THE POWER OF BEING MULTILINGUAL

“You are as many times human, as many languages you know” or “Learn a new language and get a new soul.” 

These perceptions have been crossing my mind quite a lot over the years. Can you notice a slight change in your personality between the languages you speak? Do you feel differently towards certain things whilst you’re dealing with different languages? Questions I have always considered as I swap between my multilingual minds.

I grew up multilingual, and can now speak 3 languages fluently, and 2 on an intermediate level, but now I can definitely understand more than that. Sometimes at first people have trouble understanding my nationality, although it’s always interesting to see their guesses and assumptions. I was born in an international family with my mother from Ukraine (speaking in Russian) and my father from Greece (also speaking both Russian and Greek), and as I have been travelling since I can remember and spent my entire youth in Spain my gestures and cultural influences vary from every part of the world that I’ve kept in me. So I kind of always had to understand and speak in different languages by being exposed to more diverse social experiences, having to study in them and by constantly switching in between tongues, so I can communicate with the people surrounding me, and in my experience each one of them bring out a different side of me. Another character. Another soul.

In my life when I learn a new language, I am not only learning its alphabets, words, and grammar. I have to also learn about the behaviour and specific society’s customs which lead me to realize that it is most probable that I have learnt various languages for different uses. Within my self I found that the different environment, the culture, and the interlocutors caused me a change of attitudes, feelings and behaviours every time I swap languages.

Perhaps on my native language (Greek) I have learned to express myself in one way that’s different from another such as English. For example:

Growing up I had to go to a Spanish/Catalan school, so I had to adapt on using Spanish as a language for my studies therefore, by speaking in it, I always felt that I was behaving in a more organized, argumentative and logical way in comparison with my mother tongue. As in English since it was the first foreign language that I learnt my mind unconsciously began to use it as the easiest way to express myself and to excel in the world of work. Therefore, I would behave more professional and feel much more “business-like” than if I were to compare my behaviour whilst speaking a language learnt as a hobby, like for myself, Italian.

So, next time you’re using your marvellous multilingualism, have a think to yourself about how you’re feeling throughout the time you’re speaking each language. Do you feel more extroverted? Witty? Romantic? Harsh? Perhaps you’ll now feel determined to pick up even more languages to see what personality trait they have to offer to test your alter-ego even further.  

Whatever the reason and use of a language, they definitely influenced my personality, not in a multiple personality disorder way (fortunately) but a bicultural way. In my opinion, the change doesn’t necessary have to do with the language but the culture behind it and that not only helped me understand the world around me but also the world within me.

I have gained so many beautiful benefits but what impacted me the most is the ability of being able to connect, understand and relate with people in a more emotional, personal way and that’s something that has helped me sympathize with every situation I encounter. When you’re able to identify with other people from different cultures, something magical happens within yourself. Communicating in a different language is a gift. Whether we travel for work or pleasure, or stay in our own country, understanding one another without the barrier of language enhances our lives and that of others.

I definitely encourage everyone to learn new languages, to be culturally conscious and to expose themselves into all these new experiences. Language enables you to express your feelings and thoughts, facilitates communication, and allows you to exchange knowledge with others, but remember to fully master a different language, you’ll first need to understand the culture.

I hope this article has inspired you to join the beautiful world of multilingualism and feel its beauty in your lives.

Lots of love,

x Katerina