I have an unpublished, unfinished PhD thesis investigating this question. I'm working on getting permission to publish it, but for now I can only give you the summary.<p>The author administered standardised personality tests to people tested as fluently bi-lingual in English and German. Each of the four possibilities was tested. Everyone got both tests, some tested first in English, the others first in German. Each group had roughly equal numbers of those claiming English as their first language and those claiming German as their first language.<p>The data showed two distinct types of behaviour. Some of those tested showed no personality shift at all, while others showed an unmistakable change. There were none who changed a little - either they did, or they didn't.<p>It's been suggested that those who didn't change were, for example, compound bilinguals, whereas those who did were coordinates. Or <i>vice versa.</i><p>The conclusion was that a personality shift for some types of bilinguals is clear and unavoidable.<p>I really hope I can get this material onto the web.<p>ADDED IN EDIT: Separating the effects of cultural influences from those of the language itself is difficult, and the author of the thesis went to great lengths to look for changes based on the language. that's what makes this research so important (in my opinion). My next step is to contact the supervisor(s) of the candidate, but that's awkward. Working on it.
I speak 2 languages fluently and a few others adequately. I definitely think my behavior is a little different when speaking Spanish versus English, but I don't think there are any deep-seated psycholinguistic reasons for this - it's more because of cultural differences.<p>An example: in Colombia, when demonstrating the height of a child, you hold your hand vertically, while when talking about the height of an animal, you hold your hand horizontally. If you do the wrong thing, people may assume you're a foreigner and don't know, or they may assume you're just rude. The fact that I learned to hold my hand a certain way when speaking Spanish with Colombians doesn't mean my personality has changed, it means I've absorbed a cultural lesson and if I do it, I do it because I am trying to fit in.<p>The same things goes for the way in which you express yourself with speech. The way you greet people, how long you make small talk before "getting down to business", how to flirt in a bar; all of these things vary a LOT from country to country and if you want to fit in, then you need to pay attention and learn some things. But again, doing that does not mean that your <i></i>personality<i></i> has changed; you're just behaving differently.<p>One more thing - as somebody who studied theoretical linguistics and speaks the two languages fluently, any time people start making ridiculously subjective claims about a language like "English, a more unemotional and efficient language than Spanish" - keep in mind you're reading complete bullshit.<p>That's like saying the firewire cable that you use to transfer movies from your video camera is more "artistic" than the USB cable you use to attach your hard drive to your computer. It's confusing the signal with the carrier, and making some pretty subjective claims about the signal too.
This seems to be my week to finally "de-lurk" around here.<p>I did a collaboration a few years back on this; it's a fascinating topic. If you're curious to learn more and have access, check out: <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WM0-4DVBH3Y-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1428132340&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b715da28a8ab603d2c951da1a5de90a1" rel="nofollow">http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi...</a><p>I'll see if I can dig up a summary but am on iPhone at the moment.
One issue that comes up with people who speak multiple languages is the way you speak them and the way you are perceived, which in turn lead to a personality shift.<p>Say for example, you are a native english speaker from South Africa. You speak with a normal informal accent. Then you go to study french in a school in france - the french you will learn will be formal school french, and not street french.<p>As a result, people who speak to you in french will perceive you to be a formal, educated person, because of your choice of words. So they will treat you that way, and you will adopt the same formal characteristics as the people who are talking to you.<p>So it will appear that you have a personality shift when you switch languages.
I think it's a lot more cultural acclimatization than language, although the language you're using at the time may "force" a cultural context. I've certainly been different people when living in different places: the back-woods bilingual (English and "sawmill French") Stan of Northern Ontario had a lot in common with the distictly Maritime-accented Stan who lived in Halifax, Summerside and St. John's, but is almost no relation to the Stan who lived in Montreal or the current Torontonian version -- unless you can drag a bit of Newfanese or joual d'scierie out of me in a conversation. When that happens, the "my time is precious", stacatto-speaking urban a-hole melts away and a mellower (yet, oddly, harder-working) kind of fellow takes over. Granted, that's "anecdote", not "datum", but it frames an alternate way of studying the phenomenon.
It's getting more interesting when you have mastered a language to such a degree, that you can think in it. Having lived the first half of my life in Russia and the second in Germany I can think in both, russian and german, and switch between them instantly.
I found out, that I am more happy and more relaxed while thinking in Russian, while thinking in German helps my problem solving skills. Probably it's correlated with my life experiences. I also talk in a higher, more boyish pitch while talking in Russian, while my German voice is deeper.
At parties I often enjoy talking in English, as I have no cultural baggage at all associated with it, and can use it to say things I would hardly say in any other language (knowing how it may be interpreted).
While it has its upsides (being able to switch to another cultural mindset on the fly helps with taking things easy), having two personalities occupying my brain makes both of them less deep, and while it's more or less interconnected now, translating the pieces of information between the languages feels often impossible in polynomial time.
For a few years I dated a girl (translator) that spoke several languages fluently. She would talk with her father on the phone and sort of regress to the age/personality she had when she primarily spoke that language.<p>In English she was a young professional. In Italian she was a teenage girl. In Maltese she was a much younger child. I still wonder if they had a richer communication by going through the languages like that. It was so abrupt and obvious that I loved to sit and listen.
I'm a native English speaker and relatively fluent Japanese speaker. I used to speak only Japanese for several days straight, dreamed in Japanese, thought in Japnese etc. when I lived there.<p>There are words in Japanese I cannot translate to English - any translation just has the wrong meaning outside of the Japanese context.<p>My friends who've seen me speak in both languages say I have quite different personalities in each language. I would say that it's primarily related to the cultural context I learned the words in.<p>In the same way different groups of friends bring out different aspects of me, so too do different languages.
i grew up speaking german and i live in SF.<p>I call bullshit on TFA, because last time I checked the german speaking area was culturally diverse in the traits mentioned.<p>Repeating stereotypes: people in Vienna don't yell and call bullshit on people (they are more likely to talk behind each other's backs), while people in Berlin yell at each other all the time to resolve conflicts (which seems way more healthy to me). These are stereotypes sure, but not more so than the ones mentioned in TFA.<p>So if there's no uniform behavior identifying even stereotypical german speakers, how can this guy pick up on behavior that is different just because of the language?<p>OTOH, hanging out in a culture that is more verbose (or not) about their conflict resolution can surely change you. But that's independent from language.
When I started to get good at my second language (Japanese), I found it easier to be outgoing than when I was using English. Now it's been several several years and I speak Japanese and English every day, though I use Japanese a lot less (maybe 10% of the time), and I think the distinction has gone away. Sometimes I do find myself wanting to use a Japanese phrase when I'm having an English conversation, though.
I definitely have a different personality when I speak Mandarin, a language I studied for a year in Shanghai. I am not fluent, so my spoken mandarin is very simple, but direct, without the fluffiness or sugar-coating that one tends to include in English (my native language). Examples:<p>English: "Would it be possible to get a receipt for that?"<p>Mandarin: "Please give me a receipt"<p>The language helps to reinforce this due to its structure and grammar, however, I find I am more confident, outspoken and to-the-point when speaking in Mandarin. Also, I find I am an incredibly stingy negotiator when buying things, to the point of being a bit of a shit... didn't realise this until a friend came to visit me from overseas.<p>EDIT: Also, I tend to be more respectful when addressing others in Mandarin, using Sir (xiansheng), Master (Shifu) (as in a learned master), Boss (Laoban) etc to give face. Its an immense help and illustrates to me that a little respect and politeness goes a long way.
When working overseas and immersed in a foreign language, I found the processing power required for translation occupied my brain enough that I was less filtered and, as a result, more outgoing. I also picked up a new set of social cues and linguistic mannerisms since I was working with a blank slate of sorts. Both contributed to a slightly different personality.
I think I'm largely myself at my church and with my friends when speaking Japanese, but if it is a business situation, you are meeting a very carefully constructed avatar that sometimes forgets he isn't real.<p>I am insufficiently skilled at Spanish to be doing anything other than trying to speak Spanish when speaking Spanish.
I was in a car with a few friends giving directions to another car that was supposed to meet us. The driver of the other car had a little trouble understanding the directions I was giving and asked if we could switch to English.<p>No problem. I can give directions in English as easily as in the local language.<p>When we were off the phone, my friends in the car remarked with astonishment that I seemed like a different person in English. At most one of them had any English proficiency but they certainly noticed that my manner had changed and my personality seemed to follow.<p>My ex-wife mentioned the same thing.<p>I don't notice it because I'm always the same person, subjectively experiencing the same reality. Evidence indicates, though, that I do have a different personality in English and Spanish.
Interesting Wiki page that is helpful here on code-switching: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching</a>
Another interesting data point. My brother speaks English as his first language, but Mandarin is his primary language.<p>One thing that he found is that when he immersed himself in Chinese culture, he had no problems. However if he went through a period where he hung out with other Americans and Canadians, he shifted back towards his Westerner persona, and would start to have trouble with the cultural differences.
Does anyone have data on how thinking in a certain language relates to problem-solving skills? I know that e.g. for any programming related task I automatically switch to English, even though I'm not a native speaker. I wonder if you could hack your thought processes to be more efficient? Kinda like pick the right language for the right problem, but for natural languages.
I've been living in Spain for 8-9 years now and notice this whenever I go back to visit Canada or even the UK.<p>Interestingly, when we go to foreign places where English isn't the official language I find that I take on my "Spanish identity", perhaps like this author did when using German in the Czech taxi.
I'm definitely much more direct and polite in French. I'd prefer to calculate what I'm about to say a little longer than misspeak the local tongue, so I end up appearing much more tight-lipped as a result.<p>My wife, on the other hand, has spent a lot more time in France than I have, and apparently learned from the school across the tracks--she's much more apt to stutter and fumble with vocabulary (she's got an anecdote about learning the difference between cravat and crevette), but she's much more talkative and seems to get more done with her style.
Well, I do feel much more saucy when I speak Spanish ;D<p>I tend to become much nicer when I switch over to Spanish, mostly because I usually speak it in customer service situations. Spanish is my language to help people. That and I always love the look I get when the pasty Russian girl starts sounding like a Columbian.
I actually try to get a different personality for every language I speak to realize it's a different thing. It helps not to confuse the languages and not to pronounce the common words in the wrong way. My spanish girlfriend is a bit annoyed when I speak spanish like a maccho when I don't speak in english like that at all.
I've noticed that when I speak Spanish (or Japanese) I become a much more outgoing person. I've suffered from fairly bad social anxiety most of my life, but when I switch to another language I don't run into the same mental walls that I do when I speak English.
native english speaker... I feel it easier to be brusk and borderline rude when speaking French, but also appear to be timid and shy in that language, and probably also humorless. In english, i'm the exact opposite