Do you have a different personality when you speak a different language?

Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by jacquesm on Wednesday August 11, 2010 @07:09PM (#1596532)

Here's a bit of my experience to back up how hard it is to separate out the cultural aspect: The English singular 'you' has two words for it in German, 'sie' and 'du'.

The first one is used in situations where there is some distance between the speakers, the second when they are (much) more familiar. It used to be fairly unheard of to hear a German 'subordinate' use 'du' to their superior, whereas in English it would be impossible to even express the difference.

So in Germany workplace relationships tend to have a sense of distance between the various strata. Even if you didn't want to change your personality the simple fact that you'd address your superior in this way would make you behave differently (and so you would show a more deferential personality), because associated with that distance are a whole pile of other personal traits.

It's not as strict as it used to be, but the difference is definitely still there.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by samatman on Wednesday August 11, 2010 @09:34PM (#1596862)

Korean and Japanese have several levels of deference, which go beyond a simple dual 2nd person pronoun. There are, for example, different 1st person pronouns which are used for self-reference when the listener is of various social ranks, or under different social circumstances.

In Japanese, for example, a man will say "watashi" for "I" under formal circumstances, and "ore" while getting a beer with the mates.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by sparky on Wednesday August 11, 2010 @07:30PM (#1596586)

Same in Spanish ('usted' and 'tu', respectively).

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by shrikant on Wednesday August 11, 2010 @07:55PM (#1596642)

And in most Indian languages.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by CWuestefeld on Wednesday August 11, 2010 @08:05PM (#1596659)

And French, "tu" (familiar singular) and "vous" (formal singular, or plural).

English used to have "thou", but of course that's long since extinct.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by eipipuz on Thursday August 12, 2010 @01:56AM (#1597347)

Trivia, "thou" was actually the informal pronoun.

On the other hand in Mexican Spanish, "usted" is fading away. It's curious how different cultures get rid of different options.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by hernan7 on Thursday August 12, 2010 @01:29PM (#1598641)

"Usted" is alive and well in Argentinian Spanish. Divided by a common language indeed...

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by antirez on Wednesday August 11, 2010 @09:30PM (#1596845)

In Italian is almost like that: "tu" (familiar) and "voi" (very formal) or "lei" (less formal)

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by mitjak on Wednesday August 11, 2010 @11:51PM (#1597146)

And Russian.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by yread on Thursday August 12, 2010 @04:03AM (#1597526)

And Czech. And Dutch

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by iacvlvs on Thursday August 12, 2010 @05:48AM (#1597660)

And Afrikaans: jy (familiar), u (ever so formal), but u is (or seems to be) falling out of common use.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by gokhan on Thursday August 12, 2010 @09:21AM (#1597987)

And in Turkish. "Sen" ve "Siz".

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by jpablo on Thursday August 12, 2010 @11:12AM (#1598270)

And Spanish, "Tu" vs "Usted" vs "Vos"

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by revorad on Thursday August 12, 2010 @01:02PM (#1598579)

Hindi has three - tu, tum and aap. I explained some of this on my Hindi lessons site - http://hindipedia.com/hindi-video-lesson-04-pronouns.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by ahoyhere on Thursday August 12, 2010 @06:49AM (#1597745)

The problem with the German version is that "Sie" also means "she" and "they". Usted at least does not mean "she."

So, are you talking about your sister… or are you talking to your superior? (My 2nd most hated thing about German.)

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by skalpelis on Thursday August 12, 2010 @12:29PM (#1598492)

Italian also has "Lei" which means both she and you (in the formal sense).

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by c00ki3s on Thursday August 12, 2010 @03:16PM (#1598923)

But English has rules too. Not as clear cut as German, but you wouldn't say 'sup mate?' to you boss, you use a different vocabulary when talking to a superior.

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Re:Do you have a different personality when you speak a diff... by ez77 on Thursday August 12, 2010 @03:38AM (#1597498)

As it used to be in English: "thou" and "you".

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