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Second Language Personality Change | ||
Tags: Cultural Identity | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| drahcir Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5615 days ago 29 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 1 of 27 16 July 2010 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've heard some stuff about this before but I'd just like to describe my recent experiences and see if anyone knows anything more about this weird thing which happened to me.
Basically my willingness to speak German has just exploded in the last couple of weeks after spending a week in Germany and meeting some Germans back in my home country. I used to be really hesitant about speaking but now I just don't care at all. I'm actually more confident talking in German than in English, I'll say stuff in German I wouldn't even think about saying in English, and when I think about what it is I've said in English I'm actually just shocked. It's as if I have a different personality in German, like I've just been cleaved in two. I realised my German is actually quite a bit more fluent than I thought, and this sort of added to the confidence and I think I might come across as a bit arrogant. I was recently in a situation where I was switching quickly between English and German and some of the arrogance kind of slipped through into English and I said something quite mean to someone then I was just like "why on earth did I say that?? That's not me at all!!" I even had an argument with a German native speaker about a mistake in German that he made. I am disgusted at myself. Lol now that I've got that out of my system, does anyone else have any similar experiences of being more confident in a foreign language, or feeling you have a different personality? 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5192 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 27 16 July 2010 at 10:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have been told by a former trilingual girlfriend that I was a different person in French, English or Spanish. This is probably an effect of mirroring the culture. I should ask my current Japanese friends what they think...
However, I would generally think that a person would be less confident in the non-native languages than the other way around. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| markchapman Diglot Groupie Taiwan tesolzone.com/ Joined 5283 days ago 44 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Portuguese | Message 3 of 27 17 July 2010 at 1:51am | IP Logged | ||
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What you've described is actually quite common, and is a form of pride, of being able to speak another language. I
had something similar at one time, and was sometimes shocked at what I said. Now you've recognized and are aware of this, it should be easier to avoid in the future. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5488 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 4 of 27 17 July 2010 at 6:09am | IP Logged | ||
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When I speak Spanish, I'm generally much more quiet, polite, and agreeable than I am
otherwise. Why? I don't have the knowledge and confidence to be talkative or express how I feel. Edited by Paskwc on 17 July 2010 at 6:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ilanbg Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6221 days ago 166 posts - 189 votes Speaks: French, English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (classical), Persian | Message 5 of 27 17 July 2010 at 8:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I've noticed in French (raised bilingually, maybe this is different from learning the language later) that I am much
more intimate in my conversations. Maybe it has something to do with the French language itself, but I'm much more comfortable talking about my emotions or saying personal things to people. I've even noticed that when I speak in English to my French-speaking friends/family (when they want to practice their English), I suddenly feel uncomfortable continuing the conversation—I'll often revert back to French. In Arabic and Spanish, I'm more superficial and shallow, and take a much greater interest in topics that would not interest me in the slightest if I were to speak English. I assume this is due to my limitation in these languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stout Senior Member Ireland Joined 5182 days ago 108 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 6 of 27 17 July 2010 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think that there is a point here.When I speak my mother tongue English my voice is a little bit louder,more forceful and my voice is stronger and I'm a little bit more
excitable when I speak English. When I speak my second language French.I am more softly spoken and I am somewhat more calmer.I do think that when you speak a different language there is something of a personality change. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Violaine Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5055 days ago 6 posts - 13 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: German | Message 7 of 27 17 July 2010 at 9:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is a very interesting topic.
My mother tongue is french, and when I speak it, I feel kind of "forced" to look clever. It's hard to explain, but as I speak it very well, I suppose people expect me to be clever and to make sense in what I say. So usually I feel hesitant and shy because I don't want to sound stupid and because I always wonder if what I say makes sense or is worth being said. In English, where I consider being almost fluent - I live in Belfast for almost one year and have been studying English for years and years very seriously - it's very different because I don't really "feel" the language. It's also quite tough to explain, but I feel I do not have as much feeling in English as in french. There is a distance between me and what I say, when I say it in English. I don't feel as involved as in French. So as there is a distance, I feel more free to talk and I can actually be more personal in English than in french. I just feel more confortable because it seems to be that nothing can ever sound silly in English whereas it almost always does in french ! I know it's just an impression that I have but it has a great influence on my personality. In french I feel clever but slightly boring and pretentious ; in English I feel more free to speak, personal, intimate, and confident. I wouldn't say I am more arrogant in English ; it would probably be more the case in french because I know in which context you can use each word and my knowledge is much more serious, so I can sound a bit arrogant I suppose ! 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| drahcir Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5615 days ago 29 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 8 of 27 17 July 2010 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | ||
YES! You really hit the nail on the head there! I completely agree, it's like you 'know' perfectly the meaning of what's being said but you just don't feel it, it goes to your brain instead of your heart. I think the reaspn which causes us to feel more free to talk like this is the same reason that foreign swearwords don't really cut it, if someone says the most profuse swearwords in a foreign language you understand you know what they mean but you just feel a bit indifferent towards the words. That's how it is for me anyway. 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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