Internalized thought

Internalized thought

There is a good deal of scientific support for the hypothesis that higher levels of thinking depend on language. Language can be regarded as internalized thought. Most of us conduct an interior monologue, often accompanied by visual imagery. The more educated and literate the individual, the more complex and sophisticated this monologue becomes. It was not until the Middle Ages that people learned to read without reading aloud. Today, talking to or reasoning with oneself is accepted as quite common and there is no doubt that most of this goes on 'in words', whether expressed aloud or not.

We can assume that German, Italian and Malaysian businesspeople do the same thing in their own language. When each speaks, we merely glimpse the tip of a huge iceberg of verbal activity which never breaks the surface of audibility. If you make this reasonable assumption, then you can presume that whatever is said to you will be a brief projection of that inner world of the other person's thoughts. What is said may be grammatically accurate or erroneous in the extreme, but it will be colored by the foreigner's view of reality, this itself influenced by the rigidity of his or her own language structure.

This line of reasoning tends to become somewhat involved - and clearly thought may also influence one's choice of expression - but to clarify the point, one can take a few practical examples.

The German language is a tightly disciplined, no-nonsense entity with long, compound words often expressing complex concepts. We might therefore expect the internal monologue of a German person to be serious rather than casual, concentrating on weighty issues, and resulting in verbalization which will be anything but flippant.

Mobile American

Contrast this with the interior monologue of an American counterpart. The nature of American English is interwoven with the character and history of the youthful United States. American speech or thought is mobile and opportunistic; it shifts quickly for advantage or compromise and excels in casual and humorous shafts. The German will take Americans seriously when they do not intend to be taken as such. A further complication is the deep slide that American English has taken into clichés and 'tough' talk. Such expressions as 'gotta deal', 'gotta be jokin', 'no way', 'full of shit', 'over the top', 'you can't do this to me' and 'give away the store' fail to indicate properly what the American is really thinking, but are verbal escape routes to simplified analyses or solutions not necessarily in their favor.

Britons are guilty of other clichés indicative of near-stultifying vagueness of thought, well designed to convey very little or nothing at all to their foreign interlocutors. Such expressions, occasionally derived from sport, include 'fair play', 'sticky wicket', 'a good innings', 'good show', 'bad news', 'not on' and 'a bit thick'.

Clinical French 1

The French thought monologue is quite different. They have dissected their universe better than most of us and they try to think about it clearly. They know where they are going and what it is that they want. Their clinical vocabulary is conducive to quick thinking, its lack of vagueness leads to a cutting directness, and their ruthless pursuit of logic will often irritate Anglo-Saxons or Japanese, who tend to 'feel their way' towards a solution.

The Spanish speaker's monologue is earthy, emotional and generous.

The wealth of Spanish vocabulary and the wide range of endearments and diminutives (shared with Italian and Portuguese and often untranslatable into English or Finnish) enable the Spaniard to communicate in a warm, human manner indicative of an expansive character and lack of cunning. Exporters should not, however, read this as a sign that the Spanish speaker can necessarily be taken advantage of.

Foggy Japanese

The Japanese have the most difficult task of all in making the transition from their internal monologue to actual verbal utterance. In their thoughts they agonize over striking a balance between gaining advantage and correctness of behavior. Their thought (we can also regard this as internalized speech) has to be polite in the extreme in view of the fact that they are to address others. But the speech mechanisms involved in such politeness often lead to incredible vagueness of expression, so that whatever message they seek to convey may well get lost in a fog of impeccable behavior. On top of that, their formidable battery of honorific expressions - so useful in communication between Japanese - are rendered useless in the face of impossibility of translation, so that their conversation with their foreign counterpart emerges as terribly platitudinous, even if grammatically correct.

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