“Language and Thought”

TED Talk by Lera Boroditsky

General notes

● Communication is a very complex idea. Making vibrations with the mouth causing those vibrations to be heard by
the ear, causing the brain to create thoughts?
● I agree that language does create reality, or rather history because if language didn’t exist, there is a chance that
those things couldn’t happen.
● I found the Kuuk Thaayorre Communication method rather interesting because they use more geographical ideas
to decide what they may say.
● When showing the examples of the light and dark blues, I discovered that something that may seem so simple in
one language may be very complex in another.
● When an accident happens, some languages might cause different memories, and different points of blame,
whether it was the one that did it or the thing that had had the accident done unto.
● When she talked about how language can shape the world today, I realized how much of the world wouldn’t have
been built without language. In fact, we probably would be less civilized than humans in the stone age, since even
they had communication, even if it was simple.
● In the TED Talk, she talks about how languages will disappear in 100 years, due to the bias of the human

Reflection Questions

1. Why do I think the way that I do?

I think the way that I do because of how my brain perceives language, which is in a
more logical, problem-solving sort of way. To sum it up, everything is a complicated
math question in my head.
2. How could I think differently?
I could think differently by perceiving language in a different, less overcomplicated
way and just use my first thoughts to form ideas on a subject.

3. What thoughts do I wish to create?

I wish to create more positive thoughts that should focus on a certain goal.
 “Lost in Translation”
by Lera Boroditsky

General Notes: Compare and contrast with texts and ideas explored
“Danger of a Single Story” by Adichie talks about how a story can differ from another in one or maybe even two different
languages, while “Politics and the English Language” and “1984” by George Orwell, talk about how language can be
weaponized and used to command. However, they share a common theme: Perception. Each single story is built on how
someone might perceive a certain situation, and language can be weaponized by the reader or the writer, depending on
what someone might see it.

Statement about language and thought in regard to politics, power, and

justice

To put it simply, language is always based on perception, whether it is due to a language’s certain
formation of a word or if a thought is formed in the same language from different peoples brain. In
fact, one’s sense of justice is based on perception, the difference being from someone seeing
something from the side that they do or do not agree with, or someone who has gone through that
something that might form an idea of justice from it. And politics and power relate to the same thing.
As an example, elections can be shown about what one person might think about a candidate, and
how another person might think otherwise about that exact same person. In conclusion, perception is
the basis of the english language, no matter which way it may be perceived from.