We’re born capable of speaking any language in the world, but we’re not born proficient in any of them. Last month’s column focused on how children master the complex task of learning how to speak. It’s one thing to know how to talk, but it’s quite another thing to know what to say and how to say it—so this column will focus on that issue.

The renowned linguist, S. I. Hiyakawa once suggested that if you want to know about water, don’t ask a fish. Language similarly is so integral to our existence that it’s difficult to back off sufficiently to comprehend what it actually is.

For example, is language essential to thought? Do we think in language, and then also use it to share our thoughts with others? That may seem to be the case, in that we often converse with ourselves as we think, decide, act, and then reflect on what we’ve done.