Journal

The other day I heard someone said that “when people are using another language, they are given with a new identity.”I'm quite agree with the statement. As a English major, besides using my mother tongue Chinese, most of the time I'm indulged in an English-speaking environment. I think it is pretty obvious that people can be very different when using different languages.

Last semester I was in the Cross culture communication class. Professor Takaya introduced various aspects of Japanese culture and Japanese mind. I observed that it is very different when professor Takaya speaks in English, Japanese, and Mandarin. When he speaks in English, he seems to be more opened to opinions and willing to communicate with others. When he speaks in Mandarin, he seems to be a little bit shy and afraid to make mistakes. And he seems to be more comfortable and confident with Japanese.

I think the reason is quite simple: people are usually more confident with their mother tongue, and then the second/third language they are good at. Therefore, professore Takaya is more comfortable with Japanese and English while I'm better with Mandarin and English. Additionally, each language not only convey meanings but also embeded its cultural context in it. For exmaple, it can be hard for a Chinese to explain what does he mean to an American by saying “burning paper money.”This is because not only the using languages are different, the cultural backgrounds are totally different, too. What's more, the intonation of the language might makes people feel differernt. For exmaple, the intonation of French and English are not alike, which make people feel the person is as if given a new identity. I think that's why people say so.