Why Being Trilingual is Hard.
My daily life includes Korean, English, and Japanese. My mother tongue being Korean, I have learned English for more than ten years (since first grade of elementary school) and Japanese for about five to six years (since second grade of middle school). Most of my daily language is centered on Japanese, but I use English during class, and Korean in my home.
After learning Japanese, what I found out was that I really mixed languages well. I often said ‘baito’(バイト) instead of ‘part time job’, and ‘gen’(限) instead of ‘(class) period’. This started to happen not only with Japanese, but also with Korean. I fluster easily, and when I do, Korean sometimes pops out of my mouth, without noticing.
What I also find hard to do is to change quickly from one language to another, especially between English and Japanese. Changing from Korean to English, or vice versa wasn’t that difficult for me, just before I started to learn a new language. After I started to learn a new language, the languages started to become independent. Mixing the languages was much more easier than transferring 100% into another language instantly.
One another reason on why being trilingual is hard is because my personalities seem to change depending on the language that I speak. When I speak in Japanese, I tend to speak more humble and soft, while in Korean and English I tend to state my opinion more directly. Also, compared to Korean and Japanese, I tended to talk more about myself to people that I’ve met a few minutes ago.
Having alot of languages in your mind kinda messes up with your brain, but it also gives me a lot of information. So my next challenge will be to learn Chinese.