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  • - Will improving your English change your identity?

  • (zooming electronic tones)

  • Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

  • hello and good morning.

  • I am your beloved host, Julian Northbrook, doingenglish.com.

  • A couple of days ago, I was chatting with

  • one of my coaching clients.

  • And she told me that, over the months

  • as her English has improved, in leaps and bounds I may add,

  • her identity has changed,

  • along with the quality of her English speaking.

  • There is a concept in psycholinguistics

  • called linguistic determinism,

  • also often called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis,

  • after the two people who

  • really first came up with the idea.

  • The premise behind linguistic determinism

  • is that the language that we have in our heads

  • defines what we are able to think about.

  • Of course, as with any kind of scientific theory,

  • there are degrees to which people believe

  • this idea to be true.

  • At the most extreme end of the scale,

  • we would say that thought and language

  • are well and truly meshed together,

  • to the extent whereby, if you don't have the words

  • that you would need to articulate something,

  • you would be unable to think that thing.

  • On the other end of the scale, we have the exact opposite,

  • whereby thought and language are completely separate,

  • and they are not connected at all.

  • Then, of course, we have degrees,

  • along the continuous scale.

  • I would put my thinking somewhere around about the middle,

  • but slightly veering off to the stronger form

  • of linguistic determinism.

  • I believe, and I have plenty of evidence of back this up,

  • that learning a new language changes the way that you think.

  • Language, you see, is very, very closely connected,

  • meshed together with, intimately entwined

  • with knowledge and our culture.

  • Put simply, just because you have the words

  • and the phrases and the expressions that you need

  • doesn't mean you're going to be able

  • to talk well about something, if you have no content,

  • no knowledge, no ideas for things to talk about,

  • regarding that thing.

  • This is why I am pretty useless

  • at talking about, say, politics.

  • Whereas something like psycholinguistics,

  • I could outtalk even a Japanese person

  • in their native language

  • because I have a very deep understanding of the field.

  • At the same time, we also have

  • a third element at play, culture.

  • Culture is defined as the way that human beings

  • act and behave, as they're human beings.

  • But, of course, animals have a culture, too.

  • Then, we have a third element, culture.

  • Culture is defined as the way that we act and behave.

  • That affects the things that we say

  • as well as the way that we understand

  • the things that other people say.

  • But it's a two-way process.

  • Not only does culture define the things that we talk about.

  • A great example of this would be something like

  • my stepping into a person's house and saying,

  • "Is it shoes on or shoes off?"

  • Something that is not common to say, here,

  • because the majority of people

  • are used to wearing shoes inside the house.

  • I am from Japan.

  • Well, I'm from the U.K., but I spent a long time in Japan,

  • where shoes in the house is a big no-no.

  • So, for me, I'm still stuck, somewhat, in Japanese culture

  • with this kind of feeling that

  • wearing shoes in the house is a little bit dirty.

  • That, in a sense, is an odd thing for me to say,

  • here in Ireland.

  • But in Japan, as a Westerner stepping into someone's house,

  • it's a given that you would take your shoes off.

  • This element of culture, as simple as it is,

  • defines the way that we talk about this particular topic.

  • But I believe it is also a two-way process,

  • whereby learning the language

  • also changes the way that you think.

  • As you acquire more words, a richer vocabulary,

  • phrases, expressions, things that are not said

  • in your first language but are expressed in English,

  • so too, will your understanding of the culture

  • that is meshed together with that language

  • expand and change the way that you think

  • and perceive the world.

  • So the simple answer to the question of,

  • will improving your English change your identity

  • is, well, yes.

  • Because as you are broadening your horizons,

  • as far as the language is concerned,

  • so too, are you learning to see the world

  • and yourself in a different way.

  • With that, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

  • it is time for me, your beloved host,

  • Julian Northbrook, to once again,

  • sign out from another video.

  • If you are struggling to improve your English

  • as an intermediate to advanced English learner,

  • check out my bestselling book, Master English Fast:

  • An Uncommon Guide To Speaking Extraordinary English,

  • which will show you, step by simple step,

  • everything that you need to know

  • to take your English, as it is now,

  • and drag it up to the level of extraordinary.

  • If you like this video, found it useful,

  • give it a big ol' thumbs up.

  • If you hated it, hit that thumbs up button, anyway.

  • And I will see you, my friend, in the next one.

  • Thank you and goodbye.

  • (lively band music)

- Will improving your English change your identity?

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