Association of Linguistic Schizophrenics.
Like a fish in water. That’s how I felt a few days after my arrival in Vancouver. The reason? The apparent lack of obstacles to my integration into this new environment. Language was not a barrier between Canada and myself, and the Canadian culture wasn’t so far removed from mine to make me feel instantly out of place. Finally, the locals in my host city were so friendly that I really couldn’t see any downside to living here.
I arrived in Vancouver on the 3rd of September 2015 for my exchange year at Simon Fraser University where I was going to study criminology, amongst other subjects. I now found myself some 10,000 kilometres from France, and my family and I were overjoyed. In fact, what pleased me the most was to be able to speak English every day. Because I adore English. I have had a passion for the language for years. I became bilingual and I discovered with a sense of wonder the consequence of bilingualism: confusion between the two languages. I dream in English; I think in English. I struggle at times to transpose my thoughts into my mother tongue when speaking to my family or friends from France. Yes, I have become one of those unbearable people who proclaim that “they mix up the two languages – that’s crazy!” Besides, I’ve discovered that in Canada everybody seems ready to converse with one another: in the street, in stores or on public transit. Where I come from this is not only a socially inappropriate action but even a little suspicious. Many times people in France thought that I was Canadian, which was the greatest compliment I had ever received in my life.
To return to the language confusion issue, I had never been as aware of this strange phenomenon as when I found myself in Anglophone territory. How could a language learnt long after my mother tongue sometimes take precedence in my thoughts? Worse, how was it that I acted and talked differently in English? It was from that point that I developed a concept that explains this curious phenomenon: linguistic schizophrenia. I should add that I haven’t filed a patent for the theory and hope no one else has already used this name! But, I have often observed that a person can experience changes in their personality depending on the language they use to express themselves. As for me, I’ve noticed that I’m much more talkative and expressive when conversing with anyone in English as compared to my behaviour when speaking French. My cousins living in the United States for the past fifteen years have confirmed that they have observed the same phenomenon. I don’t have a very scientific answer to explain this mystery.
I’m seriously considering becoming a founding member of the Association of Linguistic Schizophrenics because I believe that society should be made aware of our difficult daily lives.
Coming back to my host city, Vancouver is understood to be the epitome of cultural diversity. I only found this out very recently when surrounded by a number of persons speaking various foreign tongues in an Indian restaurant. I realized just how well the mix was working. Our common link was English and our choice of having found ourselves in this city. I found myself thinking, could Vancouver be the only place where cultures, no matter how different, get along without fighting? Could Vancouver be an example to counter the very popular idea that one can be “too opposed” culturally to the point of it not even being worth trying to get along? I saw in Vancouver a bazaar of cultures that works. I’m not speaking of perfection or complete integration…only of efficient coexistence.
