Mulilingualism and Personality
Language can become a cultural influence that shapes an individual’s personality. For a person who is multilingual, this means that there are several languages that help shape his or her personality. Psychiatrist Frantz Fanon states, “To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization” . When you speak a language fluently, you understand the cultural underpinnings of that society which is then reflected into your personality. Researcher Dieter W Halwachs also found that an individual’s “repertoire” of languages is reflected in their personality as well as part of his or her identity. Personality is not a one-dimensional characteristic of a person, rather, the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive and unique character. Therefore, an individual is unique, but multilinguals have a more dimensional personality due to numerous combinations of characteristics from varying cultures. Seeing as their own adaptation to multiple surroundings and languages may be a distinguishing difference between multilinguals and many of their peers, multilinguals have a personality made up of much more complexity. With this comes the benefit of a broader knowledge of cultures and people, but also the downside of having to bounce between multiple personalities when using different languages.
Read more about this topic: Multilingualism
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