Journal Instructions:
For your fourth Journal assignment, answer the following question, drawing on your own experiences and quoting at least one passage from Boroditsky's essay as your evidence:
At some level, we all speak more than one language, whether a foreign language, a dialect, or even slang.
What does speaking in that particular language allow you to say that another language can’t?
Your Journal assignment should be at least two paragraphs long. Be sure to use in-text citations when you quote from Boroditsky.
From watching Lera Boroditsky’s TED Talk “How language shapes the way we think,” we learn that there are many different languages in the world. She indicates that “the beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is. Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000 -- there are 7,000 languages spoken around the world” (Boroditsky, “How language”). At some level, we all speak more than one language. Sometimes, speaking in a particular language allows us to say something that another language can’t. When I immigrated to the U.S. from China a few months ago, a man came up to me and said: “What’s up?” I am confused; I had never heard this term before. I looked up into the sky and replied, “There's nothing.” I later learned it was a greeting. People don't say hello in China by asking, "What's up?" or "How are you?" People would ask, "Have you eaten yet."
Similarly, some words in Chinese are different from English. As Lera Boroditsky points out that “What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is, in Kuuk Thaayorre, they don't use words like "left" and "right," and instead, everything is in cardinal directions: north, south, east and west.” During Chinese New Year, people visit relatives and friends and greet each other by saying, "Gong Xi Fa Cai." Directly translated into English is I hope you are rich, or I wish your family wealth. However, I believe what people want to say is wishing you peace, joy and happiness, not really asking you to be rich. Just like people say Merry Christmas in English-speaking cultures.
Works Cited:
Boroditsky, Lera. “How language shapes the way we think.” TED, October 2017,
https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think.
Accessed 3 May 2022.
Instructor Feedback:
Great job responding to the question here! I like the example you give about greetings in the English language and how they different from how one would be greeted in China. Honestly, I think the question, "Have you eaten yet?", is a much more effective greeting than "What's up?"
I also like how you connected your response to the passage in Boroditsky's essay about the Kuuk Thaayore. Great job!