Can language affect the way we experience emotions? More than ever, researchers are finding that language not only affects the way we communicate, but also the way that we think (see my previous post) and as has recently been discovered, the way that we experience emotions. This may come as no surprise to those who have grown up in a bilingual household, or are bilingual themselves. As is sometimes depicted in movies and TV shows, although it may be exaggerated, bilingual speakers sometimes switch between languages when expressing or feeling different emotions (think Penelope Cruz in Vanilla Sky).
Recently, Stephen Chen and Qing Zhou, psychological scientists in the United States, published an article about the emotional aspect of “code-switching”, which is the linguistic term for using multiple languages in conversation, in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. According to these researchers, the languages used by parents to talk about and express different emotions can affect the way that their children experience emotions. For example, because it is not common to directly express emotions in Finnish, a parent who speaks both English and Finnish may use English to share feelings of love with children. In turn, these children would come to understand that when their parents speak in English, they are more likely to be expressing emotions.
Although there is still much left to be studied on this topic, I believe that these researchers are on to something. In my own personal experience in speaking with bilingual people, I have noticed that people do tend to switch languages when the emotional tone of the conversation changes. Whether this is due comfort levels, cultural context, or the ability of different languages to accurately express certain emotions, there is still plenty left for researchers to investigate.
This research has many significant implications for linguistics and language. In particular, this shows further evidence of the strong differences in the world’s languages and the importance of using language experts for any translation needs. Trusted Translations, as a Global Leader in Multilingual Translations Services, has access to hundreds of language experts and is happy to provide you with a Free Quote on your next translation project.
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I do agree with you. Sometimes, some words are stronger, or are felt stronger in another language.
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I am sure language affects the way we think and feel.
But it may be hard to compare the expressions of the feeling between languages. We have dictionaries that give matches between languages but it isn’t quite as simple as that. A color that one language considers blue may be green in another.
The article gives an example between Finnish and English:
“a parent who speaks both English and Finnish may use English to share feelings of love with children.”
It isn’t quite that simple there either: the English word “love” has a wide range of meanings. You can love your spouse, child, car, or a brand of fruit juice. The Finnish “equivalent” is a very strongly emotional word that is used somewhat sparingly. The same goes with “hate”: it is a strong thing in Finnish and you don’t use it unless the feeling is … violent. So the Finnish speaker will go for less extreme, or indirect, choices of words.
[...] Traducción del original de JuliaS. [...]
Mijn klienzoon Bilingual NLSp gebruikt duidelijk het Spaans voor de emotionelere zaken, zoals, wat is er op school gebeurd? Maar……la profesora, de Ingles no habla Ingles, ni nada.
Bij gewone gesprekken met mij begint hij in het NL, luistert ook naar NL muziek, maar als hij even ergens mee zit gaat hij verder in het Spaans.
That’s why whenever I used to feel threatened or stressed-out I changed my language to one with which I would be more comfortable. Those shields were always at hand to deal with difficult situations.
As a Spanish speaker married to an American I have to say that I had problems at the beginning of the relationship expressing emotions in English. As one of the comments refers in English the word love is use for everything and in Spanish you have degrees of “love”, specially when a relationship starts. It is difficult to explain but “love” sounded like a shallow word whereas “te amo” sounds a lot deeper in my opinion. Also, when we fight I find Spanish a more satisfying language if you will! Good article, I will take that into account when we have kids!
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