Our personalities change when we speak another language – but that’s not always a bad thing

Have you ever wondered whether the language you speak influences the way you see the world? Well, according to a number of studies in psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology and linguistic anthropology, it does. Languages don’t just allow us to communicate – they also shape our perception of what surrounds us, and ourselves.

Over half of the world’s population uses two or more languages in their day to day lives. Whether this is because of education, immigration or family, being bilingual or multilingual is increasingly common in our globalised society.

So how does knowing two or more languages affect the way we process emotion? Recent research suggests that each language can make its speakers perceive reality in a different way, and people can even notice a change in themselves as they switch from one language to another.

Other studies have shown that bilingual people may behave differently depending on the language they use. The people talking to them also perceive them differently depending on which language they are speaking.

Emotions in different languages

If you speak multiple languages, you process words that define or describe emotion differently depending on whether you use your mother tongue (which you learned in childhood and predominates your thought and speech) and your second language (which has been learned, either formally or organically).

The mother tongue...

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