Language and Identity

October 1st, 2016.

''Language shapes our identity but doesn’t define who we are.'' 

People have been questioning and wondering about this statement for hundreds of years. Part of the problem is that there is more included than only language and thoughts. Culture is also a part of it. Your culture, the traditions, and lifestyle habits, are only few of the things we pick up from the people we interact with. This happens to influence the way we think, and also the way we talk. 

Language can be used and expressed in many different ways and versions in life. It allows us to identify the little things that are part of us. I agree to say that language shapes our identity, as it has grown to now be a way of expressing the truest version of ourselves. However, I believe that only you have the power to decide whether or not you let a language define who you are as a person. Language includes many difficulties, especially for foreign speakers. 

First off, unlike the English language, foreign languages tend to provide more than one way of expressing an idea, as is explained in the article ‘’why do writers abandon their native language?’’ The article gives us insight on how the author followed the transition of ‘leaving’ her native language, which was English, and started writing in foreign languages like French and Italian. This transition was partly based on the ability to express ideas in more precise and different ways. I believe that this shows how a foreign language speaker can face difficulty when having to express themselves in a new language. This will also have it become harder for someone to let language shape his/hers identity to the fullest yet realest extend, as they might face difficulty in grammar, using the right words to express their thoughts, or to simply communicate properly on a friendly level. 

Secondly, for someone who only speaks in their mother tongue, and has done this for their entire life, language will certainly help allow your identity to be presented in the truest way possible. Your language combined with cultural background, traditions, and every day habits, have not been changed drastically, meaning that your identity will remain similar over the years. However, when looking at language independently, it is yet difficult to let this factor define who you are as a person, no matter how experienced you are in speaking the language. Your personal ‘definition’ does not just rely on language. 

Despite the difficulties involved, I do believe one becomes different when speaking another language. A language where the words do not have the feel from our childhood, where the vocabulary is not associated with childhood experiences enables us to look at life in a slightly different way. We even move differently, gesture differently, even perhaps walk differently. In conclusion, I definitely agree with this statement. Language is a powerful factor that can perhaps help shape our identity, but it is too little to have it define who we are as person.