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[00:00.63] Abidemi: So Rory, in the last conversation we were talking about changing your personality and you never said what you thought of that.

[00:08.13] Rory: Well, I think, I think when you learn a language often your personality does change.

[00:13.38] I notice with my students that they often seem quite different when they speak English to when they speak Japanese.

[00:19.88] I’m not sure if that’s a language thing or a cultural thing.

[00:23.88] But I mean you speak more than one language.

[00:26.13] Abidemi: Yes, I do.

[00:26.88] Rory: Do you think your personality is different in each language?

[00:31.88] Abidemi: That’s a really good question.

[00:32.88] Just thinking of it right now, I think maybe for me it’s more a question of the culture because I think when I am in an environment where I’m expected to be more extroverted,

[00:45.88] I tend to try to live up to that.

[00:48.63] Rory: Right.

[00:49.38] Abidemi: I tend to try to be more cheerful, more open, more friendly or friendlier, I should say.

[00:55.38] But when I’m somewhere where I know that it’s expected of me to be quieter, I do tend to become more quiet.

[01:01.88] Rory: Right.

[01:02.63] Abidemi: So I don’t know. That’s a really good question.

[01:04.88] Rory: And do you think there might be something in languages which make them like a more extroverted language or a more introverted language?

[01:13.88] Like I think about Italians – maybe it’s a stereotype of Italians, but they seem to be very extroverted and the language seems to help them in that extroversion.

[01:24.63] Abidemi: That’s true. That’s very true. That’s a good question because I’m just trying to think of culture and languages in general,

[01:32.63] and there’s that debate of how cultures and languages are intertwined.

[01:37.63] Is it the culture that came first or is it the language that made the culture the way it is. So I don’t know.

[01:43.38] I really don’t know. But I would love to read more research and find out.

[01:48.13] Rory: Yeah. I mean, I noticed since I moved to Asia, to countries like Japan and Korea, the people do seem more introverted and the language also seems more introverted.

[02:00.38] So I wonder if the language or like you say, I wonder which came first, the language or the culture?

[02:04.88] Abidemi: And I think to add on to that, when I think of Asian students that I’ve noticed speaking English,

[02:13.88] which to some people is a more extroverted language, they always seem more confident.

[02:19.88] Rory: Yeah.

[02:20.63] Abidemi: They seem friendlier. They seem more open to talking about themselves, their family life.

[02:25.63] But when you talk to them in their native language, it seems like they revert back to their cultural norms which would probably be less…

[02:34.13] Rory: Right, yes.

[02:34.88] Abidemi: Yeah, so maybe there is something there.

[02:36.88] Rory: Yeah. And I guess the culture over here in Asian countries is people are less likely to share information.

[02:43.63] There’s less – I mean, in the West especially recently, there’s quite a pressure on you to be more open.

[02:51.63] Abidemi: That’s true.

[02:52.38] Rory: Whereas maybe in Korea, Japan and China, people are more closed and just have different boundaries.

[02:59.88] Abidemi: I’m just trying to think of African countries, like being a Nigerian myself, we’ve had the issue of colonization and where the Western British culture is vaporized.

[03:12.13] So coming from that aspect, I wonder before how we were. Were we more introverted? Because in a lot of ways we’re very similar to Asian cultures and Asian values.

[03:23.63] We have a lot of that as well.

[03:24.63] But now it’s true that being able to speak English and express yourself in a more Western way is a lot.

[03:30.88] It weighs a lot. It means a lot, so people really enjoy that. People really take their value from that.

[03:38.88] Rory: Right.

[03:39.88] Abidemi: So yeah, I think it’s a really interesting topic.

[03:42.88] Rory: Because I mean people often see England or British people as a bit introverted and a bit quiet, a bit cold and yet we share the same language as America.

[03:55.63] And people tend to think that people from North America are quiet brash and extroverted.

[04:00.63] Abidemi: That’s true.

[04:01.38] Rory: So like I said it’s more cultural than language-based.

[04:05.63] Abidemi: Yeah, maybe. Maybe we’ve come to a solution then.

[04:08.13] Rory: Okay.

[04:09.38] Abidemi: We’ve found it. It is the culture more than the language then.