MANY people report feeling like different people when they speak a foreign language. I've been sceptical of these claims, since many of them seem to line up too neatly with national stereotypes: "I feel warmer and more relaxed in Spanish," "German makes me reason more carefully" and the like. But a new study seems to show that people really do think differently in a foreign language—any foreign language. Namely, people are less likely to fall into common cognitive traps when tested in a language other than their mother tongue. The study is “The Foreign-Language Effect: Thinking in a Foreign Tongue Reduces Decision Biases” by Boaz Keysar, Sayuri L. Hayakawa and Sun Gyu An in Psychological Science (unfortunately behind a paywall, but written up by Wired here).
Writers like Daniel Kahneman, Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein, Dan Ariely and others have written extensively about our propensity for flawed reasoning. Mr Kahneman, in particular, has focused on loss aversion: people's willingness to take irrational risks (mathematically speaking) in order to avoid suffering a loss. But this effect, it seems, disappears when subjects are tested in a foreign language. One group of native English-speakers who also spoke Japanese was divided into two. One half was given a version of Mr Kahneman's loss-aversion game in their native language (English). The second was given the same test in their foreign language (Japanese). The tendency to take risky, irrational bets to avoid losses nearly disappeared for those tested the foreign language (Japanese). A second test, of Koreans who speak English, found the same thing: the Koreans made more balanced, cautious choices in English.
This fits Mr Kahneman's thinking nicely. He posits two general systems of thinking: System 1, intuitive and quick, good for most purposes, but prone to those pesky cognitive traps; and System 2, deliberative and slow, better at higher reasoning but effortful to activate and keep active. The brain, which minimises effort where it can, leans on System 1 wherever possible. But modern life presents many problems better suited to System 2.
The hypothesis behind the "foreign-language effect" is that speaking the foreign language activates System 2 in advance of tackling the tricky questions. This would not have been obvious from the outset, though. Another possible result might have been that using the foreign language tires the brain, and that this fatigue might make people more, not less, prone to mistakes. Mr Kahneman, after all, describes "ego depletion" leading to bad choices in other studies. But in this study, the effect of priming System 2 appears to have been stronger than any fatigue effect.
Yet more reason to learn a foreign language, dear readers. Yet an irony emerges: if the hypothesis is correct, the better cognition should only obtain when people are using their foreign language with some effort. If you become so fluent that you are nearly a balanced bilingual, would the effect disappear? More research awaits, but Johnson certainly hopes that this result won't discourage anyone from polishing up their foreign languages.
People's introspection on their own thinking and language-use is often unreliable. Nonetheless, this study seems to indicate that there's something there. So a question: do you think differently when using different languages? And if so, how?
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I'm a native speaker of Italian. Nay, a native /thinker/ in Italian. I've been using English professionally for 40 years and I have a very good but not native command of the language. I also write in English. Compared to writing in Italian, having to do so in English forces you to focus on the issues in a more disciplined way. Thought becomes more linear.
Once I had to translate an Italian politician's editorial into English. He had written some 800 words. I perused his copy before I tried to translate it into English, discovering he hadn't said anything at all and there was nothing to translate. Nought, zilch. His words were a f..t in a windstorm.
Of course it's possible for some, notably for politicians, to speak or write in English without saying anything, but it takes a much greater talent.
More. For basically the same concept, where Russian has "I want" and English "I'd like", Italian may have "I wouldn't dislike" or even "one wouldn't dislike".
On the contrary, some relations are much more easily described in Italian than in English (or Russian, at that) - notably in the field of conditionality, where there's a whole array of verbal modes and tenses you can employ to express exactly what you need to but, in English, actually can't.
"MANY people report feeling like different people when they speak a foreign language. "
Well I've never heard of this before ..
I'm a native English speaker living in a Spanish language country and speaking Spanish all day long. I know quite a lot of people in the same circumstance, speaking Spanish as their second language-- no one has ever said "I feel different speaking Spanish.."
"MANY people report feeling like different people when they speak a foreign language. "
Well I've never heard of this before ..
I'm a native English speaker living in a Spanish language country and speaking Spanish all day long. I know quite a lot of people in the same circumstance, speaking Spanish as their second language-- no one has ever said "I feel different speaking Spanish.."
I am German but I lived in Italy for 40 years, so Italian is my second language. I studied English and French at school and Macedonian in Macedonia, Skopje. Now I live and work in Albania as lecturer for the Italian Language but I cannot speak Albanian. What I noticed about speaking foreign language is that not native speakers generally are more careful in the choice of words and pay more attention also to grammar and rules. I think it depends also of the duration of the exposure to a foreign language. That is why I am quite relaxed when I speak Italian, my second language! It is indeed a very interesting topic!!!My compliments! Greetings from Albania, Vlore!
Just another proof of the old concept of metacognition. When you think about your thinking, better decision making results.
Much as I agree with your encouragement to learn a foreign language, I have problems with the extent to which the non-native speakers know the foreign language. For example, the Wired article says that they are "thinking in a non-native, non-automatic language." If the L2 is "non-automatic," then, yes, I can see them being more cautious. But I can see not being totally fluent in that L2 as being the cause for such cautiousness, not their supposed ability to speak it.
In short, I for one still don't think I think differently in the 2 foreign languages I can speak in an automatic way.
When I think in my second language (French), I find that I expend a fair bit of effort picking the most precise word for what I am trying to convey. It seems plausible that this exercise makes people think more cafefully about the substance of a question/answer.
Agree!
I think in Korean when I want to describe something visual, in English when I want to describe an action or something conceptual, and in French when I want to complain.
I speak English as a first language, followed by Mandarin and Japanese. I also speak a smattering of Cantonese. My experience is that in learning a language, certain experiences and cultural norms are also picked up. For me, the tone of the conversation does.change with the language.
Another interesting question is when multilingual switch between several languages in the same conversation or even sentence. This is very common around me. I often wonder what cognitive process is happening.
So I wonder. English was my third language, but I started learning it when I was four. It's also the language I've used every day since I've been eight. So, I'm pretty sure it doesn't count as foreign anymore. Does this mean that Romanian, my first language is now foreign? German, my second language, is certainly foreign, but then again I forgot it completely and relearned it almost from scratch, and I'm in the process of forgetting it again. French was my fourth language, and in the last 3-4 years I've taken pains to ensure my French doesn't go the way of my German.
Does this mean that if I want to think differently I need to think in French or German? Would I think differently going between English and Romanian, both of which I could consider my native language now?
Suggested correction: The Asian disease problem used in the experiment is a test of reflection, not loss aversion. Loss aversion refers to losses looming larger than gains. Reflection refers to the tendency to take more risk in the loss than in the gain domain. These are two independent properties of the Prospect Theory value function. It is a somewhat fine point, but not fine enough for The Economist to disregard.
Personally I find it hard to think about anything other than bleeding adjective declinations, verb conjugations and not forgetting the verb in the final position, when I'm speaking German which means I end up not really thinking too much about what I'm saying.
Perhaps this "caution" about getting stuff wrong in a foreign language translates itself into risk adversion.
I think this caution plays at least some role.
Yes, I think and I feel differently, depending what language I use and the cultural level of the people around me. Of course the core values don't change, but might bend a bit with the differences.
You might be interested to read "Thinking in Pictures" by Temple Grandin, a high-functioning autistic who says she has to translate into words.
A couple of years ago, I became immersed in a Russian-speaking country and intensively studied the language. Certainly noticed a change in mentality and improvement in cognitive function. But how to describe it?
I think it is a mental habit of dropping deeply ingrained verbal thought patterns - getting all of the English words in the mind out of the way to make way and room for the Russian ones in this case.
Or if not dropping, then challenging the mind to come up with the translations at least.
So, essentially, a form of constantly thinking about things from another angle with abundant consideration of the form, and less the content, of the thought.
Another way of putting it is heightened attentiveness and a strengthening habit of dropping one's views and opinions immediately to simply comprehend and prepare a correct, understandable response.
Currently I've been focusing on Tajik, and notice all the more that it's possible to see languages broadly with their many patterns and groupings of concepts that could be called arbitrary but really determine, psychologically, what a person thinks of as normal.
There was just a banner hung up a the school where I work: "learn a new language, and get a new soul." I have also heard the Koran says somewhere, "A man who knows one language lives one life. A man who knows three languages lives three lives." There seems to be some deep truth in there that's hard to pin down intellectually.
I work at a university as well, where my students are nearly all tri-lingual. I notice that although many of them have very Tajik and Islamic views and opinions, that they are able to fully comprehend and entertain a very English-language mentality and its views, juggle back and forth between them and Russian as well, without seeming to see them as foreign or at all contradictory to their native views, when I think a typical native English speaker would tend to see them as opposed and dual.
So in conclusion, I think knowing numerous languages makes a person think more broadly, inclusively, less dualistically, and better able to empathize with other points of view.
I am a native speaker of English and proficient in Russian and German.
I have used a similar language switch method for many years. When I want something to be very clear to an English reader, I write it in Russian first and translate it into English. It isn't that Russian is clearer, but that I am more aware of cultural references and that I am less proficient in it. This method strips out many idioms and references that I use unconsciously when writing in English.
I wrote this directly in English, by the way. I hope that you all understand it.
Fascinating article and comments, so may I ask for some resolution on the following?
I grew up in The Netherlands, went to school, college and worked, all completely in Dutch, which, at that time (!) I spoke completely and well. Went to the USA in 1970, learned to speak English well (or learned to speak well English), worked here. Moved briefly in 1988 to England and in 1990 to Germany. Learned to speak German well, worked full time in Germany from 1994 till 2000, was married during that time to a German woman. Returned to the USA in 2000, live and work here since.
With apology, end of CV. Beginning of question.
Last month I spend four weeks in Holland and visited Germany during that time for two days. I found that I have difficulties understanding the Dutch, my native language, but I understood German very well, according to a friend with whom I had a long evening in a noisy restaurant, according to him I spoke excellent German, I understood him and other Germans perfectly, better than my Dutch family and friends.
Does anyone like to comment, please.
Very interesting story. I have little difficulty in Germany even though there are many dialects there. My impression of Dutch is that there are fewer dialects, but I am not sure. I do hear people from Flanders complaining about other peoples' Dutch.
Although I do not understand Dutch, my family name is apparent in two small towns in South Holland. I sometimes have trouble understanding regional English in UK and US. Sometimes Caribbean English presents problems. I have been away from my home in the South of the US for many years, and people often remarked that I had lost my accent, but I usually understood everyone.
I have noticed a strange difficulty when someone speaks better in one language but wants to speak to me in another. A Frenchman who wants to speak German causes me difficulty. It takes me longer to shift.
I am not talking about the negotiation that takes place to find a common working language that might not be the best language for anyone.
I hope that others will have more insight into this.
Thank you for your thoghts, may anyone else help me with their observations?
It looks like you have spent 40 years with no, little touch with your original language. All languages are live and do change over time, let alone 40 years.
Cannot comment specifically on Dutch, but English changes considerably after 3-4 years
Makes sense to me. I am also slowly losing my mother tongue, or perhaps a better way to put it is that it is evolving seperately from that of most native speakers.
Visiting relatives in the country of my birth is now more intimidating than trying my (not especially good) Mandarin in Singapore.
Also, my English has evolved considerably since none of the people I work with have Standard English or Standard American as their native language... I guess I try to sound more and more like a Chinese person speaking English than an English person speaking English.
thank you for your observation
thank you for your observation
The research tapped into what foreign language speakers have known for ages but couldn’t explain! Having two mother tongues myself, Greek and English, I use System 1 and System 2 interchangeably on a daily basis.
Example: Shopping list—
Thought patterns
Greek Language -What do we need, let’s see, some cheese, a little milk, perhaps eggs, oh and maybe some oranges…..(thoughts in a straight line)
English Language- (making a list!)
1. a package of cheese
2. a carton of milk
3. a dozen eggs
4. a bag of oranges
In an English language class you can actually see the students changing their posture when the teacher asks them to read a sentence again (but in correct English this time-intonation, pronunciation etc..) more slowly, of course, but correctly nevertheless!!
Also,it is quite amusing when I invariably meet my former students on the street that they immediately become ‘serious’ when they have to switch to English taking great pains not to make any mistakes.
Summary: to answer your question, the effect of priming System 2 does not disappear when you are fluent but it becomes an excellent application program making one’s life much easier. The best thing about it though is that is is done in an effortless way, the mind has been conditioned and acts accordingly
Any second language will do, except Greek.