Now of course, / there isn't just one language in the world, / there are about 7,000 languages / spoken around the world. // And / all the languages differ from one another / in all kinds of ways. // Some languages have / different sounds, / they have different vocabularies, / and they also have different structures -- / very importantly, / different structures. // That begs the question: / Does the language we speak shape the way we think? // Now, / this is an ancient question. // People have been speculating about this question for forever. // Charlemagne, / Holy Roman emperor, / said, "To have a second language / is to have a second soul" -- // strong statement that language crafts reality. // But on the other hand, / Shakespeare has Juliet say, / "What's in a name? // A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." // Well, / that suggests that / maybe language doesn't craft reality. // These arguments have gone back and forth / for thousands of years. // But until recently, / there hasn't been any data / to help us decide either way. // Recently, / in my lab and other labs around the world, / we've started doing research, / and now we have actual scientific data / to weigh in on this question. // So / let me tell you about some of my favorite examples. // I'll start with an example from / an Aboriginal community in Australia / that I had the chance to work. // These are the Kuuk Thaayorre people. // They live in Pormpuraaw / at the very west edge of Cape York. // What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is, / in Kuuk Thaayorre, / they don't use words like "left" and "right," / and instead, / everything is in cardinal directions: / north, / south, / east and west. // And when I say everything, / I really mean everything. // You would say something like, / "Oh, there's an ant on your southwest leg." // Or, / "Move your cup to the north-northeast a little bit." // In fact, / the way that you say "hello" in Kuuk Thaayorre / is you say, / "Which way are you going?" // And the answer should be, / "North-northeast in the far distance. // How about you?" // So / imagine as you're walking around your day, / every person you greet, / you have to report your heading direction. // That would actually get you oriented pretty fast, / right? // Because / you literally couldn't get past "hello," / if you didn't know which way you were going. // In fact, / people who speak languages like this stay oriented really really well. // They stay oriented better than we used to think humans could. // We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures / because of some biological excuse: / "Oh, / we don't have magnets in our beaks / or in our scales." // No; / if your language and your culture trains you to do it, / actually, / you can do it. // There are humans around the world who stay oriented really well. //