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Message board > A question for all teachers
A question for all teachers
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grimsim
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A question for all teachers
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Hello everybody,I would appreciate if you could answer this question:
How do you think the language you speak influences who you are? Examples?
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27 Jun 2010
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lshorton99
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I �m a native English speaker and I �d say it �s influenced me in a number of ways, the most important being:
1 English has more words than any other language. I would say this encourages (as Stephen Fry would say) �wordiness� - I love words, I love using different words, I love expressing myself.
2 Much of English humour is derived from words - puns, double entendres etc. I would say this has had a huge influence on my own sense of humour - what I find funny!
3 English is the international language. As a native speaker, I have the opportunity to work pretty much anywhere in the world. This encourages independences and a sense of adventure, along with my own �itchy feet� where I have to move every few years.
There are probably a hundred other ways in which speaking English has influenced me, but those seem the most important and the easiest to explain!
Lindsey
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27 Jun 2010
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kmochniak
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I �m a native speaker of Polish. I also speak Italian, English and French.
Polish: When I speak it I �m most natural. Not too open, not too closed towards other people. I behave very naturally. English: Speaking English I am very careful with words. I �m much more reserved and (believe it or not) polite. I don �t show my feelings too much Italian: While speaking this language I �m very forward and I use a loooot of gestures:) I tedn to speak very loud, too. French: I speak very quickly and change the tone of my voice a lot. It doesn �t influence by behaviour, though (probably because I don �t speak it fluently). I �m not sure whether that �s what you wanted to know, but this is how various languages influence who I am. Hugs, Kasia |
27 Jun 2010
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s.lefevre
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I had once a Brazilian student who wanted to study German in order to understand better German people and how they work. ( because she was working with Germans)and she told me a very interesting thing. I don �t know if you know that in many ocasions, the verbs come at the and of the sentence. In her opinion, this changes everything in peoples ways of thinking, because you have to know exactly what you are going to say at the beginning of your sentence. This influences the ways people work. She compared Brazilian �s way of working and German �s. She said: if a prblem comes up, Germans interrupt everithing to solve this problem and than go on with their normal work. In Brazil, if there is a problem, people go on with their work and see what happens. Many times the problem has become to big to be solved, so people improvise and find an other solution, which might be completly different from the inicial goal. |
27 Jun 2010
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Aimee/S.
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Wow, I love your question! Thank you for bringing such an interesting topic on the forum!
I speak 3 languages every day and I know that it influences my personality.
1) French: I was born and grew up in... your country! I spoke French at home and at school. I think in French, I count in French and I read, write and express myself best in French. Sometimes it causes me trouble though. For example, do I use "vous" ou "tu" when I meet a French speaker? "Vous" creates a distance, "Tu" is familiar, intimate... Not always easy to choose!
French can make me sound elegant, formal, almost cautious, but with my family, I speak it more in a "North-African" way, higher tone, perhaps, emotions, gestures, using the typical spoken language you must be familiar with... some funny "homemade" translations of certain expressions in Moroccan dialect.
2) English: I �ve been speaking English at home with my South African husband... for the last 21 years! English has allowed me to be exposed to the wonderful British humour, culture, music... I love it. It has broaden my horizons for sure. I can understand many different accents in English and the cuture differences. English allows us to be "cosmopolitan" as we all know. As opposed to French, English makes me feel more relaxed when I talk to people (using "you" is so much easier!) and it triggers a sense of humour and lightness.
3) Hebrew: Hebrew doesn �t require the use of many words like in French. It is concise and direct. There are no distances between people. People who speak it sound familiar and friendly with each other. It is a good icebreaker in a way... For a teacher it isn �t easy though... as children speak in a very familiar and relaxed way to adults, including to the headmaster/headmistress! Discipline is a real challenge...
I hope this helps and thank you so much, again, for your great question! The forum doesn �t attract me too much recently, but today I couldn �t resist answering such an interesting post.
Best wishes,
Aim�e
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27 Jun 2010
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MarionG
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I don �t know about how the language you speak influences you (very interesting observation about Germans vs Brazilians - interesting if that is indeed language induced or the other way around or without connection)
I do think that the fact that a person speaks several languages at a decent level influences the person a lot. Inevitably it opens that person�s horizons............. |
27 Jun 2010
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