Conditioning From Childhood

Thoughts operate by using language and symbols to construct the mental models needed to function efficiently within the society the person tends to be born into.

We can evidently see this in our education system where children start from preschool around 4 till 22 years old after university as a minimum before becoming a contributing member. Learning the ropes on how to live within the collective.

For instance, if a person is born and raised in the UK. He would learn to speak English in a British manner, have a British value system, most probably drink teas, and would often care about how the Queen of England is doing. Maybe complain about the gloomy weather.

Language as Building Blocks

The languages we use are the foundation to give meaning to thoughts. It’s like playing with Lego blocks but with words. I use English as my main language preference because it allows me access to so many works in scientific disciplines, businesses, and technological fields.

Most of the Internet uses English as a means of transmission and communication. This article is written in English.

Different languages being used in different localities and environments serve to give a slightly altered context, intonation, weight, and color to a word. This can be a reason why different people take the same word differently. Thus, arriving at a different conclusion or a variety of it.

If a person learns to speak Japanese, the process of learning the language will affect their thinking process as they need to use a foreign language for sentence construction. This will alter the person’s mannerisms and social cues as well.

Languages affect how a person thinks which ultimately shapes our thoughts.

Code-Switching in Language

I use the Hakka dialect when I’m around family members. If I’m outside around town I would use Cantonese, Mandarin, or Hakka if they look Chinese. Then, Bahasa Malaysia if it’s needed because I don’t use it often in the city unless required.

However, my brain thinks and formulates thoughts by using English only but auto-translate into any other language or dialect as needed. This is a learned skill for most local Chinese in Malaysia because we are a multicultural society and knowing other languages is very important.

Due to the different languages being used interchangeably. Malaysians usually do code-switching when communicating with each other. We often have impressive sentences structure that only the locals will understand and left foreigners feeling dumbfounded.

We can chain multiple languages, dialects, and particles (la, loh, gua, meh) together to give a different meaning. My point is to watch what is being communicated like what the word is pointed toward, the context used, the intonation when pronouncing, the nuances, and what is being implied.

All these can affect a person’s perception and interpretation of reality.