The power of language/First Post

Hello everyone, I just discovered steemit yesterday, and thought the idea was brilliant, because it gives power to individuals to express their ideas. First a little about myself. I am a language teacher/learner in Utah, and have long been fascinated by learning anything. To me language learning is the key to bridging cultural, political, and religious divides. Each of us speaks a language, but what is a language? Do languages affect the way we think and act? I would argue that they do. Languages are inseparably connected to our cultures, our religions, and even our political viewpoints. They affect the way we think about the world, and how we view the world and other people who live within it. Thus, even speakers of English, for example, aren't speaking the same English. We have regional varieties or dialects, we even have dialects which are particular to our hometowns and our families. We use certain words and expressions to signal that we belong to certain groups, and we change our speaking based on who we are speaking with, in order to fit in with the way others are speaking. Therefore, in today's increasingly divided world language is more important than ever. And not just foreign languages but our own language as well. Are we using our words to exclude others or are we using them to bring others together? In future posts I hope to talk more about the world as I see it and how language can bridge the gap between cultures and clans, and how learning a new language can open up new ways of thinking and seeing the world.