Language is the way people speak or communicate with each other. For example, language can help us describe something, and we can use it to change the way we behave towards people. Does language shape our personality and thoughts? Language can shape our personality and thoughts by learning new languages and reading literature. People's personalities can change and improve by reading literature and learning new languages. Literature refers to any type of story, such as fiction. Fiction can change our behavior towards people (Paul 322). According to Annie Murphy Paul, researchers have found that people who enjoy reading fiction are good at managing the emotions of others (Paul 322). In real life, people may struggle with how to interact with other people, but when we read fiction about a character who knows how to behave and react to people, we can interpret that in our own lives. Not only can reading improve our personality, but learning new languages can also change our behavior towards people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In Catherine de Lange's article "My Two Minds", she states that people speaking a second language can not only change their ability to solve problems, but it can also change our personality (de Lange par .3). Bilingual people behave differently depending on the language they speak (de Lange par.22). For example, in a study by Susan Ervin-Tripp, she tried asking Japanese-English speakers to complete a sentence in English or Japanese, and showed that the speaker continued to use a variety of endings depending on the language (de Lange par.23). To illustrate, when asked to complete the sentence “True friends should” in Japanese, the speaker said “help each other,” while in English the speaker said “be very frank” (de Lange par. 23). This shows that bilinguals have different personalities when they try to finish the sentence and think differently (de Lange par.23). Language also shapes people how they think about reality by learning new languages and reading literature. People who learn two languages may interpret reality differently based on an event. In Lera Boroditsky's video, she states that language can guide reason regarding an event (Boroditsky par.18). For example, there is an event about a man who broke a vase (Boroditsky par.18). A native English speaker will think of the event as “the man broke the vase,” but a native Spanish speaker will say “the vase broke” (Boroditksy par.18). This is unique because the punishment for man in every society will be different as the English speaker will punish the person more because he broke the vase unlike the Spanish speaker who sees an accident (Boroditsky par.19). So when people have more language they can think differently about an event. Because people talk differently can change the way we think, reading can also change the way we think, like reading literature. For example, a poem can change the way we think. In the article by Tanya M. White-Davis, she states about racism and uses the power of language like a poem “Say Their Names” by Sandhira Wijayaratne to talk about equality for all rights of people of color (Tanya M., White-Davis Davis et al. par .1). When people read the poems, people think about what their role is in health systems for justice, especially the role of healers (White-Davis et al. par.1). Therefore, reading a literature can, 31(2), 675-682.
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