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terça-feira, 19 de novembro de 2013

Do language learners develop a new identity as they learn to use a second language?


I have just asked this question on my profile on Quora. Take a look at some of the answers I have got so far (19th November 2013):

For me the answer is "kind of."

On my blog I call myself Wataru Ford. When I made the name, I thought of it as a fun little pen name, not a significant change in identity. My Quora photo is the kanji for Wataru.

Learning Japanese has made me analyze, and in a sense, recontextualize my identity. In Japanese there are several words for "I" that carry different connotations of politeness and friendliness. I spent quite a while introspecting in order to figure out which pronoun is most true for me. This process hasn't given me a new identity per se, but it's made the way I understand myself more complex.

Some people feel that they become a different person when they can't fluidly express all of their thoughts. Well, I've never felt that way. I think I've always had a more grounded sense of who I am than most people, even when I was monolingual.

By Marcus Ford.

Not me, but the last language I learned was when 14 yo at high school, being German, after English (7 yo), Bahasa Indonesia (7 yo), Mandarin Chinese (4 yo) now due to disuse very, very rusty, and the two languages in I grew up in being dialectic Jakartan Malay and Dutch.

By Liang-Hai Sie.

You asked for the answer but I haven't learned another language enough to be even barely conversational in it. I had 2 years of French about 55 years ago. Also I don't think I know any of the few students I have had well enough to say about them that they have developed a new identity. I'm sure they have changed a little but not as much as anyone would call it a new identity.

By Jack Crawford.

They are using new parts of their brain and also old parts in different ways.  So their mental activities have greater scope.  But I do not think this diminishes there sense of self.  If you ask them who they are,  in any language they know they will tell you the same thing.

By Robert J. Kolker

Yes they do.
you see, when you learn a new language, of some other country are sect,
- you tend to talk to yourself in that language, making yourself comfortable.
- you learn what is good and bad for the native speakers of the language, their beliefs, ways etc.
- I lived in Indonesia and while learning bahasa Indonesia I started to get to know more about the people there, most importantly their religion - Islam, (I am an Indian Hindu and knew little about Islam). when you learn new things it changes your way of thinking towards that thing of which you had notion which was merely based on rumors and not facts.

By Vivek Sharma.

I would like to put more fuel for the fire, so, do you people think that language learners develop a new identity as they learn to use a second language?

If you read this one and would like to leave your opinion or thought here, I would be deeply honored in reading it.

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