For me, being a language student has for years entailed speaking the target language in the classroom and mainly switching back to English otherwise. However, living in Spain for my year abroad has started to give me a different perspective on multilingualism. Iâve spoken to some friends about this, who feel the same. So, what is this mystery language-learning phenomenon? To put it simply:
To speak like a Spaniard, I change my personality.
This might sound a bit weird at first, but hear me out. Although I can more or less express my own thoughts and feelings through the Spanish vocabulary that Iâve learnt, I feel like communication is more than just informing the listener of your thoughts, etc. It involves body language, intonation, interjections… which is where, obviously, people from different countries just arenât the same. My English phrases and linguistic quirks make up part of who I am, so when I have to replace them, itâs as if a part of me changes. Let me give some examples:
In English, this could be a typical phrase of mine:
âItâs quite a difficult module… I dunno, itâs just a bit… advancedâ
whereas I think a Spaniard my age would be more likely to say:
âEs una asignatura bastante difĂcil, o sea, es avanzada, Âżsabes?â than:
âEs una asignatura bastante difĂcil⊠no lo sé⊠solo que es un poco⊠avanzadaâ.
Maybe Iâm wrong â I certainly donât claim to have gained a complete understanding of all the nuances of Madrid Spanish yet â but from what Iâve seen, Spaniards, especially ones my age, speak in a certain way â theyâre very sure of themselves. Iâm sure they arenât all super-confident, but I do often hear the word âÂżsabes?â (âyou know?â) at the end of a sentence, a bit like when Brits say âyâknow what I mean?â not really expecting a ânoâ in response.
Another example would be the swearing. Here (though Iâve been told that this varies in different Spanish-speaking countries) swearing seems to be a lot less âseriousâ than back home. OK, so maybe âs***â and even âf***â are pretty commonplace in certain settings in Britain, but whenâs the last time you heard an English-speaking parent casually calling their child the c-word in public? Exactly. Even though these words have âequivalentâ meanings in English, they certainly donât have the same connotations, to the extent that I prefer to use asterisks for the English ones but not the Spanish. Thereâs a reasonably large piece of graffiti/art at university, which has been there at least since Iâve been here (4 months), that I haven’t included here, because, frankly, it’s not suitable for work, but itâs a bold declaration of âmi coño, mi decisiĂłn” (âmy c***, my decisionâ), accompanied by a delightfully relevant illustration. Apparently it’s OK that this exists on campus.
Hereâs a quick summary of two of the most common swear words Iâve noticed here:
- joder â (a lecturer to the class as an expression of slight exasperation).
~ f*** (annoyance, surprise, used with friends).
- coño â (used in a âwhat the heckâ type phrase, or from despairing parent to child).
~ c*** (quite rarely used in England, one of the more taboo and offensive words, at least in my experience).
Those of you who know me well know that Iâm not much of a potty-mouth, so having to express surprise like a local just doesnât quite feel like… me. This got me thinking about other languages as well. Being of half Thai descent, Iâve grown up speaking some of the language, and I guess when I do so, I change a bit as well â I become extra polite and respectful, and I reckon my voice even raises pitch.
I suppose this all comes down to the interlinking nature of language, communication, identity and culture. This post has certainly allowed me to reflect, and I hope itâs been thought-provoking or at least interesting to read about my little language/identity-based quarter-life crisis. Any ideas/opinions on this are welcome; now Iâll leave you with your effing thoughts.
Hasta luego!
Annabel, I love your post! I was an Erasmus exchange student in CastellĂł, Spain and really discovered and enjoyed the freedom of these experiences and changing or having more flexibility in your personality when you speak another language. I noticed a big change when I went to Mexico as well. I think this is all part of our intercultural journey. Keep the great blogs coming, loving reading them!