When I was a kid my parents always told me that learning a second language would make it easier to get a job in the future. My native tongue is Spanish and I had always loved English. I took many lessons and I had a lot of fun while learning but I always felt different when speaking in English. I thought it was a matter of practice or fluency, but even after living in the United States for a few years I still feel different every time I switch from one language to the other.
After doing some research I found out that there is a scientific explanation for that: From a very young age our brains are shaped by experience. Language is present in every moment of our life. That gives us a deep understanding of what to say and when to say it. You won't tell that funny story of the first time you got drunk to someone who wants to hire you, or you'll try to hide your emotions when you are upset.
According to a study published by The National Center for Biotechnology Information; Bilinguals feel different when doing daily activities like praying, swearing or even saying I love you in both languages. The research shows that Bilinguals who learned Spanish from their parents and English from school had similar emotional responses to the same experiment. That's because learning both languages from an early age, and being proficient in both makes them have almost the same results. But they suggest that a higher difference was reported when a person learns their native language and then speaks another one with less fluency.
On the other hand, the language we speak and the emotions related to it, it might vary depending on personal experiences. Think about how your parents express their affection? How did your romantic partners express their love to you? The research shows that emotionality will be greater in the language used when going through those situations.
For example, when someone is marked by tragic events during their childhood, it is highly probable that that person will express their emotions in their second language: the French novelist Nancy Huston couldn't use baby talk in English with her daughter. She said that the memories were too strong because her English speaker mom had abandoned her family when she was six.
Speaking a second language affects the way we perceive truth too. According to research, in the native tongue people tend to be more honest. But in the other, they denied the truth and expressed that the statements were fals,e even when they were truth.
Even when speaking more than one language affects the perception of the world and the way to express emotions it can be a tricky matter for those around bilinguals because when talking about emotions anything can happen! So, if you are bilingual now you know why you behave in this way and if you only speak one language this will give you a couple of tips about them!
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