Does Your Personality Change When You Switch Languages?

If you speak more than one language, you might have noticed something very interesting: you don’t always feel like you are the same person in each language. Maybe you are more formal in one language, maybe more relaxed in anger, or even funnier when you switch languages. But does this mean that your personality actually changes?

Every language carries its own set of customs, traditions, and simply ways of thinking. For example, in Japanese there are many polite forms of speech. People often sound more respectful and reserved compared to how they act in English. When you switch your language, you are also switching the sort of cultural rules that come with it.

SOme emotions and ideas are easier to express when you are in one language compared to another. A Spanish speaker might feel more affectionate when using different words than when speaking in English. The availability of certain expressions is very limited in every single language. So depending on what you are using, you act differently.

Who you are speaking to also plays a huge role. You might use one language with family or at school. Each of those settings brings out a slightly different version of you. That does not mean you are fake, it just means you are adapting to your environment. It is kind of like changing clothes depending on the occasion.

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