Languages and moods

Different languages have different moods. Many of us feel more dynamic, expressive, or fully ourselves in our mother tongue (and not just due to a differences in fluency.)

This came up in an impromptu conversation during Navigating Emotions at Work last year.

[ NEAW groups tend to be a beautiful mix of cultures due to being online and the nature of the hosts, with me being a Japanese person in France, and Oriana an American in Serbia.]

We talked about feeling different versions of ourselves in different languages. Maybe in one, you’re more formal; in another, more spontaneous. Softer or sharper. Action-oriented or exploratory. Each language pulls something different to the surface.

And instead of feeling like we’re shutting off something by switching languages, how can we see it as a way to increase the range in how we feel, think and communicate?