Open questions and dialogue

Andreas, Enes and Neil debating

Team Copenhagen members have encountered such fascinating lecturers that their questions have been both abundant and provocative. However, one member pointed out an interesting observation on translation and "open questions": many fellows tend to pose closed questions with phrases such as "don't you think that..." or *isn't it true that..." in a way that seems to include an implicit value judgement. This may be a consequence of direct translation--or perhaps just evidence that fellows often feel very strongly about the issues that speakers raise. Nonetheless, it is also a good opportunity to pay more attention to our language and remember that truly open questions (for example, "what do you think about..." or "do you think it's true that...") may leave more room for an even more open dialogue.