How language shapes our thought

This article was interesting to me and raised some valid points about language and how it shapes our thoughts. This article showed how words are used in different languages to signify gender and tense, and how much they can differ across these languages. Languages all have different rules for these signifiers, such as referring to a bridge in the feminine sense in German, and in the masculine in French. This causes us to shape our thought around our language. Languages also require different things of speakers, such as in low-context cultures versus high-context cultures. For example, the Japanese culture is a low context culture, meaning they pay attention more to what is said rather than how something is said. This difference causes questions to be asked differently and conversations to have a different flow than that of high-context culture, like America, who is the opposite paying more attention to how something is said rather than what is said. These differences in culture and language force speakers to shape their thought around their language. These ideas, though not completely original, are important and can have practical implications if the differences in language were to be studied more in-depth. If it is possible to isolate the differences between the languages of the world, it would not only be easier to communicate with someone from a different language (but a language the speaker is familiar with), it would be easier to learn new languages. For example, a businessman who is traveling to Russia may be familiar with the language, but the not the cultural differences in the way the language is used, and how words are used in different situations. When these elements of communication are isolated and recognized by the speaker, the language and cultural barriers are much easier to navigate over.