3 ms·

This is an anecdote of 1, but I grew up in France speaking French and moved to the US at 11. I don't have an accent when I speak English or French. I'm truly bi

This is an anecdote of 1, but I grew up in France speaking French and moved to the US at 11. I don't have an accent when I speak English or French. I'm truly bilingual. I feel like I have way less anxiety, am more relaxed and have more confidence when I speak French, and it's not just the setting. I've done it for long periods of time professionally, on dates, etc.. I don't know if there's anything to this. To me it's always felt like there was.

ryugarden 5y ago
I believe this phenomenon is called “linguistic relativity”, or “The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis” [1], which says that a language affects its speakers' cognition or even personality. I'm probably not truly bilingual, my native lanuguage is Ukrainian, but I too feel as if my personality and behavior is slightly different when I talk or write in English. Further reading: 1 // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity https://qz.com/925630/feel-more-fun-in-french-your-personality-can-change-depending-on-the-language-you-speak/amp/ https://qz.com/925630/feel-more-fun-in-french-your-personali... Chen et al 2010, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167210385360 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014616721038536... Chen et al 2013, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jopy.12040 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jopy.12040 Athanasopoulos et al 2020, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02643294.2020.1769050 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02643294.2020.17... M. Keith Chen 2012, https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3167&context=cowles-discussion-paper-series https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?arti...
earthboundkid 5y ago
I was told I had a different personality in English by fellow Japanese learners. I think it’s sort of common.
gverrilla 5y ago
I'm bilingual portuguese/english, and two completely different personalities. I have a really hard time flirting in english, for instance, when in portuguese it's very easy. Also I always write perfectly in portuguese very rarely mispelling a word, whereas I'm a full blown dislexic in english. I think it only shows how much language is the code of learning.. I learned to read and write both in E|P at the same time, and spoke english daily for 2 years as a child in Africa, but after that I went back to speaking only portuguese in Brazil, and having english mostly for the sole purpose of entertainment. Another notable differences I could notice is that with English I have a much more flexible accent, which can easily vary after spending a few days speaking it on travels.

ryugarden 5y ago

I believe this phenomenon is called “linguistic relativity”, or “The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis” [1], which says that a language affects its speakers' cognition or even personality. I'm probably not truly bilingual, my native lanuguage is Ukrainian, but I too feel as if my personality and behavior is slightly different when I talk or write in English. Further reading: 1 // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity https://qz.com/925630/feel-more-fun-in-french-your-personality-can-change-depending-on-the-language-you-speak/amp/ https://qz.com/925630/feel-more-fun-in-french-your-personali... Chen et al 2010, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167210385360 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014616721038536... Chen et al 2013, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jopy.12040 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jopy.12040 Athanasopoulos et al 2020, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02643294.2020.1769050 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02643294.2020.17... M. Keith Chen 2012, https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3167&context=cowles-discussion-paper-series https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?arti...

earthboundkid 5y ago

I was told I had a different personality in English by fellow Japanese learners. I think it’s sort of common.

gverrilla 5y ago

I'm bilingual portuguese/english, and two completely different personalities. I have a really hard time flirting in english, for instance, when in portuguese it's very easy. Also I always write perfectly in portuguese very rarely mispelling a word, whereas I'm a full blown dislexic in english. I think it only shows how much language is the code of learning.. I learned to read and write both in E|P at the same time, and spoke english daily for 2 years as a child in Africa, but after that I went back to speaking only portuguese in Brazil, and having english mostly for the sole purpose of entertainment. Another notable differences I could notice is that with English I have a much more flexible accent, which can easily vary after spending a few days speaking it on travels.