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Introverts, extroverts, and languages | ||
Tags: Introvert and Extrovert | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5698 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 17 of 25 15 September 2011 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
This defines me to a T. I've always considered parties and undirected social "hanging out" as a waste of time, but as it's generally very rude to say that, I usually make some other excuse for not being interested in these things. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| janalisa Triglot Senior Member France janafadness.com/blog Joined 6895 days ago 284 posts - 466 votes Speaks: English*, French, Japanese Studies: Russian, Norwegian | Message 18 of 25 15 September 2011 at 9:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes, we definitely do have choices in terms of our actions. Most introverts could theoretically force themselves to act like extroverts and start going to parties all the time, etc. It's not that they're afraid or anything (unless they're shy, which is a different thing entirely.)
Actually it's not that introverts don't like socializing. All human beings are social creatures who need to interact with other human beings to a certain extent. Introverts just don't need as much variety in their social interactions as extroverts seem to crave. Introverts are usually happy having just a few close friends or family members they talk to often, while extroverts are always eager to go out and meet new people and can never have enough friends. (Though of course these descriptions are just caricatures of the two types, and it's important to understand that there are people everywhere in between too.) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5386 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 19 of 25 15 September 2011 at 10:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
We could say similar things of men and women. Generally, women are better at talking and exchanging social pleasantries while men tend to be more circonspect and to-the-point. That might put us at a disadvantage when learning to speak a language, but we all have to deal with our weaknesses one way or another. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| janalisa Triglot Senior Member France janafadness.com/blog Joined 6895 days ago 284 posts - 466 votes Speaks: English*, French, Japanese Studies: Russian, Norwegian | Message 20 of 25 15 September 2011 at 10:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
I guess I must be a man, then! =O 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4914 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 21 of 25 15 September 2011 at 11:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
A lot of introverted behaviour is not by choice, it's in a person's biological makeup. I mentioned autism above. Many people on the autism spectrum would rather be more social, but they just don't have the skills. You might as well ask them to be taller as ask them to read people's facial expressions. Some are happy to be on their own or with a few friends, others less so. But it is very difficult to learn social interaction if it doesn't come naturally. Edited by Jeffers on 15 September 2011 at 11:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6555 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 22 of 25 15 September 2011 at 11:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Like Iversen, I also find it intriguing. I find the comparison between male and female, old and young, blood types,
etc interesting too. I'm not a believer in the "science" behind any of these things, but If it helps you feel better about yourself, more power to you. On the other hand, I often try to change my behavior to improve my language acquisition skills. I would encourage anyone who wants to try to make changes like this to go ahead and do it, and not worry about some theory that pigeon-holes them into a certain type of behavior. Let your own logic guide you, and stop worrying what everyone else thinks. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| janalisa Triglot Senior Member France janafadness.com/blog Joined 6895 days ago 284 posts - 466 votes Speaks: English*, French, Japanese Studies: Russian, Norwegian | Message 23 of 25 16 September 2011 at 9:37am | IP Logged | |||||
Forgive me-- I should have explained myself better, but I didn't mean to imply that everything is entirely by choice. You are absolutely right about autism as an extreme example. To some extent our behavior is ingrained in us biologically as well. I think there are elements of both and it's important to recognize both of them. I also agree with what leosmith says. It's only human to want to use labels (both for ourselves and others) because people and things are just easier to understand and interact with if we can put them into pre-defined categories. After being misunderstood by everyone around you and even yourself for years, discovering a pre-defined term that explains you and your behavior can bring a feeling of deep relief and liberation. You can say "There's nothing wrong with me-- there's a reason why I'm like this." But ultimately I do think we need to break free of the boundaries of such labels and just try to understand ourselves as ourselves. It's important to try pushing those boundaries once in a while to see if they really are holding us back as much as we think. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4914 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 24 of 25 16 September 2011 at 4:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree, Janalisa. Labels can be helpful, but they shouldn't be a sentence. Everyone has limits, but everyone can stretch those limits, sometimes to a remarkable extent if they work hard at it. A diagnosis such as asperger's syndrome should not mean that you say, "I can't do that, because I'm autistic." Rather you could say, "I now know why I struggle to do X, but I know I have other strengths as well." John Elder Robison, who has asperger's, has written an excellent book about his experiences overcoming his difficulties. The book focuses on embracing your strenths, being happy with who you are, and learning to get along in life. Here's a link: Be Different, Adventures of a Free Range Aspergian... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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