Rob Waring · Web viewThey were given 19 questions which asked about the Subject’s character when she speaks Japanese and English. This questionnaire was made according to the Big

What is the difference between when a Japanese female speaks English and Japanese?: A Case Study.

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Mai Shiraga

2020

Contents

Abstract

Chapter One: Background

1.1 Introduction1

1.2 How people feel different in different languages1

1.3 The Big Five personality traits2

1.3.1 Introduction2

1.4 Previous research4

1.4.1 Nakano (2018)4

1.4.2 Oka (2014)5

1.4.3 Dewaele and Pavlenko6

1.5 Research Questions6

1.6 Conclusion6

Chapter Two: The Data7

2.1 Introduction7

2.2 The questionnaire7

2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire7

2.2.2 Method7

1) Subjects7

2) Questionnaire design8

3) Procedure9

2.2.3 Results10

2.2.4 Interview data23

2.3 Summary24

Chapter Three: The Analysis25

3.1 Introduction25

3.2 Summary of the results from Chapter two25

3.3 Comparing previous research and these data26

3.3.1 About Figures 1 & 226

3.3.2 About Figures 3 and Interview26









3.4 Research questions32

3.5 Implications33

3.6 Limitations of the Experiments33

3.7 Further research34

3.8 Conclusion35

References

Appendices

Abstract

Many people would like to learn English because of globalization and to benefit their chances when job hunting. There are about 7.7 billion people in the world and 1.5 billion (21%) of them speak practical English. Only 3.8 billion (25%) of these speak English as natives, in other words, one in four people in the world speak English well. About 1.12 billion speak English as a second language. This study will look at the learning of a single subject, the author.

The Subject of the study, the Author, has been learning English due to her father’s encouragement for twenty years therefore she could speak English a little bit. But she is not unique. The number of Japanese who are English learners has been increasing since 2016 and now includes about 8 million people over 25 years old.

She thinks people who can speak several languages will act differently when they speak first language and a second language. This thesis sought to ask whether the author's character was different when she speaks English and Japanese.

The questionnaire subjects were only females in their 20s. She created a questionnaire in Chapter Two which asked about "the Subject's personality when she speaks Japanese and English." The questionnaire was answered by 22 subjects who know her attitude and expression in classes and her private life when speaking Japanese and English. Eighteen subjects chose "the Subject feels her personality is more English when she speaks in English." The data showed there was not a big difference, some questions showed a little difference. The reason was the author's basic character did not differ in Japanese or English.

Chapter 1: Background

1.1 Introduction

There are 196 countries and more than 7000 languages in our globalizing world. These days we can learn about each country's culture and languages easily. It is generally said, for example, the Japanese are kind, the French are fashionable and Americans are friendly. Many Japanese celebrities go abroad, to learn English and other languages and say their characters are different when they speak the foreign language which they have learnt.

Each person in the world not only shares a language with others, but also has their own style of speaking, which we call an idiolect. Moreover, each person has their own communication style and personality. This thesis will examine the thoughts other people have of the author in terms of her character, personality and speaking style. The aim is to know whether the Subject's character changes when she uses English and Japanese which will give insights into whether people have different personalities in different languages..

1.2. How people feel different in different languages

People share language with others but also they have their own variation. A dialect is a variant of a person’s language which is used only in a specific area and differs in the use of such things as words or sentences. An idiolect is the way that a particular person uses language - their word choices, speaking style and so on.

A dialect is used by people in each area, for example we would say subway in American English but we would say tube in British English. If they did not know those words when visiting each country, local people could not understand what is said.

An idiolect is a personal way of speaking. People might act and speak differently to their parents or friends, for instance, they may act with calm to their parents but they may act energetic to their friends.

1.3 The Big Five personality traits

1.3.1 Introduction

Since personality is internal and integrated with one’s life, personality cannot be understood only from a person’s profile. Cattell who was an English and American psychologist cooperated with Spearman who was an English psychologist and researched intrapersonal psychological structures in the 1920s thus Cattel could find there are more than 16 factors from “T data” which is a cognitive ability test made in 1949. Eysenck who was a British psychologist and spent his professional career in Great Britain suggested 5 factors and made his "Eysenck personality test" which was improvement with "Moseley personality test" in 1975. Over time, many people have researched this topic and we can see various studies and, finally, the most commonly cited research such as Goldberg who is an American personality psychologist suggests there are 5 factors called The Big Five personality traits. The five factors are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. This test assumes that we can be characterized by The Big Five personality traits. We shall look at the details of each one below.

1. Openness

People of this type are very curious; they would like to learn something new, they have a rich imagination; they would like to create something such as art and also have a feeling for art; they are receptive to art and new ideas or behaviour; they readily accept new things therefore they can learn without much suffering. They have interest in many things, so they enjoy learning new things. For example, the author is a person without religion but she can accept religious speech and the behavior of others.

2. Conscientiousness

People of this type are stable, having a strong sense of responsibility; they take responsibility and do their work diligently; they are particularly fastidious about something and can be perfectionists therefore they often can control themselves to achieve their goals. In addition these people like making plans and move quickly if they choose to. For example, someone might not abandon her work even though she does not like it, because she thinks it is her job.

3. Extraversion

People of this type are sociable and lively; they like to hang out with somebody even if they did not know each other and can be very animated. On the other hand they do not like spending time by themselves and think about something carefully. For example, the author exchanged addresses or phone numbers and hung out with several people who she only met at a one day intern but she could enjoy time with them.

4. Agreeableness

People of this type are thoughtful towards others and their feelings; they are very kind people, collaborative and avoid conflict and try to understand other people's feelings. For example, the author often gives someone a helping hand and then she recognizes their feelings so she usually tries to understand from their words and mean.

5.Neuroticism

People of this type are very sensitive; when they feel stress such as by being nervous or feel some apprehension, their mind and physical health would be worse. For example, the Author is very sensitive when she is called her name by teacher because she should answer a question, but sometimes her voice quavers and body convulses.

Conclusion

In Japan, most people like and believe in fortune-telling, blood type fortune-telling to tell their personality but these cannot really tell our personality, the best way is to use The Big Five personality traits test.

1.4 Previous research

This section will look at how a subject’s affectations change depending on the language as seen through previous research.

1.4.1 Nakano (2018)

Nakano (2018) researched whether there is a relationship between speaking ability and personality. She gave a questionnaire to 30 Notre Dame Seishin University students which asked their motivation for speaking English and checked their personality with the Big Five and then gave them an IELTS speaking test. According to her research, one’s personality is not related to speaking ability. There was no big difference between the people who have quite high speaking skills and people who are not good at speaking English. Thus, she came to the conclusion from the results that motivation was the most important therefore they need just their motivation than speaking skills.

1.4.2 Oka (2014)

Oka researched whether people adopt a different personality when they speak English. She gave a questionnaire to 26 Notre Dame Seishin University students were studying English Language and Literature. The questionnaire was separated into two sections. The first section asked about the background of the subjects such as their TOEIC score or STEP grade and their motivation towards English. The second part asked their personality when they speak English and Japanese and how. According to her research, some subjects realized that they act differently when they speak English and Japanese however other subjects did not have any personality changes when they speak English and Japanese. Eventually, the conclusion from her research, was that most of the subjects change their personality when they speak English and Japanese and become more friendly in both therefore they might gain good opportunities to communicate in English.

1.4.3 Dewaele and Pavlenko

Some people might act differently depending on each language. Dewaele and Pavlenko (2006) tested 1039 bilinguals using the The Big Five. The result was 65% of the subjects answered feeling different when they speak in other languages. For example the subjects got a higher score for Openness, Extraversion and Agreeableness in English than when taking the test in Spanish.

1.5 Research Questions

The following are the two research questions:

1. Does the Subject's personality change when she speaks English and Japanese?

2. According to The Big Five Personality traits, which part of the Subject's personality has the biggest difference in Japanese and English?

1.6 Conclusion

In this chapter we looked at what personality and other things. We also looked at some examples of how the Author’s mindset changes when she speaks Japanese and English. In Chapter Two, we will look at the data from a questionnaire using the The Big Five personality traits that looks at the personality changes of author when speaking Japanese and English so we can understand the opinions of her character's from a third person, such as, how she acts towards friends, her attitude in classes when she speaks English and Japanese.

Chapter 2: The Data

2.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, we looked at The Big Five personality traits and personality switching. This chapter presents the data from a questionnaire about the Author's mindset in English and Japanese.

The previous chapter showed that people will act differently depending on the language because the Author acts differently by herself, so much so that some people said that the Author looked like a different person. On the other hand, the Author will ask someone who knows about her communicating style in Japanese and English because she saw how other people act differently. The author wondered how she is seen by other people.

2.2 The questionnaire

2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire

The aim of this questionnaire was to find out the differences in the way the Author speaks in English and Japanese. She thought her own feelings are different when she speaks English and Japanese. In addition to this, her classmates or friends say to her she does not look like Japanese because she is always powerful so she chose to investigate this topic.

2.2.2 Method

1) Subjects

There are two kinds of subjects. The first was the subject of the experiment, the Subject who the author was. The second are the subjects who responded to the questionnaire about the Subject.

The Subject is a 22 year old female senior of Notre Dame Seishin University English Language and Literature Department. She started learning English in 1999 and has been to Australia, Hawaii and Korea for sightseeing however she learnt English from native speakers. Someone who is not Japanese said the Subject does not look Japanese because of her attitude and her way of talking. For instance the people thought she was outspoken and uses a lot of body language.

The responding subjects of this questionnaire were 22 university students in Japan. They have studied English at school and know the Subject personally. They have seen that the Subject speaks English and Japanese in a class, or when hanging out. The 21 subjects were only in their 20s and were Notre Dame Seishin University English major students, one of which was an English major junior high school and another one who was a high school law major student.

2) Questionnaire design

They were given 19 questions which asked about the Subject’s character when she speaks Japanese and English. This questionnaire was made according to the Big Five traits Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism and the questionnaire asked two questions about each of The Big Five personality traits. Here are some sample questions.

Do you think the Subject will try to do something new (nothing dangerous) that her foreign friend recommends her to do which she was not interested in before?

Does the Subject have a strong sense of responsibility when she speak English?

Even though the Subject didn't have any plan, do you think the Subject will go somewhere (safe like seeing a movie) with someone she doesn't know well? What do you think?

Can the Subject speak with strangers in English in a friendly way?

Can the Subject speak up in English class without hesitation?.

Some questions were answered “Yes” or “No” and most of the questions had five choices to answer. The aim was to examine whether the Subjects’ characters are different or the same because some people have a different attitude. The full questionnaire is in the Appendix.

3) Procedure

In order to collect the data, the subjects were asked to complete the questionnaire. This questionnaire was made using Google Forms therefore they could answer the questionnaire anytime, anywhere. A questionnaire was made according to Big Five in English and translated to Japanese when asking subjects. Before releasing the final version of the questionnaire, several people checked for errors such as spelling or sentence problems. The data was analyzed by Google Forms to find out the Subject’s identity when she speaks Japanese and English.

2.2.3 Results

The following shows how the subjects feel about the Subject's character when she speaks Japanese or English. First, we will look at the data for the subjects’ general background for English.

Figure 1: The data for whether the Subject’s personality is different depending on each language.

Question: When the Subject speaks in English, do you feel the Subject’s personality is more like a typical English person or a Japanese person? For example, Is the Subject more direct with her opinions in English, and more quiet in Japanese.

Red: the Subject feels her personality is more English when she speaks English

Blue: the Subject feels her personality is more Japanese when she speaks English

Figure 1 shows 81.8% of the subjects thought that the Subject feels her personality is more English when she speaks in English and 18.2% of the subjects thought that the Subject feels her personality is more Japanese when she speaks in English. Most people feel the Subject feels her personality is more English when she speaks in English.

Table 2: The data for which language the Author is more outgoing

1

2

3

4

5

Japanese

More Japanese

Neither Japanese or English

More English

English

Figure 2: The data for her (the Subject’s) personality is different depending on each language.

Question: the Subject is more outgoing when she speaks

Figure 2 shows 3 people chose 'Yes', 2 people chose 'Probably Yes', 9 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No', 4 people chose 'Probably No' and 4 people chose 'No'.

This subjects used this scale to answer the questions in Figures 3 to 20.

1

2

3

4

5

Yes

Probably yes

Neither

yes or no

Probably no

No

Figure 3: The data to examine whether actually she is outgoing or not

Question: Even though the Subject didn't have any plan, do you think the Subject will go somewhere (safe like seeing a movie) with someone who is a foreigner she doesn't know well? What do you think?

Figure 3 shows 16 people choose ‘Yes’ she is outgoing, 4 people choose ‘Probably Yes’, 1 person choose ‘'Neither Yes or No'’ and 1 person choose ‘Probably No’.

Figure 4: The data to examine her level of permissibility

Question: Even if the Subject strongly believes an opposite idea from a foreigner (such as culture or religion), when she is speaking in English do you think she would change her mind to accept the new ideas from the foreigner?

Figure 4 shows 12 people chose 'Yes' she would accept the idea, 5 people chose 'Probably Yes', 4 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No' and 1 person chose 4.

Figure 5: The data to examine whether she is outgoing or not

Question: Do you think the Subject will try to do something new (nothing dangerous) that her foreign friend recommends her to do which she was not interested in before?

Figure 5 shows 11 people chose 'Yes' she is outgoing, 9 people chose 'Probably Yes' and 2 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No'.

Figure 6: The data to examine whether she is friendly or not

Question: Can the Subject speak with strangers in English in a friendly way?

Figure 6 shows 9 people chose 'Yes', 4 people chose 'Probably Yes', 3 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No', 5 people chose 'Probably No' and 1 person chose 'No'.

Figure 7: The data to examine if she is open-minded

Question: Can the Subject speak up in English class without hesitation?

Figure 7 shows 10 people chose 'Yes' she is open-minded, 5 people chose 'Probably Yes', 1 person chose 3 and 6 people chose 'Probably No'.

Figure 8: The data to examine her seriousness

Question: Does the Subject have a strong sense of responsibility when she speak English?

Figure 8 shows 4 people chose 'Yes' is serious, 8 people chose 'Probably Yes', 4 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No' and 6 people chose 'Probably No'.

Figure 9: The data to examine whether she is organized or not

Question: Can the Subject organized her thoughts before she speaks in English?

Figure 9 shows 2 people chose 'Yes' she is organized, 7 people chose 'Probably Yes', 6 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No', 5 people chose 'Probably No' and 2 people chose 'No'.

Figure 10: The data to examine whether she is tolerant (thoughtful) or not

Question: Can the Subject understand the feelings of a friend who confides a personal problem with her in English?

Figure 10 shows 7 people chose 'Yes' she is tolerant and thoughtful, 8 people chose 'Probably Yes', 5 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No' and 2 people chose 'Probably Yes' .

Figure 11: The data for whether the Subject changes her mind when she speaks in English

Question: Does the Subject often change her mind when she speaks in English?

Figure 11 shows 7 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No' to the question whether she would change her mind, 4 people chose 'Probably No' and 11 people chose 'No'.

Figure 12: The data to examine her level of permissibility

Question: Even if the Subject strongly believes an opposite idea from a foreigner (such as culture or religion), when she is speaking in Japanese do you think she would change her mind to accept the new ideas from the foreigner?

Figure 12 shows 7 people chose 'Yes' she would accept ideas from foreigners, 10 people chse 2, 3 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No' and 2 people chose 'Probably No'.

Figure 13: The data to examine whether she is outgoing or not

Question: Do you think the Subject will try to do something new (nothing dangerous) that her Japanese friend recommends her to do which she was not interested in before?

Figure 13 shows 10 people chose 'Yes' she is outgoing, 7 people chose 'Probably Yes', 3 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No' and 2 people chose 'Probably No'.

Figure 14: The data to examine whether she is friendly or not

Question: Can the Subject speak with strangers in Japanese in a friendly way?

Figure 14 shows 12 people chose 'Yes' she is friendly, 7 people chose 'Probably Yes', 1 person chose “Neither Yes or No'’, 1 person chose ‘Probably no’ and 1 person chose ‘No’.

Figure 15: The data to examine her open minded

Question: Can the Subject speak up in Japanese class without hesitation?

Figure 15 shows 12 people chose 'Yes' she is open minded, 6 people chose 'Probably Yes', 3 people chose 'Probably No' and 1 person chose 'No'.

Figure 16: The data to examine her seriousness

Question: Does the Subject have a strong sense of responsibility when she speak Japanese?

Figure 16 shows 8 people choose ‘Yes’ she is serious, 7 people chose 'Probably Yes', 4 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No', 2 people chose 'Probably No' and 1 person chose 'No'.

Figure 17: The data to examine whether she is organized or not

Question: Can the Subject organized her thoughts before she speaks in Japanese?

Figure 17 shows 5 people chose 'Yes', she is organized, 6 people chose 'Probably Yes', 4 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No', 4 people chose 'Probably No' and 3 people chose 'No'.

Figure 18: The data to examine whether she is tolerant (thoughtful) or not

Question: Can the Subject understand the feelings of a friend who confides a personal problem with her in Japanese?

Figure 18 shows 14 people chose 'Yes' she is tolerant and thoughtful, 5 people chose 'Probably Yes' and 3 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No'.

Figure 19: The data to examine whether she is stable or not

Question: Does the Subject often change her mind when she speaks in English?

Figure 19 shows 2 people chose 'Yes' she is stable minded, 2 people chose 'Probably Yes', 6 people chose 'Neither Yes, or No', 4 people chose 'Probably No' and 8 people chose 'No'.

2.2.4 Interview data

After the questionnaire several students were interviewed face-to-face about their thoughts of the Subject when she speaks in Japanese. Here are some of their response.

Question; Even though the Subject didn't have any plan, do you think the Subject will go somewhere (safe like seeing a movie) with someone who is Japanese she doesn't know well? What do you think?

Yes; the Subject is outgoing, talkative. Even though she doesn’t know the person, she can talk. She is able to talk with anyone with the same tension as anybody so there is no problem with kind of the person. She can be friends.

No; the Subject is black-and-white and does not invite someone for hanging out.

2.3 Summary

In this chapter we looked at the data of the questionnaire. The results shows us how the subjects feel about the Subject. There are no big differences and we could find out that the subjects feel the Subject has a slightly different character when she speaks Japanese and English. In the next chapter we will review the data from Chapter Two and compare it with the previous research we studied in Chapter One.

Chapter 3: The Analysis

3.1 Introduction

In Chapter One we looked at what is personality, personality switching and how a personality switches between two languages with some examples. In Chapter Two we looked at a questionnaire made on Google forms and the collected data. In this way, we could understand the Author’s personality divided into five categories according to The Big Five personality traits.

3.2 Summary of the results from Chapter Two

In Chapter Two we could see the results of the questionnaire which asked about the personality of the Subject, who is the author of this thesis, when she speaks English and Japanese. This questionnaire was based on The Big Five personality traits, and compared the Author's Japanese personality and her personality when she speaks English. By comparing these data, we could find the answer to the two research questions. Research Question 1 was "Do people's personalities change depending on each language?" and there were a few small differences but no big differences. Research Question 2 was "Does the Subject's personality change when she speaks English and Japanese?" and it was found there was no big difference as was found in Research Question 1. That is the reason that the Subject does not act differently between English and Japanese.

3.3 Comparing previous research and these data


Figures 1 and 2 from Chapter Two asked the subjects how they think the Author acts differently when she speaks English and Japanese. Figure 1 asked the subjects "When the Subject speaks in English, do you feel the Subject’s personality is more like a typical English person or a Japanese person? For example, Is the Subject more direct with her opinions in English, and more quiet in Japanese," 18 subjects chose the Subject feels her personality is more English when she speaks English.

Figure 2 asked the subjects "Is she more outgoing in English or Japanese?," 4 subjects chose English, 9 subjects chose neither Japanese and English, and 3 subjects chose Japanese.

18 subjects feel the Subject's personality is more English when she speaks English however 9 subjects chose ‘Neither’. It seems the Author’s personality is different when she speaks each language but her extraversion might not have such a big difference.

3.3.2 About Figure 3 and the Interview

Figure 3 asked the subjects "Even though the Subject didn't have any plan, do you think the Subject will go somewhere (safe like seeing a movie) with someone who is a foreigner she doesn't know well? What do you think?" to examine whether actually she is outgoing or not. 16 subjects chose ‘yes’, 4 subjects chose Probably yes and 1 subject chose 'Neither Yes or No', and ‘Probably no’. No one chose ‘no’

In addition, the subjects were asked "Even though the Subject didn't have any plan, do you think the Subject will go somewhere (safe like seeing a movie) with someone who is Japanese she doesn't know well? What do you think?" In the interview, and according to the data, most subjects thought her Japanese character is outgoing and talkative. They thought the Subject can talk to someone even if she does not know the person. She is able to talk with the same tension as anybody so there is no problem with those kinds of people. She can be friends with anybody easily, it seems.

According to these data, the Subject's character is friendly, outgoing and talkative therefore she could go somewhere with someone if she does not have any plans. Everybody thinks she would hang out with people who she does not know well.

3.3.3 About Figure 4 & 12

Figure 4 asked the subjects "Even if the Subject strongly believes an opposite idea from a foreigner (such as culture or religion), when she is speaking in English do you think she would change her mind to accept the new ideas from the foreigner?" to examine her level of permissibility and 12 subjects chose ‘yes’, 5 subjects chose 'probably yes', 4 subjects chose 'probably no' and nobody chose ‘no’.

Figure 12 asked "Even if the Subject strongly believes an opposite idea from a foreigner (such as culture or religion), when she is speaking in Japanese do you think she would change her mind to accept the new ideas from the foreigner?" to examine her level of permissibility and 7 subjects chose 'yes', 10 subjects chose 'probably yes', 3 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 2 subjects chose 'probably no' and nobody chose 'no'.

According to these data, she can mostly accept others, however sometimes she may not be able to accept different thoughts when she speaks English and Japanese.


Figure 5 asked the subjects "Do you think the Subject will try to do something new (nothing dangerous) that her foreign friend recommends her to do which she was not interested in before? " to examine whether she is outgoing or not and 11 subjects chose 'yes', 9 subjects chose 'probably yes' 2 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', and no one chose 'probably no' and ‘no’.

Figure 13 asked the subjects "Do you think the Subject will try to do something new (nothing dangerous) that her Japanese friend recommends her to do which she was not interested in before? " to examine whether she is outgoing or not, and 10 subjects chose 'yes', 7 subjects chose 'probably yes' 3 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 2 subjects chose 'probably no' and no one chose 'no'.

According to these data, when the Subject speaks English she always tries to do something new what she was not interested in before, on the other hand when she speaks Japanese, sometimes she might refuse to do that.


Figure 6 asked the subjects "Can the Subject speak with strangers in English in a friendly way?" to examine whether she is friendly or not and 9 subjects chose 'yes', 4 subjects chose 'probably yes', 3 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 5 subjects chose 'probably no' and 1 subject chose 'no'.

Figure 14 asked "Can the Subject speak with strangers in Japanese in a friendly way?" to examine whether she is friendly or not and 12 subjects chose 'yes', 7 subjects chose 'probably yes', 'Neither Yes or No', 'probably no' and ‘no’ were chosen by 1 subject each.

According to these data, there were subjects who feel she is very friendly when the Subject speaks English, while other subjects who feel she is not friendly at all. When she speaks Japanese, the subjects feel she is friendly except for one subject.


Figure 7 asked the subjects "Can the Subject speak up in English class without hesitation?" to examine her open-mindedness and 10 subjects chose 'yes', 5 subjects chose 'probably yes', one subject chose 'Neither Yes or No', 6 subjects chose 'probably no' and no one chose 'no'.

Figure 15 asked the subjects "Can the Subject speak up in Japanese class without hesitation?" to examine her open mindedness and 12 subjects chose 'yes', 6 subjects chose 'probably yes', no one chose ‘neither yes or no’. 3 subjects chose 'probably no' and 1 subject chose 'no'.

According to these data, one subject felt the Subject could speak up in English class without any hesitation however other subjects felt she might have hesitation and cannot speak up in class.


Figure 8 asked the subjects " Does the Subject have a strong sense of responsibility when she speak English?" to examine her seriousness and 4 subjects chose 'yes', 8 subjects chose 'probably yes', 4 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 6 subjects chose 'probably no' and no one chose 'no'.

Figure 16 asked the subjects "Does the Subject have a strong sense of responsibility when she speak Japanese?" to examine her seriousness and 8 subjects chose 'yes', 7 subjects chose 'probably yes', 4 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 2 subjects chose 'probably no' and 1 subject chose 'no'.

According to these data, when the Subject speaks English, most subjects think she has a strong sense of responsibility, however some subjects had the opposite idea. When she speaks Japanese, most subjects think she has a strong sense of responsibility and few subjects had the opposite idea.

3.3.8 According Figure 9 & 17

Figure 9 asked the subjects "Can the Subject organized her thoughts before she speaks in English?" to examine whether she is organized or not and 2 subjects chose 'yes', 7 subjects chose 'probably yes', 6 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 5 subjects chose 'probably no' and 2 subjects chose 'no'.

Figure 17 asked the subjects "Can the Subject organized her thoughts before she speaks in Japanese?" to examine whether she is organized or not and 5 subjects chose 'yes', 6 subjects chose 'probably yes' 4 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No' and 'probably no', then 3 subjects chose 'no'.

According to these data, when the Subject speaks English, she can sometimes organize her thoughts before she speaks. When she speaks Japanese, some subjects think she can organize her thoughts before she speaks however some subjects think she can not organize her thoughts before she speaks.


Figure 10 asked the subjects "Can the Subject understand the feelings of a friend who confides a personal problem with her in English?" to examine whether she is tolerant (thoughtful) or not and 7 subjects chose 'yes', 8 subjects chose 'probably yes', 5 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 2 subjects chose 'probably no' and no one chose 'no'.

Figure 18 asked the subjects "Can the Subject understand the feelings of a friend who confides a personal problem with her in Japanese?" to examine whether she is tolerant (thoughtful) or not and 14 subjects chose 'yes', 5 subjects chose 'probably yes' and 3 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No'. No one chose 'probably no' and ‘no’.

According to these data, the Subject usually could understand her friends' feelings when they have personal problems in English and Japanese. Especially, when she speaks Japanese, she is very more kind than when she speaks English.


Figure 11 asked the subjects "Does often change her mind when she speaks in English?" to examine whether she is stable or not and no one chose 'yes' and 'probably yes', 7 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 4 subjects chose 'probably no' and 11 subjects chose 'no'.

Figure 19 asked the subjects "Does the Subject often change her mind when she speaks in English?" to examine whether she is stable or not and 2 subjects chose 'yes' and 'probably yes', 6 subjects chose 'Neither Yes or No', 4 subjects chose 'probably no' and 8 subjects chose 'no'.

According to these data, when she speaks English, she is very stable. On the other hand, when she speaks Japanese, most subjects feel she is stable however some subjects feel she is not stable.

3.4 Research questions

This section will answer the research questions from Chapter One.

1. Does the Author's personality change when she speaks English and Japanese?

This basic answer is no. The author thought a person’s attitude is related to each language because it each language has its own expressions but actually there were no relationship. According Dewaele and Pavlenko’s (2006) research, there were some people’s emotions different however it did not apply to her. This is because, according to the interview data, many subjects thought her Japanese character is very outgoing and friendly therefore she could make friends easily even if she met people who are strangers, therefore they did not feel any differences.

2. According to The Big Five personality traits, which part of the Subject's personality has the biggest difference in Japanese and English?

The answer is "Agreeableness". This is because, Figure 10 and Figure 18 asked "Can the Subject understand the feelings of a friend who confides a personal problem with her in English?" and "Can the Subject understand the feelings of a friend who confides a personal problem with her in Japanese?". These questions asked to examine whether she is tolerant (thoughtful) or not and there were the biggest difference in Japanese and English in this research. 7 subjects think that the Subject can understand people's feelings when she speaks English however 14 subjects think that the Subject can understand people's feelings when she speaks Japanese. The Japanese rating is double the number of the English one.

3.5 Implications

We looked at the result of the questionnaire in Chapter Two and discussed the results in this chapter. Chapter Two showed us the results of the questionnaire which asked opinions about the Subject when she speaks English and Japanese from others. Chapter One explained the impact of Dewaele and Pavlenko's research (2006), and found that bilinguals often have different feelings when they speak their first language and speak in other languages. If we followed this idea, the author’s personality must differ greatly when she speaks English and Japanese, however the data showed only her personality difference. These data are about only one person but it might be similar with others whose personality does not change depending on the language. As we know, there are some Japanese who are very friendly and outgoing even though they live in Japan and some Americans are very shy and quiet even though they live in the US. So we cannot say that one’s personality is related to a language, country or its culture.

3.6 Limitations of the Experiments

There are several limitations with this study. Firstly, the subjects were all Japanese females. Most subjects were university students and only in their 20s therefore we could not gather enough data to compare across other generations. One’s peers tend to think mostly the same thoughts and relationships are related to image of the Subject’s characters therefore the questionnaire should have asked many kinds of people who are under their 20s or over 20s and we could see several viewpoints. Finally, there were only Japanese.

Secondly, the questionnaire only asked the subjects to answer questions on a scale therefore we could not know subjects' opinions directly through interviews without asking for their reasons and examples.

3.7 Further research

In this thesis, the questionnaire was answered by only 22 subjects who are most of English Department at Notre Dame Seishin University students and are only female. It is necessary to ask more people and of different ages, for example, under 20s and over 20s and also to ask males to answer the questionnaire. In addition to this, the questionnaire did not ask the subjects' opinions or reasons so they may not think carefully when they answered those questions meaning we could only imagine why the subjects chose their answers. In addition, the questionnaire was answered by only Japanese and we do not know if they know how foreigners act when they speak in English therefore it may be hard to believe she actually acts like a foreigner. Finally, if we research this theme again, we should ask more subjects of different ages and foreigners and then ask for some reasons on the questionnaire.

3.8. Conclusion

The theme in this thesis discussed whether people act differently or not when they speak each language by asking the Subject who is the author of this thesis. Although Introduction in Chapter One explained how different cultures and languages lead some people to act or express things differently in each culture.

We looked at the questionnaire made according to The Big Five personality traits in Chapter Two. The questionnaire asked the same several questions about what is the difference between when the Subject speaks English and Japanese and the subjects' choices were mostly the same. Finally, according to the results of the questionnaire there were no big differences when she speaks English and Japanese. However, some people might act differently as we saw in the previous research, but according to this research and for this person only, there seems to be no major difference in her Japanese or English character.

Appendix

私は言語ごとに態度や考え方に変化があるのか

このアンケートは私が英語と日本語で変化するのかどうかを調べるものです。もっとも当てはまる回答を選んでください。

*必須このアンケート結果が研究に使用されることに同意します。 *

はい

いいえ

1.1 性別 *

男性

女性

1.2 年齢 *

20〜25歳

26〜30歳

30歳以上


*必須

私が英語を話しているときを思い出して下さい。私ならどう行動するか想像しながら答えて下さい。

2.1 私は英語を話している時、海外の人のように見えますか？それとも日本人のままのように見えますか？例えば、英語の時の方が意見を直接的に言っている、日本人のように静かであるなど。 *

英語を話している時の方がより海外の人のように見える

英語を話している時に方が日本人のようだ

2.2 私どちらの方が社交的ですか？ *

日本語　1　2　3　4　5　英語

2.3 私は予定がなければ顔見知りの外国人とでも(カフェや映画など安全な所など)遊びに行けると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

2.4 もし外国人に私の常識（文化や宗教など）と違う意見を言われたとしても受け入れる事ができると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

2.5 私は以前まで興味がなかったことも (危険でなければ) 新たに挑戦できると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

2.6 私は緊張せずに知らない外国人と英語で話せると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

2.7 私は授業中に英語で恥じらいなく発言できると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

2.8 英語で話している時、私は責任感が強いと思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

2.9 英語で話している時、私は頭を整理してから話せると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

2.10 英語で話している時、友人が私に相談してきたら理解してあげられると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

2.11 英語で話している時、言う事がころころ変わりますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ


私が日本語を話しているときを思い出して下さい。私ならどう行動するか想像しながら答えて下さい。

3.1 もし日本人に私の常識（文化や宗教など）と違う意見を言われたとしても受け入れる事ができると思いますか？

はい 1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

3.2 私は以前まで興味がなかったことも (危険でなければ) 新たに挑戦できると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

3.3 私は緊張せずに知らない日本人と日本語で話せると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

3.4 私は授業中に日本語で恥じらいなく発言できると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

3.5 日本語で話している時、私は責任感が強いと思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

3.6 日本語で話している時、私は頭を整理してから話せると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

3.7 日本語で話している時、友人か誰かが私に相談してきたら理解してあげられると思いますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

3.8 日本語で話している時、言う事がころころ変わりますか？

はい　1　2　3　4　5　いいえ

Questionnaire about your personality and motivation for English

Please answer these questions about Mai Shiraga. There are several questions. Some are about your background, others are about changes in the Author’s personality over time. There are other questions about my motivation for English.

*必須

I accept that my data can be used for research *

I agree

I disagree

1.1 Are you *

Male

Female

1.2 How old are you? *

20-25

26-30

over 30

Questionnaire about your personality and motivation for English

*必須

Please think of the Subject and answer the questions about the Subject’s character in English. You will be asked about her character when speaking in Japanese later.

2.1 When the Subject speaks in English, do you feel the Subject’s personality is more like a typical English person or a Japanese person? For example, Is the Subject more direct with her opinions in English, and more quiet in Japanese. *

the Subject feels her personality is more English when she speaks in English

the Subject feels her personality is more Japanese when she speaks in English

2.2 the Subject is more outgoing in *

Japanese　1　2　3　4　5　English

2.3 Even though the Subject didn't have any plan, do you think the Subject will go somewhere (safe like seeing a movie) with someone she doesn't know well? What do you think?

Yes　1　2　3　4　5　No

2.4 Even if the Subject strongly believes an opposite idea from a foreigner (such as culture or religion), when she is speaking in English do you think she would change her mind to accept the new ideas from the foreigner?

I think she will keep her own opinion　1　2　3　4　5　I think she will change her own opinion

2.5 Do you think the Subject will try to do something new (nothing dangerous) that her foreign friend recommends her to do which she was not interested in before?

Yes　1　2　3　4　5　No

2.6 Can the Subject speak with strangers in English in a friendly way?

Yes　1　2　3　4　5　No

2.7 Can the Subject speak up in English class without hesitation?

Yes　1　2　3　4　5　No

2.8 Does the Subject have a strong sense of responsibility when she speak English?

Yes　1　2　3　4　5　No

2.9 Can the Subject organized her thoughts before she speaks in English?

Yes　1　2　3　4　5　No

2.10 Can the Subject understand the feelings of a friend who confides a personal problem with her in English?

Yes　1　2　3　4　5　No

2.11 Does the Subject often change her mind when she speaks in English?

Yes　1　2　3　4　5　No

Documents

Rob Waring · Web viewThey were given 19 questions which asked about the Subject’s character when she speaks Japanese and English. This questionnaire was made according to the Big