How many Inuit words are there for snow? 1.. 2.. 200.. it's become the stuff of legends. Franz Boas started the whole thing off claiming the Inuit had 4 words for our word snow. Since then, some online sources have put the figure as high as 200. Who knows the real answer? The point behind the numbers is still important though. Does the thought come first, or the words to describe that thought? And could you think of something new without a name for it. More importantly, do the Inuit experience the world differently from us? Perhaps with an understanding of the Inuit language we'd be able to access new experiences.
The Inuit experience of snow doesn't actually help us understand these issues that much. Lots of languages have more than one word for something. Take English for example, whether you eat food or consume it, your experience is the same. And all languages develop a richer, more specific vocabulary as and when needed. The medical profession is a good example of this or the computer industry. So, do the words you hear influence the way you think? Well the answer is still.. maybe. There’s certainly a possibility that if we allowed a language... a minority language like Inuit to die. We’d lose the secrets it held forever.