Multilingualism Influence

In contemporary times, because of globalization and the possibility of long-distance communication and travel, learning more than one language became more of a necessity than just a way of expanding one’s knowledge. It is particularly mandatory for the ones who migrate from their mother land. Research focused on the lives of bilingual persons have highlighted the fact that multilingualism has a great influence on the person’s life and feelings. One article that presents the link between language and self is the one written by Anna Wierzbicka in 2004, Preface: Bilingual Lives, Bilingual Experience, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. Summarizing the article, language is not just a number of words, put together by certain rules,

This results in the language shaping the way of talking, acting or even feeling. Lera Boroditsky visited a small Aboriginal community in northern Australia and observed that the fact that they use cardinal points instead of words such as ‘left’ or ‘right’ determined the development of an ability that people from different parts of the world lack –space orientation. In her article How Language Shapes Thought she says:

A five-year-old in one culture can do something with ease that eminent scientists in other cultures struggle with. This is a big difference in cognitive ability. What could explain it? The surprising answer, it turns out, may be language. The notion that different languages may impart different cognitive skills goes back centuries.

Christoph Harbsmeier uses his experience to illustrate that the echoes a language can have on one’s mind are of such strength that they can cause changes in personality. “A change of language brings with it a change of role. When I speak French, I can’t stop making gestures with my hands. I learnt Danish at Oxford, because my wife-to-be, who is Danish, didn’t like my Anglophone personality: when I was speaking English, I was becoming too intellectual. Fortunately, she liked my Danish personality.” ( apud Wierzbicka ) Some might argue that stating that a person has as many personalities as languages spoken is a bit far-fetched, but more and more researches seem to prove exactly that, doubled by the experiences lived by many bilingual persons. I can also support the statement that language is able to influence oneself by giving an example from my own experience. In writing, when I change the language, I also change my handwriting. When I write in Romanian, I use cursive writing, with rounded and curly letters, whereas when I write in English, I have a tendency to simplify my letters, making them look more like printed ones. What is relevant about this fact, is that the change is made without a conscious intention to do it. It seems like my subconscious senses a difference between