Your personality changes depending on the language you speak.

「Wow！　You studied abroad！　So Can you speak English fluently？」

「Speak some English！　How do you say this in English？　Oh wait. Can you pronounce Banana with an English accent？」

My colleagues said to me like this the other day.

I realized for a long time I had not been surrounded by people who cannot speak English.

Looking back, people around me have some experience abroad , so I was quite puzzled when they asked me the question.

I forgot the obvious fact that the majority of Japanese people don’t have contact with English because it is not necessary for them in their daily lives.

I was so embarrassed to speak English to my Japanese colleagues.

I pronounced Banana ”buh naa nuh” imitating a native speaker and my colleague said, ” Oh, your English sounds like a native English speaker！” I was so embarrassed that I wanted to crawl under the rug( For sure I know my English level)

In the first place, I think it is wrong to require me to speak a natural English( I’m a representative of Japanese English speaker)

Back in my days of studying abroad, one day I was chatting with my friend at a restaurant. All of a sudden, a waiter came up to me and said, “You’re Japanese ,right？”
I responded “ Yes. But How can you tell？” She said, “ Because your English sounds like a Japanese English!” hahaha 

Anyway, I guess there are two reasons why I felt awkward to speak English to my colleagues.

①Embarrassment when speaking different languages among native speakers

**②Your personality changes depending on the language you speak. **

In terms of the first reason, everybody might have this experience.

For instance, at English class , many people have an experience that they are too embarrassment to speak English among Japanese.

In my case, particularly when I didn’t have confidence of my English, this tendency was much stronger I think.

I heard not only Japanese people but also foreigners feel embarrassment likewise before, so this maybe a universal fact .

The second one,”your personality changes depending on the language you speak.” is what I wanna write in today’s article.

Language and national traits are closely related.

In fact, according to a survey by American research teams in 2016,
It revealed that even in the same person, the result of personality test differed depending on the languages he/she used.

Personally I feel like my personality changes when I speak in English and in Japanese.

My personality when speaking in Japanese tends to be

Active listener
Calm and not aggressive
Sometimes be regraded as a quiet person( Particularly from people who don’t really know me a lot）

On the other hand, my personality when speaking in English tends to be

Slightly more outgoing(sociable/extrovert)
Often say jokes
Use more gestures, intonations and exaggerated facial expressions

Therefore, the reason why I was embarrassed to speak English to my Japanese coworker could be I was embarrassed to show my different aspect to people who know my usual personality.

Through this experience, what I have been thinking is that

**It is quite fun to encounter with my new personality by learning new languages. **

For me this is so fascinating.

After my English and Spanish reach at a upper level, I’m tempted to dip into a new language.

**Learning a language will allow me to see a new me. **