Editing Multilingualism (section)

===Personality===
Because it is difficult or impossible to master many of the high-level semantic aspects of a language (including but not limited to its [[idiom]]s and [[eponym]]s) without first understanding the culture and history of the region in which that language evolved, as a practical matter an in-depth familiarity with multiple cultures is a prerequisite for high-level multilingualism. This knowledge of multiple cultures, both individually and comparatively, can shape an individual's sense of identity and how others perceive it.<ref name="Hult-2014" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Halwachs |first=D.W. |title=Polysystem, Repertoire und Identität |trans-title=Polysystem repertoire and identity |journal=Grazer Linguistische Studien |year=1993 |volume=39–40 |pages=71–90 |language=de |url=https://unipub.uni-graz.at/gls/periodical/titleinfo/4047899 |access-date=12 June 2021 |archive-date=12 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612113657/https://unipub.uni-graz.at/gls/periodical/titleinfo/4047899 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some studies have found that groups of multilingual individuals get higher average scores on tests for certain personality traits such as cultural [[empathy]], [[open-mindedness]] and social initiative.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dewaele|first=J. |author2=Li Wei |title=Multilingualism, empathy, and multicompetence|journal=International Journal of Multilingualism |year=2012 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=352–366 |doi=10.1080/14790718.2012.714380 |s2cid=32872300 |url=http://www.bbk.ac.uk/linguistics/our-staff/li-wei/copy_of_DewaeleLiWei2012.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009194907/http://www.bbk.ac.uk/linguistics/our-staff/li-wei/copy_of_DewaeleLiWei2012.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Dewaele|first=J.|title=The effect of multilingualism, socio-biographical, and situational factors on communicative anxiety and foreign language anxiety of mature language learners|journal=[[International Journal of Bilingualism]]|year=2007|volume=11|pages=391–409|doi=10.1177/13670069070110040301|issue=4|s2cid=51402969|url=http://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/647/1/DewaeleIJB07.pdf|access-date=9 July 2019|archive-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809112034/http://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/647/1/DewaeleIJB07.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The idea of [[linguistic relativity]], which claims that the language people speak influences the way they see the world, can be interpreted to mean that individuals who speak multiple languages have a broader, more diverse view of the world, even when speaking only one language at a time.<ref name="Grosjean 2011">{{cite web |last1=Grosjean |first1=François |title=Life as a Bilingual |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-bilingual |work=Psychology Today }}{{verify source|date=January 2021}}</ref> Some bilinguals feel that their personality changes depending on which language they are speaking;<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Tokuhama-Espinosa|editor-first=T.|title=The Multilingual Mind: Issues Discussed By, For, and About People Living with Many Languages|year=2003|publisher=Praeger Publishers|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=9780897899185}}</ref> thus multilingualism is said to create multiple personalities. Xiao-lei Wang states in her book ''Growing up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven'': "Languages used by speakers with one or more than one language are used not just to represent a unitary self, but to enact different kinds of selves, and different linguistic contexts create different kinds of self-expression and experiences for the same person."<ref>{{cite book|last=Wang|first=X.|title=Growing up with three languages: Birth to eleven|year=2008|publisher=Multilingualism Matters|location=Briston, United Kingdom|isbn=978-1-8476-9106-4}}</ref> However, there has been little rigorous research done on this topic and it is difficult to define "personality" in this context. [[François Grosjean]] wrote: "What is seen as a change in personality is most probably simply a shift in attitudes and behaviors that correspond to a shift in situation or context, independent of language."<ref>{{cite book | chapter=Living with two languages and two cultures |title=Cultural and Language Diversity and the Deaf Experience | publisher=Cambridge University Press |first=François |last=Grosjean |editor=I. Parasnis | year=1996 |pages=20–37 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139163804.003|isbn=978-0-521-45477-3 }}</ref> However, the [[Sapir–Whorf]] hypothesis, which states that a language shapes our vision of the world, may suggest that a language learned by a grown-up may have much fewer emotional [[connotation]]s and therefore allow a more serene discussion than a language learned by a child and to that respect more or less bound to a child's perception of the world.