bond and form a connection.
- If an English speaking person learns Spanish, the underlying culture that emphasises ‘passion’ or ‘enjoying the experience’ is a more important cultural value in the countries who are natively Spanish.
- The culture of a certain place may include cuisine, history, music and notable personalities, but language becomes the salt without which the culture is tasteless.
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Language: The Gateway To Culture
The local language is the preferred route to understand the culture due to 2 reasons:
- Most people don’t speak English very well, due to their learning it as a second or third language. These people do not represent the real sampling of the country's population, just being the better-educated cosmopolitans who speak a global language.
- Most translations are poor substitutes for the real cultural essence, and a person needs to learn the original language to fully understand the context and culture.
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Language Learning Changes The Perspective
Learning a new language provides access to people who have different thoughts than our own, helping us understand ourselves and the world with a new insightful mindset that didn’t exist before.
Learning a new language, therefore is not just culture, but a way into the minds of people who are not like us.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
Learning By Immersion
Immersion is more effective and faster for learning a language than sitting in a class.
However, most people make some key mistakes when trying to learn a ...
Creating a Native Language Bubble
When you land in a country, you usually don't feel confident speaking, so you might decide to start in your native language until you get your bearings.
But you might meet peers and other people speaking in your native language, and if this bubble sticks, you can end up living in a country for decades without ever learning the local language.
Mastering Basic Phrases at Home First
To learn the basics, find a tool that fulfils the two basic requirements for memorizing: repetition and recall.
- You need to practice saying something more than once to master it, and then it is best to space those times out over days or weeks.
- Recalling phrases is less common, but it is vital. Find phrases, and practice saying it correctly.
Starting phrases include:
- I would like...?
- Where is ...?
- How do you say ...?
- What is that?
- What is your name?
- Where are you from?
- What do you do for work?
The Larger Idea Behind Boosting Your Resume
Should you try to boost your resume? While the answer appears simple that anyone would like to work on getting credentials and experiences that look good on paper, the larger question includes a bi...
Not Trying to Please People
An argument for not trying to please people: You should never work on something with the sole purpose of adding it to your resume.
- The benefit of this outlook is it makes you highly independent. Satisfaction comes from within, not from other's opinions of you.
- The downside is that you need to deal with people. Trying not to please people might isolate you and your ideas. You might need to get a degree if your dream job requires a degree, even if the degree itself is worthless.
Boosting Your Resume: An Argument for Marketing
The world is driven by marketing. When you interact with other people, you need to know how to sell yourself. This means that you would want to fill your resume with activities that look good.
- Instead of being focused on yourself, you craft an authentic story around yourself that is driven by a strategy.
- The downside is that its hard to separate your independence from what other people think of you, knowing that you need to market to them.
We need an exit strategy
Many new graduates face the stress of figuring out what to do after they get their degree. The post-grad crisis represents a general problem all of us face - figuring out what to do once yo...
Key exit plan mistakes
- Getting caught on the infinite treadmill. It happens when goals are continually replaced by more ambitious goals.
- Falling off the wagon. This happens when you set a goal that won't last, e.g. losing 25 lbs only to have it all come back three months later. An exit strategy would be helpful to maintain your weight.
- The empty celebration. Reaching a big goal feels very exciting, but the effects are not lasting on your happiness. An exit strategy could solve this problem.
A good exit strategy
- Keep it short. An exit strategy should describe what to do next, not define what to do with the rest of your life.
- Keep it specific. Your exit strategy should help you to figure out the plan after your plan.
- Plan it early. The time to begin the job hunt starts with a rough sketch of your exit plan months or years ahead of time.