The Effects Of Multilingual Lifestyle

[Waves]

Hey guys, brand new Butt Monkey here. I've been watching Leo's videos for a while now, and after a recent solo retreat I'm officially committed to the path of self-actualization.

In this post I would like to get into the topic of languages. I'm daily confronted with more than three languages between college, different people, self-help material, music, podcasts,... I notice that I think differently, about different things and express slightly different personalities for each language. I think my behavior when using one language is based on past experiences in that specific language-context: for example while I was improving my English in another country I also developed my social skills and now when I chat up someone in English I generally feel a bit more confident than I would in my mother tongue. 

Since many of you come from different parts of the world, it would be interesting to know how you feel abot this, so I've got some questions for ya:

• Are you experiencing a similar situation? Do you also feel that the English part of you (whatever it is) is more developed?
• Do you notice these incongruences and differences also in yourself?
• Would you say that repeating affirmations (also mindfulness meditation with labeling) in one language has the same effect on our subconscious as doing it in another one?
• Could such a multilingual lifestyle unground your personality?

[JKG]

When I was about 12 years old I started to watch YouTube videos in English and it improved my English skills a lot. Now I use almost exclusively English when I am doing stuff on the internet, like consuming personal development content. Always when I am thinking about personal development stuff, I do it in English. When I want to explain some of those concepts in a friend in my mother tonge its much harder. I also like writing in English much more, especially in my journal. It just sounds much nicer than German.

I guess I feel different when I am thinking in either English or German. My "German self" is very ordinary and less confident. My "English self" on the other hand is rather more developed.

I only use affirmations in English. It just feels better. I don't know what the effects on the subconscious mind are, but I guess that the affirmations go rather to your English self, when you use affirmations in English.

I am currently learning Dutch and it will be interesting to see how my "Dutch self" will develop.

[SuperLuigi]

I think @Shiva summed it up pretty well. I speak English, French and Greek and feel I have a slightly different personality for each! Greek is more loud and "shouty", French more elegant and polite, English is just a mixture of everything.

For personal development, it's hard to use anything but English as all the material (such as Leo's vids) are in English. 

By the way @Leo Gura, if you ever want translation for your videos, I (and I'm sure others) would be happy to help. Perhaps in the form of captions or full-voice overs. Of course, you will have to trust that it has been translated accordingly...

[Mondsee]

@Waves My mother tongue is Spanish, at school I learned German and English, and independently I started studying French and Nahuatl.

For me the most valuable lesson I've had from speaking different languages, is that there are many world views and each one is as valid as the other one. Languages are like filters of reality, and your perception changes with each one of them. Speaking one single language you don't get the opportunity to notice this and open your mind to be more accepting of new ideas.

@SuperLuigi Translating Actualized.org videos is already a thing!

 

[Waves]

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

I guess we can find some disadvantages in using too many languages at once, like not being able to master one properly (getting all the linguistic nuances), but as you guys say, there is definitely a strong positive influence, such as open mindedness, seeing different cultures and thus perspectives, more brain connections,...

@Shiva I'm lucky to live in Switzerland where we have 4 official languages. My mother tongue is Italian and in school I learned French (almost forgot it though ), German and English. At the moment I'm attending a college where the main language is German and although it is difficult to always pay attention and to try to understand, I think that it is paying off. In the future I would like to improve French  and maybe learn Spanish, which shouldn't give me many problems thanks to the similarity to Italian.

Thinking about this matter made me come to the viewpoint that whatever the language of the stuff you learn is, it always comes down to how well you understand it, reformulate it and then embody it. It might take more time with some languages, but as long as you go for it, the result will be that you'll  integrate it in your personality. This is something I have to work through to better make use of self-development material, I guess, since I enjoy more reading and listening to it in English rather than in Italian, and there are a lot more sources available.

[Annie]

@Waves  I agree, the "English person" is the most open one. I always thought German to be a rather ugly language until I read Hermann Hesse and discovered that it can be beautiful when used properly. Spanish is my third language and hearing and speaking it puts me in a relaxed mood, I love the sound of it, it can be very colourful.

@Mondsee Where do you learn Nahuatl? I lived in Mexico several years and I've heard many words here and there and would like to learn more.

[Pernani]

I think I'm going through the same experience here, born in Morocco our native tongue is obviously moroccan, then you learn formal arabic along with french in school, although being pretty decent at both in the beginning I started opening up to american culture and became very fluent in english at a young age, now after years and years of focusing on the language in basically everything I watch or read in the internet I feel like it's become my native language to the point where even my thoughts are in english now, and I can't even express myself like your average moroccan in my mother tongue,you know it's pretty weird having to translate your thoughts to your mother tongue everytime you try to speak to someone ???

My french suffered along the way big time too which sucks because that's our main language when it comes to academics and getting a job, so I'm in the process of re-learning it.

I feel like things would be so much easier if I just live in an english speaking country. Anyways that was a long rant, I'd say you gotta balance yourself along the way so you won't fall into the situation of having to reprogram your subconscious into your native tongue