Thinking in a Foreign Language Improves Decision-Making

A simple LLM prompt: “Let’s think about the question in a different language.”

Thinking in a foreign language can improve decision-making:

“[Professor Boaz Keysar] suggests that people employ more careful and deliberative thinking when using their foreign language: ‘You need to make sure that what you say, and how you understand things, is correct.’ And they apply the same attention to the monitoring of their memories, leading them to question the accuracy of their recollections rather than simply recounting the first thing that comes into their heads.” [1]

Prompt: “Let’s think about the question in a different language.”

Originally posted on LinkedIn.

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References

[1] “How learning, thinking in a foreign language improves decision-making.” The Guardian, September 17, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/17/how-learning-thinking-in-a-foreign-language-improves-decision-making