People create languages and then the languages they create shape the thinking of people who speak them.
Chapter 10
Thinking Culturally
We shape our buildings and they in turn shape us.
Relationship between thinking, language and culture.
Here is one expression of the idea by Edward Sapir:
No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds,not merely the same world with different labels attached.
And one from Benjamin Whorf:
We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face;on the contrary,the world is presented in a kaleiscopic flux of impressions which has to be oeganized by our minds——and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds.
Language, Culture & Thinking
Examples:
1. Chinese hong and English red
2. Vocabulary and Flower Arranging
3. Words for Describing Relationships
4. Personal Names in American Culture
Chinese hong and English red
白发红颜青红皂白百紫千红齿白唇红
穿红着绿姹紫嫣红灯红酒绿耳红面赤
红豆相思红粉青楼红旗报捷红杏出墙
红叶题诗脸红耳赤柳绿桃红满面红光
Hong describes a wider range of the color spectrum than the English term red does.
Red
Western Culture: cruelty, war, violence, danger, revolution
Chinese Culture: happiness, good luck, prosperity
开门红be essful at the beginning
红娘 match maker
红人 a person who enjoys great popularity
红颜/ 红袖 young beauty
女红 needle work
红眼病 green-eyed
又红又专 both socialist—minded and professionally qualified
红豆love pea
红榜 honorary board
红利 bonus
红白喜事 weddings and funerals
红糖 brown sugar
红茶 black tea
Vocabulary and Flower Arranging
Western Flower Arranging:
Flowers tend to be grouped together according to color.
The shapes of individual flowers and stems are lost in the shape of the bouquet.
Vocabulary and Flower Arranging
Japanese Flower Arranging:
Each flower is displayed in a clearly de
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