this report, our personality shifts as we switch languages. Interesting idea.  But how much of  that  relates to the cultural mores and definitions of how people relate to one another? Learning a language can teach you A-ha there is more than one way to think. And that is because you have to form sentences and concepts in wholly different ways than you are accustomed to. Suddenly it is the construction of the thought that you have to learn to tinker with again, from scratch and at first this can be a very clunky and rigid affair.  It is kind of like having to learn how to walk, you forget the complexity of it all until the ability has been taken away. I don’t mean memorizing patterns for verb conjugations. Think about diagramming a sentence. Then take that model and do it in a different language. The rules change completely.  So too, do our mannerisms because how else can you empathize and assimilate if you don’t show the courtesy of a mirrored response?]]>