Experiences – Life – Inspiration 🇨🇭🇯🇵

Diving into the final part of my identity exploration series, let’s delve into the labyrinth of my native language.

Truth be told, pinpointing my native language has become a puzzle.

Born and raised in Switzerland, Swiss German or “Schwiitzerdütsch” is technically my native tongue. However, life took me on a 30-year detour to the Netherlands, where I spent 99% of my time speaking and writing in Dutch.

Even with my roots in Swiss German, conversations with my mother and sisters often unfolded in Dutch. Our family WhatsApp group? That too, is a Dutch-speaking arena.

The Netherlands not only polished my Dutch proficiency but also became the breeding ground for my English skills. Living with a Scottish family for five years propelled my English to new heights. Approximately 50% of my daily communication, be it at home, university, or work, happened in English.

But the linguistic cocktail didn’t stop there. In the Netherlands, my day-to-day interactions blended Dutch, German, and English seamlessly. Engaging with the global expat community through Internations added another layer—English became the default mode. It was in this diverse linguistic landscape that I met my wife, and to this day, English remains our chosen means of communication.

Fast forward to my current residence in Japan, where I’m determined to embrace Japanese. However, my linguistic repertoire doesn’t end there.

I am multilingual, wielding Swiss German, Dutch, and English at a native level. While my Swiss roots are evident when conversing in German, my mastery of Dutch is such that locals mistake me for one of their own.

Surprisingly, my appearance often triggers linguistic assumptions. In Chinatowns across the Netherlands, I’m mistaken for a Mandarin or Cantonese speaker, despite having no command of Chinese. Thailand paints another linguistic canvas—I’m initially pegged as Chinese or South Korean due to my fair complexion and height. It takes a tan to reveal my true lack of Thai conversational skills, even though I possess Thai nationality.

And now, in Japan, locals assume I’m a native Japanese speaker based on my appearance. Unlike Caucasian individuals here who are presumed to be fluent in Japanese, my linguistic journey presents a unique challenge.

In this linguistic kaleidoscope, my identity and the expectations attached to it remain in a perpetual state of flux.

#MultilingualIdentity #LanguageJourney #CulturalComplexities