Being a different person in a second language

Marijke Singer wrote:

Thanks for the link, Anthony!

I also become a different person depending on the language spoken in the country I am in.

The most noticeable difference is my volume. When in Spain, my volume goes up and I use my hands and the rest of my body to talk. In the Netherlands, my volume also goes up but in the UK I often feel I am whispering. I had a funny situation a few years back. I was waiting for a train with my girlfriend and all our kids: 5 ranging between 7 and 10. They were clowning around and there was another older couple waiting for the train. My British girlfriend had been telling the kids not to go over the safety line with no effect. I suddenly used my Dutch voice to tell them in English to keep to the safe area. The older couple nearly jumped out of their skin. So did the British kids. My kids must have been used to it because they did not bat an eyelid. We speak Dutch at home.

Anthony Green wrote:
As a Brit livng in Italy for the last years, it has often struck me what a different person I am in one language and in another.

sarahl wrote:

Interesting topic!

The way I see it, a language carries a culture with it, and we probably switch that culture on, so to speak, when we switch languages as we learn the culture along with the language, usually.

Mara Bertelsen wrote:

I often refer to "my linguistic selves" How different I am when I catch up with my Canadian (English speaking) girlfriends compared to my day-to-day French existence. In English I am seen as somewhat of a leader, I have a wacky, sarcastic sense of humour, I am more spontaneous: this is normal to my English-speaking friends. In French life I am more timid, more reserved. At first I thought this was because I was less comfortable with the language, but now I don't think so anymore, after 10 years living with a Frenchman in a French village, raising 2 French kids, I can say that I am pretty darn comfy.

sarahl wrote:
The surrounding culture is probably the key to our behavior.

Susana Galilea wrote:

A thought regarding the above: I grew up in Spain in a fully bilingual and bicultural setting, as my mother was French and insisted we all attend the French education system. We spoke both Spanish and French at home indistinctly, and often visited with relatives across the Pyrenees. I honestly don't remember ever feeling a split between these languages/cultures, but I certainly feel it between my current "incarnation" in the U.S., and the personality I revert to when I spend any time in Spain. This makes me wonder if the phenomenon is more prevalent when the other language/culture is adopted later in life, as a fully formed adult, as opposed to something one experiences from childhood. What do you think?

Susana

Marijke Singer wrote:
Maybe this is why we are good translators since we are very aware of the cultural nuances even if it is on an unconscious level. Does this make sense?

Susana Galilea wrote:

This makes me wonder if the phenomenon is more prevalent when the other language/culture is adopted later in life, as a fully formed adult, as opposed to something one experiences from childhood. What do you think?

Susana