It is generally agreed that language and culture are closely related and these two notions cannot be separated. People presenting different cultures speak different languages and sometimes, they speak the same language differently, using various dialects. While speaking, a person visualizes things that are spoken. The American linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf was interested whether people speaking different languages see the same things differently. According to him and his theory of linguistic relativity, language shapes the way we think and determines what we think about. The scientist believes that Russian speakers and English-speaking people see the world differently. .
One of the greatest examples which demonstrate that people see things differently depending on the language they speak is the comparison between the idea of snow of an English and an Eskimo person. The Eskimo has many words to describe snow, while the English man has only one. An Eskimo has a specific word to describe the wet snow or the snow currently falling. So, the Eskimo sees and perceives snow differently, and therefore he visualizes and says the word differently. Benjamin Lee Whorf also mentions the Dani people, a farming group from New Guinea. They have got only two words to describe the two basic colors: bright and dark. Therefore, one of these people is not be able to differentiate colors as well as English or Romanian person is able to. .
Giving my own example, I can mention that Moldovan and Ukrainian people have some similar national dishes such as borscht, dumplings, cabbage rolls. The dishes seem to be the same; however they are prepared differently and therefore, look differently. So, to describe one and the same dish Moldovans and Ukrainians would use different words. Thus, Benjamin Lee Whorf's theory is very interesting, it demonstrates that members of different cultural groups not only speak different languages, they also think differently.
