It’s true what you said about structure forcing a person to organize thoughts into a specific format. Mandarin and Cantonese have no verb ‘to be’. So the concept of time is difficult to pin down.
When will it be ready?
- Tomorrow.
Great, thank you. I’ll call before I come by.
- OK.
Hi, I’m here to pick this up. (present ticket)
- It’s not ready.
OK, when can I get it?
- Tomorrow.
Great, thank you. I’ll call before I come by.
- OK.
(repeat ad infinitum)
It is also because of that structure that people choose the language in which they would prefer to write. Arab Christians *never* write to their parents in Arabic and never speak to their children in Arabic. It’s a language they pick up in schools. At home and in church, they speak French. It’s the language of emotional intimacy.
Czech author Milan Kundera writes in French. Nabokov writes in English and then translates his own work into Russian.
I tried to write a story once about a culture that had no word for "death." I had to give up because I couldn't frame the whole idea of life without the other bookend. But what I did develop started getting pretty scary.
I don't think that's language. Similar problems exist anytime white middle class people deal with people from other cultures--eg hispanic. WASP's have a very rigid sense of time. 20 minutes early is way early. Thirty minutes late verges on rude.
It isn't the language. It's cultural convention. It is very difficult, for example, to get our cleaning lady to understand that "come at 2pm" does not mean "come somewhere between 11am and 5pm." It's not that they do not understand what 2pm means in English. It doesn't matter whether you say, "Come at 2 this afternoon," or "Venido en dos de la tarde," the convention is different.
They think my wife is unreasonable. My wife thinks they are flakey. But now we have a bilingual cleaning lady (first language Spanish) who grew up in Florida, es no problema.