{"id":7352,"date":"2023-08-07T12:37:45","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T12:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/104.211.25.86:7097\/language-affects-perception-world\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T10:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T10:34:12","slug":"language-affects-perception-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/language-affects-perception-world\/","title":{"rendered":"How Language Affects Our Perception of the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shutterstock_109054247_resized-300x200-300x200-1-1024x683.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39783\" style=\"width:639px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shutterstock_109054247_resized-300x200-300x200-1-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shutterstock_109054247_resized-300x200-300x200-1-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shutterstock_109054247_resized-300x200-300x200-1-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shutterstock_109054247_resized-300x200-300x200-1.webp 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ask someone to describe a smell, and you will often receive an answer that is vague, confused, overly simplified, or uses other odors as a comparison. Studies aiming to determine how well people can identify smells around them have only seen <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2014\/01\/140103085248.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">success rates of 50%<\/a>, even when using common scents such as coffee, bananas, or chocolate. These results have led researchers to the conclusion that smells \u201cdefy words\u201d and that they do not connect well to the language centers of the brain, but new evidence shows this may not be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">A team consisting of a psychologist and a linguist from the Netherlands and Sweden, respectively, ran tests with speakers of Jehai, a tribal community in the Malaysian Peninsula. The Jehai language has a number of <\/span><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">abstract words that describe smell qualities, much as English has abstract words to describe the qualities of tastes or colors. The tests compared reaction times, type of response, and speaker agreement between sets of English versus Jehai speakers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">It was discovered that both the English and the Jehai teams were able to quickly and concisely come to an agreement about how to name and describe colors. However, while the Jehai teams were able to do the same with smells&#8211; even unfamiliar odors&#8211; the English teams took up to five times longer to find responses that described the smell, and frequently were unable to properly identify the source at all.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">These results suggest that our ability to describe smells is not impeded by a biological connection with the brain, but rather adequate words in our language that would enable us to recognize and delineate the characteristics of odors. The Jehai, having lexicalized these characteristics, have no problem describing smells.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This raises interesting questions about language use and perception. It\u2019s commonly accepted that everyone sees the world through the lens of their own personal experiences, cultural background, and by the constraints of their language. How might individual languages impact the way people perceive their physical environment or more abstract concepts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Did you grow up speaking two or more languages? We would love to read your thoughts on cultural and environmental perception through language!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ask someone to describe a smell, and you will often receive an answer that is vague, confused, overly simplified, or uses other odors as a comparison. Studies aiming to determine how well people can identify smells around them have only seen success rates of 50%, even when using common scents such as coffee, bananas, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382],"tags":[108],"class_list":["post-7352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-language-perceptionscience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Language Affects Our Perception of the World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Language shapes reality. Delve into the profound influence of language on perception, exploring how our words mold the way we view and understand the world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/language-affects-perception-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Language Affects Our Perception of the World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Language shapes reality. Delve into the profound influence of language on perception, exploring how our words mold the way we view and understand the world.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/language-affects-perception-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Translation &amp; Interpreting Services | Translation Excellence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-07T12:37:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-16T10:34:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/translationexcellence.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shutterstock_109054247_resized-300x200-300x200-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dfb90104da031da49902a6621c1cd90a\"},\"headline\":\"How Language Affects Our Perception of the World\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-07T12:37:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T10:34:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":366,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/shutterstock_109054247_resized-300x200-300x200-1.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"language perception|science\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Language\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/\",\"name\":\"How Language Affects Our Perception of the World\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/language-affects-perception-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/translationexcellence.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/shutterstock_109054247_resized-300x200-300x200-1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-07T12:37:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T10:34:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Language shapes reality. 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