how it affect the people around you when speaking in our own language Essays

how it affect the people around you when speaking in our own language Essays how it affect the people around you when speaking in our own language Essay how it affect the people around you when speaking in our own language Essay how it affect the people around you when speaking in our own language BY kauri5 Humans communicate with one another using a dazzling array of languages, each differing from the next in innumerable ways. Do the languages we speak shape the way we see the world, the way we think, and the way we live our lives? Do people who speak different languages think differently simply because they speak different languages? Does learning new languages change the way you think? Do polyglots think differently when speaking different languages? These questions touch on nearly all of the major controversies in the study of mind. They have engaged scores of philosophers, anthropologists, linguists, and psychologists, and they have important implications for politics, law, and religion. Yet despite nearly constant attention and debate, very little empirical work was done on these questions until recently. For a long time, the idea that language might shape thought was considered at best untestable and more often simply wrong. Research in my labs at Stanford University and at MIT has helped reopen this question. We have collected data around the world: from China, Greece, Chile, Indonesia, Russia, and Aboriginal Australia. What we have learned is that people who speak different languages do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how we see the world. Language is a uniquely human gift, central to our experience of being human. Appreciating its role in constructing our mental ives brings us one step closer to understanding the very nature of humanity. I often start my undergraduate lectures by asking students the following question: which cognitive faculty would you most hate to lose? Most of them pick the sense of sight; a few pick hearing. Once in a while, a wisecracking student might pick her sense of humor or her fashion sense. Almost never do any of them spontaneously say that the faculty theyd most hate to lose is language. Yet if you lose (or are born ithout) your sight or hearing, you can still have a wonderfully rich social existence. You can have friends, you can get an education, you can hold a Job, you can start a family. But what would your life be like if you had never learned a language? Could you still have friends, get an education, hold a Job, start a family? Language is so fundamental to our experience, so deeply a part of being human, that its hard to imagine life without it. But are languages merely tools for expressing our thoughts, or do they actually shape our thoughts?

HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION essays

HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION essays HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION All teenagers experience a stage of rebellion where they seek their independence from their parents. During these years of a teenagers life, they learn things about life whether it may be positive or negative. The real test of individuality comes in where its up to the teenager to decide whether or not they want to change for the better after learning through their own personal experiences. Danny, a typical teenager, went through this same type of rebellion with his family. Hanging out with the wrong crowds and getting involved with illegal things, Danny was finding himself always in trouble either with his parents or with the law. He definitely needed something to turn his life around in the right direction. But unfortunately, it wasnt until his fathers death that Danny realized he needed to change his lifestyle. Because his fathers death had such a great impact on him, Danny decided to get his life on the right path by going back to school, working part-time, and changing his overall attitude towards life. The most important thing that Danny now realized was that he needed to go back to school. Being a high school drop-out at the age sixteen, he decided that it was the right time to enroll in school in hopes of getting his high school diploma. He realized that without a high school education, he wasnt going to get very far in his life. Before, not even caring if he would live through a whole day, Danny did not take his life seriously at all. The big difference now was that he contemplated about what the future had in store for him. Life now meant everything to him and he was going to do all that he could to make the best out of it. No matter what it took, Danny was eager to return to school and accomplish his goals. In addition to attending school, Danny also managed to work a part-time job at ...

Wal-Mart to open new Super center in Tarpon Springs, Florida Essay

Wal-Mart to open new Super center in Tarpon Springs, Florida - Essay Example Wal-Mart has been one of the most profitable companies in the world, yet a growing movement among local citizens and leaders could cost the company valuable time, extensive legal fees, and a potential boycott among the locals in this traditional small city. Despite working with local and state officials in acquiring the proper zoning and building permits, Wal-Mart has faced an unexpected obstacle. Known as the U.S. base for the Greek-Orthodox religion, and a quaint area known for its exquisite sponges, traditional sponge-divers, and small Greek shops and restaurant, Tarpon Springs has amassed a unique culture. So, when Wal-Mart announced in 2004, that it was opening a Super center, opponents lined up to try to stop it. Armed with a piece of restrictive growth legislation titled "Statute 163," the non-profit citizens' group, Concerned Citizens, has raised tens of thousands of dollars to block the expansion. By February 1, 2006 this group has spent over $100,000 in legal expensesiii. Headed by the umbrellas organization, Friends of the Anclote River, and founders, Helen and William Gladwin, citizens' groups continue to fight and have placed the Tarpon Springs City Council in an uncomfortable positioniv.