Alex Rawlings - Personalities and Polyglottery: The Many Faces of Multilingualism

Every language we speak is another personality. Speaking another language leads us to see the world in a different way, to adapt the way we behave around other people. It opens up a new dimension of experience to us that our native language cannot quite capture. Or at least, so we are led to believe. Reflecting on anecdotes from the experience of his first year living in bilingual Barcelona, in this talk Alex Rawlings will ponder whether or not speaking another language really does change our personality or our identity. He will conclude with some thoughts on how language learners can successfully tread the line between, say, “Speaking Spanish in English”, “Speaking English in Spanish”, or perhaps something in between.
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Filming & Editing: Simos Batzakis

[@jessicaquinonez4066]

There was a lot of really insightful information is this presentation that challenged the way I had typically viewed the connection between language and identity! 49 minutes well spent!

[@stephwarrick4771]

Alex is extraordinarily eloquent, insightful and interesting. This wide-ranging talk deserves far wider distribution.

[@Ellary_Rosewood]

When I speak Spanish, I feel more confident and extroverted. When I speak Swedish, I feel a bit more happy and positive. When I speak Japanese, I tend to be a bit more mindful in my mannerisms and thoughtful about what I say next, and then I feel a bit sexy when I attempt Brazilian Portuguese. It's such a fascinating subject! 🥰

[@WatkinsWanders]

Very insightful talk, packed full of interesting points and it really went deeper than just language learning.

[@jcs3142]

I fully agree with the content of the talk. The answer to the first question summarises the talk and says it all.

[@adrianstaystrong]

I've watched this talk many times. There is a lot here to think about. Alex gives better and better talks each year as he gains more knowledge and experience. Thank you for the video.

[@o_felipe_reis]

Interesting lecture!

[@jamesasmith2494]

Very good! I really enjoyed this.

[@maureenwiley]

This talk is wonderful! I hope to attend a polyglot conference some day. Alex has inspired me to dig a bit deeper in the languages that I currently speak at that basic level where I have no discernible personality. The idea of a native speaker role model is fantastic.

[@Simona_midulcevida]

I think my personality does change with the language I am trying to speak...I like the idea of reinventing yourself in different languages. Love the discussion. :)

[@ianinjapan2]

Hmm... I have often pondered the differences between a "polyglot" and a truly multilingual/multicultural person, and this talk suggested yet another criterion for distinguishing the two: whether or not "your personality" actually DOES change from language to language. It feels fair to assume that many "polyglots," with their emphasis on "learning languages," would indeed have more of a tendency to just "remain themselves" in whatever language they are using. On the other hand, truly multilingual/multicultural people would at least need to express their fundamental identity-core and its attendant beliefs in quite different ways, in their different languages and cultures. It might even be that there is a "Western"/fundamentally-European Way of being in the world, and that learning other European languages might not fundamentally challenge it. However, having spent the last 32 years in Japan and becoming near-native in the language, I have found many aspects of the Japanese Way of being in the world, and of being with others, to be very different from my Canadian ones, and that I ignore them at the expense of deep, comfortable communication with people here. When we are using the language of another culture -- perhaps especially of a culture as uniform as Japan's? -- there is also a "cultural language" -- literally termed "common sense" in Japanese -- that you also have to know/"speak," and that you ignore at the risk of real communication breakdown. One might perhaps call it an overarching communication paradigm, containing prescriptions for What to talk about, and How, and even Who, Where, When and Why... I suppose you can of course choose how Deep you want to Go into any given language/culture -- and thereby just how comfortable you want to allow the other to be with you: for those who just want the "language" and none of the deeper aspects of the culture and its communication paradigm, well, you can go shopping and order in restaurants just fine. It's like there is an outer ring of Culture and an inner ring of Language, and you yourself are in the very center, trying to communicate with people in that outer ring of Culture. You can be using their Language just fine, but using it so totally differently from the way their Culture normally dictates the use of it, that even if your Language is grammatically impeccable, what you actually end up saying will be quite idiosyncratic, if not ridiculous, insulting or perhaps even incomprehensible, to someone from that Culture. They will not know how to Respond to you, and any deeper communication with them may become impossible. The answer given by some "polyglots" might be, "Well, f**k them and their Hurt Feelings, I have the Right to Be Me in their language too." And I suppose one may indeed have that Right, and perhaps it just depends on just how many deep connections one hopes to make with people in that culture...?

[@Rafael-eo7md]

very nice and clever chap

[@msjennable]

Wonderful theory. I disagree to a level. wonderful theory. Simply put, you cannot have the same extravagance you would in Spanish let alone Italian that you could in Japanese it would seem out of place, and could be considered disrespectful. Language are different facets of one another just like personality is different facets of the same person.

[@Xingqiwu387]

The real problem with so many polyglots is that they can and do say the most boring, inane things in so many languages. There's truly something to be said for CONTENT.

[@TheConspiracyBrah]

Personally I am very tired of "polyglots" who can barely read a book in said language(s), but still have the audacity to go on and claim fluency because they can do basic small-talk or mimic foreign accents.