"Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It's not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand....Experiments demonstrate that readers of ideograms, such as the Chinese, develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs an alphabet. The variations extend across many regions of the brain, incluiding those that govern such essential cognitive functions as memory and the interpretation of visual and auditory stimuli." (Carr, 61)
While this is not an agree/disagree passage, I found this passage notable because of the importance of language on its impact in cognition. I am bilingual and it's not uncommon these days. Korean is my native language and since my move ten years ago, English has been my go-to language.
One of my friends asked me last year, what language do I think in?
I never really thought of that, I admitted. And I tried to think how I think. Then I realized that I, at least, don't really think in terms of words, or in a language for that matter.
I find differences in cognitive functions in different cultures very interesting, probably because I am a mixture of two languages.
I just thought I might share this, even though the articles wasn't quite about this topic.
-Sally
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