22 - Language learning (Differences in cognition and perception)

The young and foolish podcast talk about language learning and the differences in cognition and perception between speakers of different languages. The guys go over their experience learning languages (both during their childhood and later on). George Wang talks about the benefits of living the language. They discuss another helpful tip: visualization of sounds (not only hearing but also seeing the speaker). George Wang talks about the differences in how numbers could be perceived. Particularly, he notes the complexity and the innate mathematical aspect of French numbers, as well as the different units used in Chinese numbers (ten thousand and hundred million). Lorenzo Sierra and George Wang discuss the different perception and differentiation of colours between languages. They then ponder on whether holism and individualism are ingrained in language and culture. Lastly, they consider how pronouns and genders could be perceived differently depending on language, using the term "Latinx" as an example. To end the episode, they go over the highlights of their last week (camping, gym, awesome book, blog posts, booked flights).