Re-learning our grammar? Skills for the future

How easy do you find it to think about and plan for the future? If like me, English is your mother tongue, you have a good excuse for finding it difficult. Research released last week by a Yale behavioural economist has an interesting take on what determines whether you make provision for your future or not. "If your language separates the future and the present in its grammar that seems to lead you to slightly disassociate the future from the present every time you speak" (Keith Chen, Yale University). In English, apparently, we just don't have the grammar to be future-focused, whereas Mandarin speakers do. read more