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How language can affect the way we think

How language can affect the way we think
Keith Chen (TED Talk: Could your language affect your ability to save money?) might be an economist, but he wants to talk about language. For instance, he points out, in Chinese, saying “this is my uncle” is not as straightforward as you might think. In Chinese, you have no choice but to encode more information about said uncle. The language requires that you denote the side the uncle is on, whether he’s related by marriage or birth and, if it’s your father’s brother, whether he’s older or younger. “All of this information is obligatory. This got Chen wondering: Is there a connection between language and how we think and behave? While “futured languages,” like English, distinguish between the past, present and future, “futureless languages” like Chinese use the same phrasing to describe the events of yesterday, today and tomorrow. But that’s only the beginning. Featured illustration via iStock.

http://ideas.ted.com/5-examples-of-how-the-languages-we-speak-can-affect-the-way-we-think/

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50 Questions To Help Students Think About What They Think click 2x contributed by Lisa Chesser Using the right questions creates powerful, sometimes multiple answers and discussions. Aristotle said that he asked questions in response to other people’s views, while Socrates focused on disciplined questioning to get to the truth of the matter. Ultimately questions spark imagination, conjure emotions, and create more questions. The questions asked by a teacher or professor are sometimes more glaringly valuable than the information transferred to the students. Those questions spark a thought, which leads to a fiercely independent search for information.

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Kanji of the year, meaning 'disaster,' symbolizes 2018 amid natural and human calamities KYOTO – The kanji sai (災, disaster) was picked as the Chinese character best describing this year’s social mood in Japan, amid a string of natural and man-made calamities, a Kyoto-based kanji promotion organization announced Wednesday. Chief Buddhist priest Seihan Mori of the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto wrote the character 1.5 meters in length and 1.3 meters in width with a giant calligraphy brush on traditional washi paper at the temple’s annual year-end event, where the kanji of the year was revealed. The selection came after Japan was buffeted this year by torrential rains in the country’s west and an large earthquake in Hokkaido, heightening public awareness of the importance of disaster prevention measures. Japan was also rocked by man-made calamities such as stolen cryptocurrencies and the uncovering of harassment by coaches in the athletic world. The selection of the word was based on characters put forward by the general public.

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