“Language shapes our identity but doesn’t define who we are”

This statement has been questioned for hundreds of years. The problem is that there is more to it than only language and thoughts. Culture plays a major role in this. Depending on the people you surround yourself with and interact with, culture, traditions and lifestyle habits are just a few things you can pick up.

Language can be expressed in many different ways. It allows us to identify the little things about us. Language does shape our identity, it is a way of expressing the truest version of yourself. However only you have the power to choose whether you will let your language define you and who you are as a person. There are many difficulties people come across when learning language, expecially for foreign speakers.

Unlike the English language, foreign languages provide a wider variety of vocabulary to express different ideas. This is explained in the article ‘Why do writers abandon their native language?’. In the article the author gives us an insight on her transition of leaving her native language, english, and picking up a foreign language like French or Italian. This transition was based on the fact that changing your language gives you the ability to almost think a different way. This shows us that foreign language easily face difficulties when having to change to a new language. This also becomes harder to let a language shape someones identity to the fullest extent. A few of the many problems they may face might be difficulty in grammar, using certain words to express thoughts, or simple communicate in a proper way.

For someone who has spoken one language their entire life, language truly does help you express your identity to the fullest. Your language, cultural background, traditions and everyday habits do not drastically change, meaning that overall your identity stays the same throughout the years. When looking at language as an individual, it is difficult to let this small factor define you as a person. You as a person cannot be defined by something as small as the language you speak.

Despite all the difficulties involved, one can really change their identity by changing the language they speak. A language we are unfamiliar with, new words than the ones you remember from childhood, where the vocabulary can no longer be associated with experiences you might have had earlier on in life. This all causes us to look at life in a different way. Language can even cause us to move differently, gesture differently and perhaps even walk differently. In conclusion I definitely think language does shape our identity, but doesn’t define us as a person. Language is a very powerful factor, but not powerful enough to define us.