In light of some recent interesting comments, I thought I would add some more information from my textbook. According to An Introduction to Language, Inuit actually does not have more words for snow than English does (think of flurry, slush, sleet, blizzard and so on) but “even if it did, this would not show that language conditions the Inuits’ experience of the world, but rather that experience with a particular world creates the need for certain words. In this respect the Inuit speaker is no different from the computer programmer, who has a technical vocabulary for Internet protocols or the linguist who has many specialized words regarding language.” (Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams 2007: 27)

Furthermore, languages such as Hopi, that do not have word endings for specific tenses have other expressions for time. (Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams 2007: 27) So, even though languages are structurally different, most have in common the same ability for expression of a particular language function.

That said, it is interesting, as Blondie ponders, to think about the experience of learning another language. As a pretty proficient Spanish speaker, I do admit to feeling different when I speak in Spanish. I try to adapt to my cultural perceptions of the country where I am speaking Spanish and this influences my behavior. Most of this is culturally related but in some ways, subtracting what I know about language, the flowery and poetic qualities of the language influence my presentation of its delivery and my behavior.