"Does Your Language Shape How You Think?"

According to this fascinating NYT article, the short answer is "yes." The only problem with it is that the whole argument departs from a very disembodied understanding of thinking as a purely mental activity. So language "shapes" thought by inducing certain "habits" of thinking. It might be much more insightful to see the whole issue in a different light - to consider the way in which our native language must be influencing our brain wiring. From this point of view, it become clearer why being a native English speaker (a language which - quite unusually - does not assign gender to inanimate objects) may not exactly enhance your emotional connectedness to the larger social and natural world.