The Language Study- process

Anyone who knows me would know I have an extreme fascination with languages. My first language is Indonesian and my second language is English. These are the two I can confidently say I am fluent in. I can also read (and sometimes write) in French, Spanish, and German. I am currently learning a blend of Serbian and Russian (and I admit Ukrainian sometimes get stuck in my vocabulary). I enjoy learning languages because it offers a new perspective. I enjoy reading something in its original language because I know translations cannot take you all the way to the core emotions and mentalities of the writer. I, and some of my friends, thought I was weird for thinking this. Apparently, my reason had clause to it. Interested in both language and psychology, I stumbled upon articles mentioning how different languages think in different ways. I figured it was due to culture differences since these studies paid attention to monolinguists in their country. I then started to wonder how it affects those who are multilingual.

Sadly, I did not find much on the topic. I came across one article comparing English and German, and how the results of the same test was based on which language the test was taken in. This was a small study in which thirty people were involved. In addition, those bilinguals came from different part of the world. 15 of those were Germans in Germany, taking the test in German. The other 15 were Germans in the UK, taking the test in English. No further background information was given. For this reason, I decided to study this myself. I am conducting a similar experiment to see how people respond to the same questions based on how the questions were being asked. Instead of studying English and German, since I am not connected to many German speakers, I will be studying English versus Slavic languages. I have four versions of the same test; one in English, one in Russian, one in Serbian, and one in Ukrainian. My hypothesis is a different mentality based on which language is being used will be prevalent only if the other language is learned after the age of 20-25. If the person learned the Slavic language and English at an early age, then the mentalities will blend. This is based on my personal experience with multiple languages.

Furthermore, I do not have many participants and if any one of my readers is interested and is fluent in English AND a Slavic language, I would love to have you take the test. There are no wrong answers but please be truthful. I do require you to write your name on the tests to match them up but you do not have to use your real name. Feel free to be as open as you would like on the test. I want the responses to capture your personality and mentality as accurately as possible.

to participate, contact me at: www.fb.com/danciaks or comment below your online contact information