Do different languages light up different neurons for the same concept ? Do clusters of neurons correspond to a certain thought?
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If I have learned anything in an American public education system, it’s that people process things differently, especially differently than I do. Almost everyone I went to school with only spoke English so their experiences are irrelevant, but from the few that did speak other languages, they typically think of it like a mask over the translated phrase, like the word “cabeza” was over the word “head” and to translate you just take off the masks or vice versa. For me, I always translated into concepts in between, so when someone told me a phrase in Spanish, I would parse it, understand it, then try to recreate it using English words. Now when having casual conversation, this way is usually much better, more accurate. But when translating texts, or when more literal and precise translations are needed, I often start describing things in a less precise way such as conflating the words “frozen” and “refrigerated”.
So tl;dr ELI5: for some people like me, no the same words in different languages typically run into the same neurons for the same concept, but for probably most people yes the different words are different and therefore in different places but linked. There can also be other answers that I haven’t noticed. Also I’m not a scientist or anything so my knowledge is heavily based on personal experience
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