What do you think of the idea that “when you speak a different language, you have a different personality”? I’ve heard many people saying that they don’t feel completely themselves when they speak another language. Do you act or feel differently when you speak in different languages? Sometimes the language itself requires a more polite tone, even though there are always different ways of saying something.
I’ve even heard people saying that it’s more easy to say “I love you” in a language that’s not native for them (people who generally feel uncomfortable saying this phrase). Would you say that it’s less meaningful then?
It would be interesting for me if bilingual people join the topic too and share their perspective.
As for me, I’d say I feel more relaxed and upbeat when I talk to someone in Spanish. And the reason is not that I know this language better, in fact my Spanish is worse than my English. A possible reason could be that nowadays we are expected to know English though. I'd love to hear about your experience too. :)
@Leyla
I'm sorry I have to admonish you. You're English is excellent. I understood everything.
:)
Jessica, it’s great that you’ve found this useful method. :)
And Matteo, thank you for this vivid and emotional explanation.
Hi Leyla, I agree that languages expand our horizons and help us keep learning and improving. And your English seem really good! :)
Lol. Your English is excellent. I really am a native speaker. See! You speak better than me.
That's such an interesting question! I think to a certain extent it's true. I feel like you can sometimes express yourself in different ways in other languages that you can't in your native language because the semantics of language varies somewhat from language to language - hence why we can't fully always translate phrases from one language to another. As a native English speaker, learning Spanish, I feel like Spanish seems much more of a descriptive language in some ways and more romantic in some ways. Even though I'm not fluent in Swahili, I grew up learning/speaking some Swahili from my parents and there are certain phrases we might use that are just really funny and certain gestures we use when saying certain phrases that I just wouldn't necessarily say in English or use that gesture if I were to say something similar in English.
I find the discussion realy interessting. My mother ist french and my father is German. Even After 30 years in Germany she still does not laugh about German jokes. She still does not find them funny and vice versa. I also prefer the French humor.
I only learnd French in School but wenn I speak french I need to speak with my hands to express my feelings. A habbit that I do not have when I speak German. And I do not know why? I have to think about it.
