How does foreign language affect the estimates of temporal distance?

Multilinguals think and feel the world differently when they use their foreign languages: they tend to have less emotional reactions and think more deliberately and rationally. One potential explanation proposed by previous studies is that foreign languages create a greater subjective feeling of distance. However, there is no empirical evidence supporting this idea. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate whether foreign languages attenuate the subjective feeling of distance by specifically focusing on the domain of temporal distance. Participants (N = 217) were asked to recall two personal events that happened during their high school years either in their native or foreign language and were tasked to judge the temporal distance of the event. The results showed that when they used their foreign language to recall and recite the memories, participants gave greater estimates of temporal distance compared to when they used their native tongue. This finding held even when controlling for the potential influences of other factors such as objective distance, emotionality, fluency, and vividness of imagery. This study contributes to research on the interaction of language and thought, showing that the status of language (native versus foreign) can influence how people judge temporal distances.