Saturday, 18 July 2009
Are you different in a Foreign Language?
When I speak English I am being myself. When I speak a foreign language I feel I am an actor and can be a differnt person. You could say, the person I am speaking to does not get the real Me. I use the foreign language differently. In English I use language in a conservative way. I rarely make big exclamations such as Wow! Cool! Fantastic! When speaking spanish I love to say Fantastico! Excellente! Que Bueno! When speaking French I can say things using flowery language I would cringe to say in English. Could it be that using a foreign language allows us to express sides of our personality we don't get to express normally? Is it because at some level we feel we are acting, we are not being ourselves so we can risk using language in a way in which we would not use our first language? Although we are 'acting', are we still being ourselves, just showing a different, perhaps even more private side of ourselves? Does a side of me want to be the flamboyant person I am in Spanish, when I am 'being myself' in English? I suspect so, just as the different characters an actor plays allow the actor to explore different facets of their personality. What do you think? Are you a different person when you speak a foreign language?
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I try to be honest. I feel different and sometimes I know I would be more calm or nervous.
ReplyDeleteHi,Corina. I found this information of this site on your italki page. You remind me of the saying: as many languages you know, as many times you are a man. I am learning and teaching English for many years and sometimes it is easier for me to express some idea in English than in my native Russian. I also studied German, some French and Spanish. If you switch over from German to French, it really feels as if you are acting.
ReplyDeleteLilya