One of the celebrated ideas in the study of linguistics is called the ¡°Sapir-Worf hypothesis¡±. According to this idea ¡°language determines thought¡±. In other words, what language you speak dictates what thoughts you think. This idea may seem strange at first blush, but if you are a competent speaker in two languages, you can see the truth behind the hypothesis.
I know a Korean young lady who is fluent in both Korean and English. She is also an ESL teacher. It is very difficult for her to speak to a group of older people in the Korean language, because she must keep a respectful distance from her audience. She can¡¯t joke and chide the old folks. Respect and deference are built into the fabric of Korean. This young lady blossoms into an entirely different person when she speaks to a group in English. The barriers are gone, the power relationship has shifted, and she can get her message across.
The Korean language is why older Koreans who live in America think and act just like their counterparts in Korea. The geography has changed but the language and hence the thoughts have not. This is also why Korean grandparents can¡¯t relate to their own grandchildren. The blood may be Korean, but if the language is American, then the thoughts are American and the behavior is American. It¡¯s like grandparents and grandchildren come from different planets.
Whenever a Korean woman speaks to her ¡°eun-ni¡± she is predisposing her thought. She is placing herself in a subordinate position to her ¡°big sister¡±. English doesn¡¯t do this. When a Korean speaks of ¡°ki-bun¡± or ¡°Ma-um¡± or even ¡°uri nara¡±, he is thinking in a way that Americans can¡¯t think. We Americans can translate these words, but we have no equivalent word in English.
When I was first studying Korean, a fellow student asked the teacher ¡± what is the Korean word for photogenic. ¡° The teacher thought and thought and said ¡°there is no Korean word for that¡±. The teacher was right. There may be a Korean translation, but no Korean word because photogenic is not a Korean thought. When I first arrived in Korea, I wanted to pay a complement to a pretty girl, so I whispered to my teacher, ¡°How of you say Miss Korea in Korean?¡± He looked puzzled and said ¡°Miss Korea.¡±
Maybe your language determines more than your thought. Think about it. Language determines thought, thought determines behavior, behavior determines habit, habit determines character and character determines destiny. You become what you speak.