Polyglot Dmitry Petrov: how learning foreign languages affects a person
Miscellaneous / / May 08, 2023
This is a kind of mental sport that helps develop the brain.
Learning foreign languages helps not only to better understand the people and culture of other countries, but also develops thinking, makes the psyche more stable and allows you to see the world from an unexpected angle. About this polyglot Dmitry Petrov told in an interview with Boris Vedensky. And Lifehacker outlined the conversation.
Dmitry Petrov
Polyglot, linguist, simultaneous interpreter, teacher.
How learning a language affects a person
New grammar and vocabulary help to include both logic and feelings. The brain begins to analyze new connections, and emotions help to consolidate the past.
Expands the possibilities of thinking
To learn a language, you need to understand the mentality of the people who speak it. And that means immersing yourself in a new worldview, trying other ways of communication. This greatly expands the picture of the world and helps to learn fresh thinking strategies.
There is a popular technique for comparing two languages: count their vocabulary. And to conclude: which of them has more words, that one is more perfect. But mechanical comparisons don't work.
For example, in English there is an adjective brown - brown. It can be used to describe someone's hair and eyes - you get brown hair and brown eyes. The same adjective is used when we talk about the color of the horse or the color of the boots.
And in Russian we would say: brown hair, brown eyes, bay horse. And finally, brown boots. So, when it comes to some descriptions, the Russian language can be more diverse.
But let's talk about money. And it turns out that for the Russian words "income" and "profit" in English there are more than 30 equivalents. Their use depends on who and when paid, what kind of income and so on.
It turns out that the more attention people paid to a certain area of life, the more words they created for it. The richer the vocabulary in this area, the better the mentality of the people works in it. By learning a language, we begin to think like its creators and speakers and expand our own boundaries of the world.
Another example. In Russian, a free word order in a sentence is possible. We can swap them, and still understand each other perfectly. In most other languages, the order is clearly fixed, and it cannot be violated.
I have repeatedly read the arguments of respected linguists that a certain confusion and chaos of Russian life, and not only in a negative way, but also, for example, a more creative view of reality - are associated with this free order words. There is such a theory, and I see a grain of truth in it.
Dmitry Petrov
Every nation has advantages in thinking. When you learn a language, you get to know them and add new ones to your skills.
Helps to "try on" the habits of the inhabitants of an unfamiliar country
Being able to see the world from a different perspective allows you to experience a new and unexpected set of emotions.
For example, psycholinguistics tells us that speakers of dissimilar languages perceive the passage of time in completely different ways. For some it is a straight line, for others it is a repeating cycle. Some peoples represent it as a movement from top to bottom, others - from bottom to top. This leaves an imprint on the life philosophy, and on the household way.
We don't think in words. From the point of view of psycholinguistics, we think in images. And then we try to turn the seen pictures and the emotions associated with them into words.
This means that we have a chance to see the world with the help of images that are new to us - those that are close to native speakers of the language being studied.
It can be seen that when a person is immersed in an unfamiliar language environment, his manners change, his facial expressions become different, he begins to gesticulate in a completely different way. This is the result of a new worldview.
In an unfamiliar environment, a person's mood changes. He begins to experience a different set of emotions and perceives different habits. Sometimes even the timbre of his voice changes. And definitely there are new taste preferences.
I want this food and these drinks. I haven't been in China that long, but I enjoyed it very much. I even ate such exotic foods there that it’s scary to remember! But I do not remember a single case when in Moscow I would want to go to a Chinese restaurant.
Dmitry Petrov
Makes the mind more resilient
We know that in some languages it is customary to write from left to right, as we do. In others, right to left. There are peoples who bring out hieroglyphs top down.
The direction of movement in which we are used to writing is perceived by us as natural, correct. Therefore, for Europeans, for example, a line directed from left to right and up means growth. And for someone who writes from right to left, it will also show a decline.
Psychologists say: there are manipulation techniques when moving an object in an unusual, unnatural direction can confuse a person. When you speak another language, you can readjust. And then learn to perceive what is happening in terms of other rules.
If a person can easily accept a different frame of reference, then his psyche becomes more flexible and stable. This quality is very helpful in times of uncertainty.
Helps train the brain
ancient moved a lot. They hunted, looked for food, ran away from predators. Then people had to fight for living space, work hard in the fields, on farms or in workshops. And the soldiers and workers really needed physical strength and dexterity.
But the time has come when people no longer needed to overload their muscles beyond measure. Then, in order to keep the body in order, people came up with sports and martial arts. Maybe they did it intuitively. But it was sport that over many centuries has become a way to develop physically, and not degrade.
Today, we are delegating to gadgets many tasks that only our brains were able to perform before. Nowadays, a good memory, the ability to navigate in space or intuition is no longer so important. Moreover, this revolution happened very quickly - in recent years.
Today, everything that previously had to be memorized is in our smartphone. And if our ancestors had centuries to develop sports, then we have very little time to come up with adequate loads for the brain. But it is impossible to deprive him of training: we still need the ability to think very much.
A person will inevitably have to find an analogue of mental sports. And the best option to keep your brain in good shape, your ability to think is to learn foreign languages.
Dmitry Petrov
How to learn new languages with pleasure
Before taking on dictionaries and exercises, it is worth looking for pleasant associations that the language evokes. For example, one learns Italian because he likes music and movie. Another is delighted with the kitchen. And the third has a friend from Rome with whom I would like to chat.
Then you need to think about how to create a comfortable language environment for yourself. For this, it is not necessary to go somewhere. You can find native speakers with whom you can communicate in person or via the Web. Or watch TV series, listen to music and read books.
You just need to do it not from time to time, but every day. This is enough for a restructuring of thinking. Time will pass, and you will not notice how sometimes you even start thinking in a new language.
If you are going to learn a language seriously, use five simple rules:
- Don't be afraid of mistakes. This is the main principle.
- Constantly look for pleasant emotional attachments - everything that is connected with a new language and makes you happy.
- Remember that you are not learning a language for the sake of passing an exam, but for fun and communication.
- Try learning multiple languages at the same time. This will not hurt, but only help if they are not similar.
- Be sure to look for songs in your chosen language and sing them aloud.
And do not stop - keep making new linguistic discoveries.
This is not just idle interest. This is something that can help in business communication. This can prevent many situations of mutual misunderstanding. And I am sure that in some cases it will even prevent political conflicts and wars.
Dmitry Petrov
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