Cultural Bilingualism

[Unkotare]

Some multilinguals report experiencing a different personality or even worldview when communicating in their second (or third, or fourth, etc.) language. Does this match your experiences, and is it real or just a factor of the speaker's attitude and expectations regarding the culture(s) associated with the language in question? Does it suggest a real neurolinguistic effect of bilingualism or is it a social and cultural phenomenon? If a change in brain function does indicate a legitimately different attitude, outlook, or personality trait what does this mean in terms of culture, identity, communication, and how we relate to one another?

 

[Unkotare]

Personally, I think it is more a matter of affectation than any discreet change in outlook imposed by the second language in question.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Might be a real neuralogical thing. Recall something about how Jews who spoke Yiddish outside Israel, the language of exiles, gave it up to speak Hebrew when emmigrating to Israel. Though most modern Jews speak at least some of both, Yiddish being the defacto language of being an exile might well have some emotional component making abandoning it preferable.

 

[Unkotare]

Might be a real neuralogical [sic] thing.

Real neurological things and affective things are very closely related, of course.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Some multilinguals report...

according to whom?

 

[Unkotare]

Some multilinguals report...

according to whom?

Linguists