Does speaking a second language make you feel emotionally detached?

12 hours ago by Sapphy to c/asklemmy

For example you might use swear words casually or come off as insensitive without even realizing it. Your intention might be to give an empathetic or thoughtful response, but instead, you just sound cold

Have you ever experienced this?

Eggyhead 8 points 12 hours ago

Never. You just need to learn the social weight of the words you use in the context your in. I’ve heard 10 year olds shouting the F word in class and their teacher never batted an eye because they didn’t speak English there. Caught me off guard, but nobody “gets” that it’s bad. It’s just a funny sound people say a lot in foreign films to them. Someday they’ll embarrass themselves in an English speaking country and figure it out.

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Sapphy 3 points 12 hours ago

True, though it's pretty normal (and unfortunate) for kids to swear like sailors in their native language

But what I’m actually referring to is the psychological feeling of just being less emotionally attached to your second language when you speak it no matter how old you become

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uKale 4 points 8 hours ago

It might have happened, but people have not called me out on it. I keep far away from swear words while learning a new language.

Something I am struggelig with however, is being seen as less intelligent and less capable because I am speaking with an accent and/or bad grammar. Constantly being seen as less valuable.

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Cheesus 4 points 7 hours ago

This is normally only a problem when conversing with monolinguals. Almost anyone who has expended the immense energy required to learn a second language will understand that language ability and intelligence are completely separate.

That being said, it is a shitty feeling that I have experienced many times.

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user224 4 points 12 hours ago

No. But I find many things sound natural to me in English (2nd) while sounding weird in my native language.

It's not the matter of translation or phrasing, instead it's that I am not used to discussing some topics in my native language, going to the point of feeling uncomfortable to say or write.

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Nemo 2 points 15 minutes ago

No, if anything I sound warmer, because most of what I know is social niceties.

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sam 2 points 5 hours ago

OMG YES!!! I thought this was just a me thing. It happens to me all the time with English and German

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davel 1 point 8 hours ago

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thisisbutaname 1 point 5 hours ago

In some capacity, yes. English is my second language and I noticed it feels different (sometimes) to say or think something in it as opposed to my native language.

I found that sometimes my brain prefers thinking something in English because it feels more detached than doing it in my native language.

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