Language and the Neural Construction of Reality

Our perception of reality is tied not only to the words we know but also to the patterns of activation in our brains, and these patterns vary across people based on individual experiences.

What we perceive as reality is essentially brain activity. Because our perceptions and thoughts are bound by patterns of neural activation, and because different languages activate different neural networks, those who speak multiple languages can cross these mental boundaries in ways that are nothing short of awe-inspiring. What we see or hear is influenced by which neurons are most likely to fire, and which neurons are most likely to fire depends on which prior neurons were activated by recent experiences.

When bilinguals switch languages, their networks of neural activation change as well and, with them, so do their perception and interpretation of reality, allowing them to move across multiple planes of neural co-activation – and hence, arguably, across multiple planes of existence.

--- Viorica Marian, The Power of Language: Multilingualism, Self and Society. 2023.

 

Language-Dependent Memory

The accessibility of memories varies across languages – the Language-Dependent Memory phenomenon – has implications for interviewing bilingual witnesses in legal cases, accessing traumatic memories of events and providing psychotherapy to bilingual clients.

The memories that come to the forefront, in turn, shape how we think about ourselves and the frameworks we use. Languages can even affect how one experiences love and hate. ‘I love you’ feels different in a native versus a non-native language. A native language packs more emotional punch. Which is also why some multilinguals prefer the use of a non-native language when they feel they need some emotional distance.

 

There is now a sizeable body of research under the umbrella of the Foreign Language Effect suggesting that people make more logical and rational decisions in a non-native language in a variety of spheres ranging from moral judgements to financial allocations.

 

--- Viorica Marian, The Power of Language: Multilingualism, Self and Society. 2023.

The Destructive Power of Misinterpretation

Failure to account for the differences between languages can lead to devastating results. In 1945, when Allied leaders met in Germany at the end of the Second World War, Truman, Churchill, Stalin, and Chiang Kai-shek sent the Japanese premier, Kantarō Suzuki, a declaration of surrender terms, asking that Japan surrender unconditionally. The declaration also stated that any negative answer would elicit “prompt and utter destruction.”

When reporters questioned Premier Suzuki about his reaction, he replied with the usual political fallback that he was withholding comment. The Japanese word he used, mokusatsu, derived from the word for silence, can be translated in multiple ways, from “remaining in wise inactivity” to “taking no notice” to “treating with silent contempt.” In a diplomatic failure of epochal proportions, an ill-chosen translation was interpreted in the West as a hostile response. In now-unclassified documents, the National Security Agency writes:

The word has other meanings quite different from that intended by Suzuki. Alas, international news agencies saw fit to tell the world that in the eyes of the Japanese government the ultimatum was ‘not worthy of comment.’ US officials, angered by the tone of Suzuki’s statement … decided on stern measures. Within ten days the decision was made to drop the atomic bomb, the bomb was dropped, and Hiroshima was leveled.

--- Viorica Marian, The Power of Language: Multilingualism, Self and Society. 2023.