LISTENING FLUENCY LIBRARY

#14

Deep English
LISTENING FLUENCY LIBRARY
Can The Language You Speak Make You Healthier?

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 #14 Can The Language You Speak Make You Healthier?

According to new research on language and

linguist: a person culture, your health and even your finances are
who researches related to the language you speak. Linguists
the structure of have long known that language can directly
language
influence your perception of the world. For
example, in the Kook Thaayorre language there
are no words for left and right. In this language,
there is no way to explain where something is
without using the words north, south, east and
west. Because of this, these people have an
innate: inborn;
natural
innate understanding of which way is north at
all times. In some languages, there aren’t
different words for blue and green. Speakers of
these languages have trouble distinguishing
between the two colors.

Keith Chen is an economist who has researched

the relationship between language and future
planning. Some languages such as Mandarin and
Finnish don’t have a future tense, while other
languages, such as French and English, do have a
future tense that is clearly different than the
present tense. For example, an English speaker
would say “Today is cold and tomorrow will be
cold,” while a Finnish speaker would say, “Today
be cold and tomorrow be cold.”

Chen believes that this lack of a clear future

tense causes people to see less of a separation
between the present and the future, and this
causes them to make better decisions today that
will affect them tomorrow. In contrast, he
believes that speakers of languages that do have
a clear separation are more likely to see the
future as something far off, and less likely to
make sacrifices today that will help them in the

© Deep English, 2011-2016 | www.deepenglish.com 02

 #14 Can The Language You Speak Make You Healthier?
correlation: a
connection
between two or
more things;
Correlation does
not imply
causation. This
expression means
that just because
two things are
connected, it does
not mean that one
thing has caused
the other thing.
© Deep English, 2011-2016 | www.deepenglish.com
distant future. According to his research, speakers
of languages that don’t have a clear future tense
are more likely to save money, exercise more, and
not smoke cigarettes.
It’s important to remember that this research is
just showing correlations. No one can say for
sure if grammar is influencing our decisions or
not. It could be that some cultures are just more
responsible about planning for the future, and
this has affected the way their language has
developed. What about people in your culture?
Do they make wise decisions when planning for
the future? Do you think there is a relationship
between the language you speak and the choices
you make?
Photos / Credits:
Photo #1 (cover) – by Fe Ilya:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/renneville/2908748583/
Photo #2:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10710442@N08/6173448821
(CC BY 4.0)
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