Imagine you’ve traveled to a foreign country. You’re learning a new language—let’s say German or Japanese. One day, you ask someone for directions. The last word they say is the verb—so you have to listen to the whole sentence just to figure out the main action. You think, “If it were in Bangla, I would have understood at the very beginning.”
This isn’t just a linguistic difference—it’s a difference in the pathways your brain uses for thinking. The way you think is shaped by the structure of your language.
A similar scene unfolds in a Dutch class. The teacher tells the Dutch students, “Today we’ll analyze a sentence: ‘I read this article yesterday.’” The students look confused and tired, since the sentence structure in Dutch is entirely different. Here, the verb comes much later—towards the end. The class begins to discuss how the structure of sentences shapes the way our brains predict meaning.
This event highlights the backdrop of a groundbreaking scientific investigation.
Language and the Brain: How Prediction Works
According to Dr. Andrea Martin, a linguist at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, “Even to understand a simple sentence, our brains have to perform very complex calculations.” For example, “I read this article yesterday”—here, a person (I), an action (read), an object (article), and a time (yesterday)—the brain comprehends all of these together in an instant.
In a recent study published in PLOS Biology, an experiment was conducted on Dutch speakers. The research team wanted to find out whether differences in grammatical structure influence people’s habitual ways of thinking. The results showed that Dutch speakers tend to predict the rest of the sentence before it ends—making assumptions before hearing the full sentence. This tendency is comparatively lower among English speakers.
Differences in Language Structure Change Our Processing Strategies Too
Lead author of the study, Kas Koopmans from New York University, says, “In Dutch, ‘Because I ate a cookie with chocolate’ is said as ‘Because I a cookie with chocolate ate.’ Here, the verb comes all the way at the end, so our brains are forced to guess the ending in advance.”
However, Koopmans further states, “No method is better or worse. The brain simply adapts to fit the requirements of the respective language.”
Why Research on Linguistic Diversity Matters
Zixing Li, a linguist at City University of Hong Kong who did not participate in the study, says, “If language models are built solely on English speakers, they ignore the diversity of human thinking.” According to him, different areas of the brain are active in processing Chinese and English—and unless this reality is taken into account, scientific models of language will remain incomplete.
Dr. Andrea Martin says, “When we try to understand how language works, it’s not just about grammar—it’s also important to understand the social significance of language and the structure of thought.”
Final Thoughts: Language Is Not Merely a Communication Tool, It Shapes How We Think
So the question is, how do you think? Does your mother tongue teach you to predict ahead, or do you wait, listen, and then understand the meaning of the sentence?
To answer this, we must recognize that language is essentially a reflection of how our brains operate—and that naturally differs by language. So, as we learn new languages, we might also learn to think differently.
“The structure of language not only teaches us how to speak but also how to think.” — Dr. Andrea Martin
Readers’ Opinions:
“I’m learning Japanese, and I can feel that their thinking process is really different. Perhaps the structure of language truly changes the way we think.” — Abdullah Al Mamun, language student
Sources:
- Scientific American, April 2025
- PLOS Biology, 2025
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