Leslie Forman
November 15, 2010 — By Leslie Forman

Found in Translation: How does your personality change when you speak different languages?

I like this post by Jina Moore, a journalist based in Africa, about how she sounds different when she speaks different languages. It’s almost like that now in Kinyarwanda, where my vocabulary is more limited and so the words I know pop out, like the accented notes in a Hindemith counterpoint, and I can use […]

Photo of Malaika Millions, "a beguiling, vitriolic vixen," chosen because she appears to be clearly communicating her contentment. Source: In the House Festival 2007

I like this post by Jina Moore, a journalist based in Africa, about how she sounds different when she speaks different languages.

It’s almost like that now in Kinyarwanda, where my vocabulary is more limited and so the words I know pop out, like the accented notes in a Hindemith counterpoint, and I can use them to anchor myself in the melody and hum along with the tune. And when my own counterpoint fails in my Kinyarwanda conversation with the waitress, we can plaster up the rhythmic holes in French.

Don’t hire me as an interpreter in these tongues, or for the love of God, between them.  But after three months on the road, working in or passing through five countries and eight languages, it’s comforting to cozy up in familiar sounds, to feel at home in these grammars, at least, and to be close enough to get some meaning but far enough, still, to hear the song.

I can’t comment on the sound of the languages she mentions (except for French, which I can understand if I understand the context and know the people involved…) but I can identify with her desire to  “plaster up the rhythmic holes” and “cozy up in familiar sounds.”

Here in corporate China, the bulk of the conversation carries on in Chinese, with the keywords in English: “idea,” “concept,” “marketing,” “campaign,” “fashion,” and so on.  Sometimes the English extends to words I don’t know, like “cosplay” (costume + play) and “SOHO” (individual work at home entrepreneur/freelancer).  These keywords help me plaster up the giant holes in my Chinese vocabulary, even though sometimes I need an explanation in Chinese to explain an idea in the local version of English.

Also, my ideas sound different in different languages.  In English, I tend to discount my sentences with “maybe” and “how about” and “if…”  In Spanish, I sound more flirtatious. In Chinese, I sound like a kid who speaks in simple sentences and adult jargon, maybe ten years old.  I don’t speak Portuguese well or often enough to really have a style.

How do you sound when you speak different languages? Is this a function of the way the words sound, or the personality you take on? I want to hear YOUR stories…