Speaking A New Language Means Creating A New Personality

Speaking A New Language Means Creating A New Personality
adamhorton Feb 03, 2015 00:31

I was recently with a British born Chinese friend at a Chinese social networking event and after meeting with several different people speaking with some in English and some in Mandarin Chinese, and some in Cantonese he told me something rather intriguing. He said that he felt the language, tone of voice and behaviour he expressed in English, Mandarin and Cantonese was not completely the same, even when he was essentially saying the same thing in some situations. He believed that the social perimeters are significantly different between the three languages. He learnt like myself to speak Mandarin Chinese as a second language and is now fluent, but as well as learning the simple language and phonetics, there is more to it, the behaviour and attitude needs to be learnt to really comprehend and connect with your second language. I have to say I agree, and it is a good way to feel confident in your second language.

 

Chinese is a language that uses tones, so the correct sound is needed to be understood, but there is a lot of emphasis on words that can enable you to show focus on certain words in a sentence or to show the listener that you are familiar with their way of talking and that you understand the between the lines meanings of what you are talking about or simply that you respect the traditions of the language that simply cannot be taught to foreigners easily.

 

A lot of it comes down to small details, when networking in English, the language can be more formal, but generally more small talk, certainly personal questions will be left until later on depending on the success of the exchange and modesty is normal. The language used in English therefore follows these unspoken cultural normalities. In Chinese, personal questions are easier to ask, it is not rude to ask somebody's personal salary and Chinese people are more likely to show off their personal wealth through the clothes or maybe the handbag they wear.

 

The friend in question told me, it felt like a natural instinct to stick to English principals in the beginning (his native language) but after spending more time in china, he felt the ability to connect more with Chinese principles and they cam naturally to the forefront once he started speaking in Cantonese or Mandarin. It. Therefore, when speaking in mandarin he would be speaking in a more confident and sometimes slightly arrogant way, which I picked up on when hearing him speak mandarin but he adopted a more passive and modest personality once he spoke in English.

 

 

I have already felt this come into play in my own experiences too. Some of these topics may seem slightly sexist or disrespectful, but I simply wish to give them as an example. Having lived most of my live in the UK, I have found it quite normal to talk with both men and women regarding topics to do with history or policy is for example, when trying to introduce these topics with Chinese people (not too sensitive political topics of course!) one Chinese man simply told me quite sternly that these topics should not be discussed with women as they were not interested and would have no opinion. It certainly made me think seriously about this dual personality issue between the two languages, when my friend said that he would absolutely ignore these matters with Chinese women, but happily discuss it with European women democratically if the topic came up.

 

I also often find that in English I will speak quieter and resist talking over people to reserve modesty, whereas in Chinese that approach will render me simply ignored. Speaking loudly and shouting at times is quite normal to do, but for others watching, it seems aggressive and rude. Strangely enough it doesn't feel like that to me and it is difficult to explain in English why it comes to feel like that over time.

 

When I began learning mandarin, I hope this would be a way to bridge gaps with Chinese people but naively presumed it would not change me personally, that I would be exactly the same person, I know believe that to be truly fluent in a language, you must adopted the personality and behaviour of those speakers in you second language.

 

The truth is, it's not unnatural, it maybe simply that bilingual people will organically develop this second personality gradually over time as they get more and more integrated into their second environment. But from a social science point of view, it's something that is interesting to draw attention to and learn from.

 

Tags:Travel Language & Culture

3 Comments

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kuriku

As someone who learned three languages by age 3, I completely agree with this post. I definitely feel that the languages make me sound different and appear different, and changing the manner in which I speak is very difficult. When I speak Chinese I feel like I turn into a little girl who knows better than to speak unless spoken to, and is shy and well-behaved. This has been a challenge to overcome while working at a Chinese company and I don't know if it's something I can change myself or not. All I know is that I dislike socializing in Chinese because I feel that I am not myself.

May 27, 2015 10:57 Report Abuse

qianqianwan

nice blog

Feb 04, 2015 16:02 Report Abuse

adamhorton

Thank you very much

Feb 04, 2015 23:20 Report Abuse