A vast body of research has shown that bilingualism or multilingualism profoundly impacts multiple areas of development and functioning. It affects areas such as executive functioning and cognitive functioning, as well as a person’s interactions, life opportunities, and ability to connect on a more global scale.
Even more striking to me, though, is the ability for multilingualism to so strongly impact an individual’s self-concept. Having grown up bilingual, the influence of language and culture on my identity has proven to be positive and complex all at once. The lack of general understanding around this issue, and my own personal experience with it, tells me it warrants a discussion.
Many bilinguals can readily identify with the differing senses of self that emerge from growing up surrounded by two languages – languages that so richly infuse a person with their associated cultures, communication styles, and social customs. While the overall outcome of this upbringing, in my opinion, is one of cultural understanding, acceptance, and an ability to adopt open-minded perspectives on a variety of issues, it can also impact one’s ability to define themselves in a succinct, coherent manner. And this matters.
In my own household, I grew up speaking English most of the time. On top of this, I attended school in English, so the majority of my days were spent speaking English with friends and family, and absorbing anglophone media.
The larger environment I was surrounded by, however, was French-speaking and infused with an entirely different culture. My neighbors and friends from outside of school absorbed a totally different set of media, and expressed themselves with the idioms, colloquialisms, and attitudes of French-Canadian culture and language. I had a lot of extended family that only spoke French, and my interactions at larger family gatherings consisted of a hodge-podge of expressions, ideas, and cultural ideations that would confuse any unilingual, unicultural intruder.
As a result, my sense of self throughout childhood and young adulthood was nothing short of disorganized. While I, at times – due to the high English input in my everyday life – identified as an anglophone, other days I keenly identified as a French-Quebecer. Expressing the truest form of myself couldn’t reasonably come from acclimating to just one of these two senses of self. The reality was that I was, through and through, a byproduct of two languages and cultures.
The implications of the differing sense of self can be both positive and negative. What is important to keep in mind, however, is that a large portion of the globalized world finds themselves living amongst cultures that, at times, feel at odds with their sense of self. My own experience is not unique – based on conversations with people in Quebec and globally, I discovered that this feeling of being pulled in two directions is more common than not.
We live in a world that oftentimes feels built for the monolingual. Whether it comes to informal social interactions, or communicating in a more formal scenario (like a therapy setting, perhaps), it is easy to feel at times that we should adopt a certain language, attitude, or cultural association depending on the context. There is often a sense of “language pressure” for bilinguals living in a monolingual environment; a desire to fit in with the status quo. While the past decade or so has brought a clear shift towards a more multicultural, globalized way of functioning, the reality that many people deal with a bidirectional, confused self-concept is here to stay.
While this is simply a personal recount of my own thoughts and experiences, the ramifications of failing to consider the impact of language and culture on a person’s sense of self can be huge. The influence of language and culture on an individual is enriching and complex. However, at Conscious Mental Health, we think it’s important to be aware of the feeling of disconnect that can come along with it as well.
Language plays a massive role in how we feel, express ourselves, and identify with the world around us. The first step we can take towards having more fruitful interactions with those around us, is to be conscious – conscious of the malleable, diverse, multi-faceted individuals we are connecting with. Once we are attentive to that, we can look at ways to consciously adapt our communication with this in mind.
And that will be a topic for next time. Stay tuned!
Conscious Mental Health 