a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by Ay-Nawn
Ay-Nawn  ·  2891 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Dear Hubski, what language do you speak?

    A new language in always in context, and you gain some new personality traits with it. My Chinese expression is more precise and logical than my English, partly because I lack the rhetorical skills to bullshit so I can't really afford to. My (very basic) Tagalog is entirely focused on making friends and diffusing tense situations, because rolling with the punches and making friends fast is an important life skill in the Philippines.

I really like how you've described this element of how you experience the different languages you've picked up.

Would it be appropriate to say that your mindset when jumping into the other languages shifts as well? Into said "personalities" that don't necessarily equate when you jump into another linguistic mindset?





wijwij  ·  2889 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yes, I would say that's fairly accurate. It comes with time as well, it will take a day or two to readjust to a language context you haven't been in awhile -- the cognitive load of those first couple of days is very high.