Another reach… another “hear me out.”
Being multilingual is neat because you find subtleties in different languages that don’t always translate well. It’s also been said that you have as many lives as languages you speak.
I’m not fluent in any of the languages I speak (except maybe English lol), but I definitely notice a slight personality change with each one. In a way, it almost feels like Transmedia. One version of me in English, one version of me in Farsi, another in Japanese, and still another smaller one in German… and each understanding begets something special.
For example sarcasm is prominent in English but doesn’t really exist in Farsi or Japanese (I think it exists in German but I’m not sure). And even then there’s a noticeable difference between British sarcasm and American sarcasm (guess which one I prefer?). Regardless, it begets a certain personality and character that sets it apart and lets you experiment with the language.
In Japanese I love to learn kanji and make different puns and homophones. I’ve got to study up so I can be fluent lol.
How many languages do you speak, and what personality muscle do you have as a result?
2 people like this
This is very true! Great observation! I find different languages aren't just ways we talk -- they encompass entire attitudes
2 people like this
Thanks Michael David~ agreed, I know some emotions are definitely better expressed in certain languages. It's why I love how enthusiastic Japanese voice actors are in anime and video games, for example.
1 person likes this
Languages are rooted in culture, so even among English speakers, Americans and Australians have different jokes, not to mention slang and experessions. But if you go into another language, those differences can be even bigger.
For example, to sound rude (intentionally or not) in Korean, you don't have to add in profanity, you can just eschew the normally expected formal inflections.
In an English-language movie that saw on Korean tv, one character shouted, "Who the hell are you?!" but the subtitles were the informal version of "Who are you?!" Thus rude and abrasive in the context of speaking to a stranger.
1 person likes this
I love that Michael Dzurak, I know it's the same in Japanese with how you address the second person, as well as how you refer to yourself. But yeah, separated by a common language is always fun to experience; I can kind of understand Dari which is a dialect of Farsi but it always takes me a second (partly because of the accent and partly because it's spoken so fast lol). A kinda famous example of the difference is the word for "hospital"; in Farsi it's "bimarestan," which literally translates to "land of the ill/illnesses", whereas in Dari it's "shafakhaneh," which literally translates to "cure house." Very different attitudes about the same thing lol