Why can't many expressions be translated verbatim from Russian into English? In foreign language classes, such a literal translation is called a "calaca", and teachers say that "this is not the way to speak English". The question - why do our linguistic pictures of the world differ? And how are they "mixed" in people who have been speaking both languages since childhood? That is, bilinguals.
Why our linguistic pictures of the world don't match up
To begin with, let's understand what is meant by the concept of "linguistic picture of the world". There are several theories about how humans started using language. But one thing is certain - it is the most ancient skill, which we use by default, from birth. And at the moment, there are more than 7000 languages. It means that humans once upon a time long ago divided into many groups and came up with their own system of communicating with each other.
These communities lived on different continents, in different weather conditions and historical epochs. And all this has left its imprint on their language. For example, peoples living in cold regions have dozens of designations for snow and cold. While in the language of African tribes such concepts may not exist at all. However, their language has many words for the nuances of heat or warmth.
In addition, one society may have practiced farming, while another may have practiced hunting. And words that denoted objects of labor or weapons were also reflected in their languages.
Differences of the Russian language picture of the world from the English (American) one
Let's stipulate at once that since English is the official language in the USA, we will compare the linguistic features with it.
So, the very first thing that catches your eye is the different word order in a sentence. There is more freedom in Russian than in English. Studies attribute this to the more flexible thinking inherent in Russian speakers. By the way, Russian is by no means the only language with such flexibility. In some other languages, such as Finnish, Swedish, and Spanish, it is also possible to change word order without losing meaning.
Further, language differences and synonyms for common concepts are interesting. For example, in English there are different words for different parts of the arm - hand and arm. In Russian, a single word "hand" is most often used, and only from the context one can understand which part of this limb we are talking about.
And there are many such examples. We can also recall the construction I have/I've got, which the English often try to translate into Russian as "I have". But it is immediately clear to Russian speakers that they are looking at a foreigner.
Or, on the contrary, the example of like/love. In English, love-like are different concepts, while in Russian you can "love" apples and your grandmother.
What's the deal with that for bilinguals?
As we wrote in the article about the benefits of bilingualism in children, studies show that such people share a common vocabulary. That is, they can equally "retrieve" from memory the words of all languages they speak fluently.
According to scientistsThe cultural characteristics of the language of the bilinguals' environment overlap with their second language. The cultural characteristics of the language of the bilingual's environment are superimposed on his/her second language. For example, if one language is spoken in the family, but another language is spoken at school and in life outside the home.
Thus, bilinguals see the world around them more broadly than other people. At the same time, it happens that there is a bias in one language, a person forgets how an object or concept is labeled in one language. It is important to maintain and keep a balance between both languages of a bilingual so that he or she does not have language obstacles. And this is another reason to develop a second language in a child.
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