Something from a psychology paper I just wrote – it was about effect of culture shock on identity.

There was a passage about a woman who was speaking Portugese, Japanese and English to different groups of people at a dinner party. She reflects on a comment by a guest who noticed that her personality seemed to change depending on the language she spoke. She wonders if she has split-personality, but concludes that all the personalities are hers.

According to the article, people growing up in different cultures acquire multiple sets of behaviours in order to fit in with different cultures. This is an unconscious process and when people first realize what they are doing, they wonder whether they have split-personality.

Interesting thing is, I’ve noticed myself doing the same thing. Languages bring out different personalities because they are so closely related with culture and different cultures call for different sets of behaviours.

The amount of respect accorded to the elderly is reflected in Korean and Japanese (don’t know about Chinsese) through the extensive use of honourific forms. While you can certainly be polite in English and show the same amount of respect in English, with Korean or Japanese, using a whole different form of the language automatically places the other person on a different level.

So if you want to know about the culture of a country, try reading their dictionaries.

9 Responses to “Dictionary Personality”

1. Elliott Back says:

   12/2/2004 at 12:59 pm

   This is a really good piece, Sunny! I know when I’m speaking Spanish my personality will change–although it’s really hard to quantify. The most obvious change is intonation. You’d never believe my Spanish “voice” is my own.

   Reply
2. ESWN says:

   12/5/2004 at 10:56 am

   Here is the even stranger part. I went to a British school elemetary school in Hong Kong, then I attended high school in Australia and after that I lived in the United States in various parts of that country. This means that I can adopt multiple English accents. Most friends and co-workers don’t realize that until they hear me talk to someone from elsewhere. They would tell me afterwards, “Suddenly, you became a completely different person!” It is more than the pronunciation or the choice of words. Its involves a shift in certain attitudes.

   Reply
3. Rich Brewer says:

   12/8/2004 at 3:51 pm

   Sunny — I really enjoyed the piece as well. Back when I was at Cornell (’88-’92), the language lab was in the basement of Morrill Hall, and all of us Asian Studies majors would take up residence trying to learn just one more (in my case) Japanese word or grammatical pattern. Twelve years later, I realize that when it comes to real intercultural communication and understanding, language is often the least of one’s problems. Cultural appreciation and really connecting with one’s listener is 100% more important than having that latest impressive vocab word at the ready. Most American men who go to Japan and start rattling off sentences to anyone who’ll listen eventually catch onto the fact that a) they’re not speaking like those of similar age/position around them, and are probably using female forms of speech, as we were taught, and b) most Japanese men over 30, unless they are a professional public speaker or TV anchor, usually get through the day saying far, far less than foreigners realize. Anyway, if I could go back to my time in Ithaca, I’d write more papers on language and culture (not that many people would want to read them, but what can you do)? Thanks again.

   Reply
4. Toni says:

   12/14/2004 at 4:48 am

   Hi,

   I’m a grad student in psychology, and cultural psych research is my interest. Can you give me information about the article, like the title, authors, date, journal?

   Reply
5. Elliott Back says:

   12/18/2004 at 9:38 pm

   This article was written by Sunny on Wednesday, December 1st, 2004. The title is simply “Dictionary Personality,” and the “journal” is simply this blog, EB Asia. If you’d like more information, please email me.

   Reply
6. Sunny says:

   12/19/2004 at 4:31 pm

   Hi Toni,

   If you want more information, here’s the works cited page from the paper I wrote. Hope you find it helpful.

   Reply
7. Billy says:

   9/8/2005 at 8:36 am

   So what’s wrong in having more than one personality? I think we should diversify ourself when needed.

   Reply
8. Christa Zrenner says:

   11/30/2005 at 11:06 pm

   LOOK AT THIS LINK

   Dictionary Personality

   Reply
9. bdasfo says:

   5/11/2007 at 11:59 pm

   Aloha,great page. Congratulations and keep on the work good.t

   Reply