a) what kind of a person does English make you?
b) do you think a language can have its own personality? (French is seen as romantic, German is seen as strict and so on…does this influence your own personality when you speak the language?)
Yes. When I speak in Spanish I transform into a stammering buffoon.
I tend to mimick posh Englishmen when talking English, and I shouldn't. Talking English gives me the illusion of being witty and sophisticated, which I'm not to a high degree. So I think my English-speaking personality is a bit of a cocky idiot.
My inner Swede is less annoying I think. Maybe just a bit more extroverted than my default personality, for lack of lingual skill. Non-verbal communication and a bit of emotionality help to bring across messages. My foremost hope is that my inner Swede does not become like my inner Englishman. I will keep them in seperate brain halves.
Its weird but in some ways I find it easier to speak in Spanish than I do in English, despite it being my mother tongue. I am fairly shy and I don't like smalltalk, but in Spanish because I am still in the learning process I don't mind it so much and I like speaking to people in the language because I want to improve. Whereas in English I would rather say nothing than speak redundantly or smalltalk.
It doesn't change, it just takes advantage of the extra ways to express myself.
Words may not be a direct translation, but meanings are (supposed to be) the same. We subconsviously adapt the choice of words to suit a culture. The final message is the same.
We are not changing our personality, we are the same person in a different environment. We express ourselves differently because we need to use the words closest to what we want to say.
I like myself when I speak in foreign languages.And when the people near me hear my voice they suprise: Wooow,is it you?
I think English makes me a little beautiful, modern and noodinary:)
