Word of Mouth

Chris Ledgard explores the idea that the language we speak shapes the way we are and the way we see the world: that we really are different in different languages. The programme visits a group of Asian women at home to hear about all the languages they speak, and how they manage to switch effortlessly between them. We talk to the professor who is leading research into the idea that the actual structure of our language makes a difference to the way we think. And we hear from an Australian expert who believes that the difficulty of the English system of numbers puts English-speaking children at a disadvantage when it comes to learning to count.