In an experiment conducted among people who spoke two languages and posed with an ethical dilemma, it was found that those who heard the question in their native language reacted more on a gut level, whereas those who heard it in their second language were more rational in their choice of answer. This has become the basis of the Foreign Language Effect and suggests that you might engage with the problem at a more emotional level when hearing the problem in your second language. Lester Kiewit speaks to Prof. Mantoa Motinyane, Associate Professor in the Linguistics Department in the Arts Faculty at the University of the Western Cape.