I'm researching how a Second Language Learner adapts to the culture of the language they are acquiring. As a native speaker of English, how did learning Japanese change your identity? do you have multiple identities - ethnic, age, social status, POWER relations,When learning Japanese as a Second Language, how did your identity change?
It's very difficult to say how much learning the language is part of the identity pressure in Japan. Native English speakers have communities based on profession (most are English teachers in their twenties in similar employment patterns) and also the fact of being expats and westerners. For myself my European identity is strong here, being surrounded by Americana and Americans and Australians. (nothing against them - but I feel the difference).
One difference that does emerge is between longer-stayers who are settled and speak Japanese and the one year people who hang around in the louder foreign bars. Many people I know hate talking to people fresh off the boat, and there is certainly something alienating about their (understandable) underadjustment to Japanese manners and etiquette.
For me, I don't feel that my own identity changed in learning the language. It's kind of the opposite. The more I speak Japanese, the more I am granted an individual identity by Japanese, which I can shape to be my own as much as anyone does in a social situation. The more I feel I can be myself. (Because I can express myself).
One issue with japan is that it's nigh on impossible for a Westerner to turn fully native. I have lived in Russia before, and there it's possible, and I could see how I could have gone that way. Not here.
I don't think I am influenced deep down by the distinctions of power and status that exist in Japan. I am much more sensitive to them, but I don't think I'll ever internalise them.
On the other hand, the notion of face has become more and more internalised. I'm not simply more aware of appearances, but instinctively react to them much more - when people are being put under stress by situations, when people should or (more often) should not be challenged and so on. I get wound up by the aggressiveness of westerners in groups sometimes.
If any identity has developed, it is as an %26quot;other%26quot;, as a kind of protective shell. I can choose when to dip into %26quot;Japanese%26quot; situations psychologically and when to step back.
Added after edit:
I forgot one important thing:
There is one aspect in which my identity has changed, and that has come with marrying into a Japanese family. I am now part of that system - I call my father-in-law %26quot;father%26quot;, and have assumed the responsibilities of a son in that respect.
My wife and I are also about to have a baby (well, she's doing the hard part), which we plan to bring up bilingually. I think that may challenge my identity, as I will suddenly have to be a linguistic foreigner not just professionally, but at home as well.When learning Japanese as a Second Language, how did your identity change?
I am not sure if you would be interested in what I say because I am actually the opposite - Japanese is my first language and English is my second, but I suppose I will tell you what I think.
I was born in Osaka and when I was three moved to Australia. I have grown up with both languages and both cultures, although Australian culture has been more prevalent from when I moved there. I understand both cultures reasonably well, but I think I have a single fused identity more than seperate identities. I prefer to call myself Asian, but I like to use australian phrases and such. I also have a lot more respect for other people than I notice other Australians do, which is a very Japanese thing. I also prefer not to wear shoes in the house, which is Japanese again. But I dislike wearing slippers like is common in Japanese houses, so I suppose I am at the mid-way point in that. As for stuff like age, social status, power relations, that does not really change, those are things which vary incredibly no matter what culture is your first and what culture is your second.When learning Japanese as a Second Language, how did your identity change?
Identity doesn't change at all, you just become a native English speaker who can speak Japanese
