HOW CAN SPEAKING A SECOND LANGUAGE AFFECT US

In his book, Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris recounts his French-learning experience as an adult under a cruel instructor. While desperately trying to master the new language, he feels powerless and vulnerable— almost like an entirely different person. Most people who have attempted to learn a new language can probably relate to Sedaris’ suffering and feeling like a different person.

However, this feeling is not something subjective, i.e. research suggests that our personalities can shift, depending on the language we speak. Olga is a Russian-American immigrant who came to the US at age 19. Today, her experiences with both languages and cultures seem to have greatly influenced the way she feels when she speaks each language. Speaking Russian, she feels guarded, reserved and uncomfortable, while speaking English, she describes herself as curious, outgoing and free.

Olga is not a rare case at all. Thomas grew up speaking English and Spanish and learned French later in his life. He says that when he speaks French, he feels sophisticated, elegant and suave, and his opinion of French people and culture is that they are smart, elegant and admirable.

Countless studies have been conducted on Mexican-Americans, leading to the conclusion that in the vast majority of cases, the five personality traits – extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism – change significantly when the speakers shift between Spanish and English. After further studies, the researchers concluded that it is not the mere nature and elements of the language that affect the personality, but it is mostly the culture in which the language is spoken.