Does Speaking a Different Language Give You a Different Personality?

Marcos Calderon
Aug 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Hello readers or I guess reader, I don't know it depends, anyway as I write this down before deadline day and look at the time trying to calculate about how much sleep I will be getting today and regretting not doing this earlier, I remembered something I always ask myself. Do people really have a different personality when they speak a different language? Or is it just me? See I believe this to be true, so I might be a bit biased, but when I speak/write/read in English I am much more confident even if I'm wrong, as for Spanish I am a bit shy and less confident.

According to François Grosjean Emeritus Professor of psycholinguistics, Neuchâtel University, Switzerland, “It is the environment, the culture, and the interlocutors that cause bicultural bilinguals to change attitudes, feelings and behaviors (along with language) — and not their language as such. In essence, there does not seem to be a direct causal relationship between language and personality”. I do not completely agree with the statement made by François, I will use myself as an example, I have been both a student in a English speaking country and a Spanish speaking country, yet I do not act the same way with my classmates, teachers, friends. The true answer is not known, sadly this subject has not been researched enough, so I guess every case is different. I feel that in my case it’s the fact that I am not so confident in my Spanish and also the fact that I have dealt with some mental issues during my time in Mexico.

Well that is all I have for this subject right now, maybe in the future I will pick this subject up again and have much more info. This subject is pretty interesting for me and I believe there is much more to it. As I wrote this last part I realized that I will pick this up again in the near future and investigate much more.

)
Marcos Calderon

Written by

Communication sciences student.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade