No, I don’t think any of that is a big enough deal to somehow change your entire view on the world. Also a lot of people do these things, so even if it was super special there is plenty of people that would understand it.

Considering more people in the world speak multiple languages than only one – multilingualism is the majority – no, we very much don’t experience existence from a point of view no one else can understand.

Definitely. I always speak Vietnamese with my parents at home, because that’s their mother tongue and it just feels much closer than speaking French.

Growing up as an immigrant is a unique experience, at one point one of my previous girlfriends said “you should stop with your immigrant things”. I knew it was over (for other reasons too, but that was one of them)

My current partner also grew up abroad, so she knows what that is like to be a foreigner in another country. We also live in a country where none of us are locals. But we’re both fine with that, because we know how it is.

Experience existence…? No, nothing open minded people could not do. I think it’s rather related to broaden your view, get out of your bigger bubble so to say.

See what you take as given can be totally different. So it’s absolutely important and worthwhile to be abroad but I don’t see it in the way you asked.

Also my thoughts are not in any language, that’s just the input/output filter, so to say.

Yes because I come from a rural region where most people can only speak French, and I’m the only one of my family that can speak multiple languages. Sometimes it feels like I know different worlds unbeknownst to them.

No because the languages that I know are not rare. There’s millions also speaking those languages so my perspective and experience is far from being unique.

Fluent in three languages. Mathematically speaking, there are enough people with my specific migration route (or even language combination) up until the point I left the US that there should be lots of ppl who think the same… But yes I do feel like my PoV can be a bit unique

The various forms of neurodivergence I have certainly don’t help… like for example I don’t have an internal monologue, which changes my PoV a lot. Actually the neurodivergence probably shaped my PoV even more than the languages; I never really fit in even at where I was born

I studied abroad in Japan for a year back 10-15 years ago. I definitely experienced “reverse culture shock” when I came back, the feeling when you’ve had all kinds of new experiences and have seen the world from a completely different perspective, but then everything’s just… the same. The people you left behind are just a year older, the roads and the stores are all just like they were when you left, maybe a new fast food joint opened up and that’s the biggest thing that’s changed. It’s pretty maddening. Of course, you can talk and talk about all these stories and people and all that - and in fact it was pretty good for me in that I was able to overcome some shyness and social anxiety because I had something interesting to talk about - but there’s a lot of stuff that you’ll never really be able to explain, things that just can’t be put into words. Especially with language, I feel like we’re losing something as people rely more on AI translations (useful as they are) because my experience is that speaking a different language can really shift your whole perspective in subtle ways. Translation is metaphor, it is inherently an approximation of meaning. It is, however, a lot of work.

In time, my experience of living in Japan and the unique perspective it gave me has become one of many perspectives that I can draw on, and I have other shared or relatable experiences with the people around me. Granted, my experience abroad was a relatively short time, not like actually immigrating. But ultimately, everyone has different experiences that can seem very alien to others, even within the same country or culture. When we see these differences not as barriers but as providing valuable and distinctive insight, well, that’s the dream, isn’t it?

Diversifying your means of understanding can feel really rewarding(and challenging).

As for missing something…I think we overestimate how much language shapes thinking. Most meals are just a version of pizza.

Spouse is Kenyan and I have learned a fair bit of Swahili. My spouse is fluent in English, Swahili, and their tribal language which I know basically none of.

I never could have imagined how much it would help me understand them better by understanding their language. It has profoundly changed me as a person.

Language is not purely functional, it is woven into who we are and how others perceive us to be. I started learning to simply participate more with them and their family, now I am experiencing my brain be rewritten.

As a person who only spoke English well into adulthood and then is rapidly learning a very different language and culture, I feel like I have a POV that nobody else in my life understands.

Thanks for asking :)

Yes.

When talking with the average American back home, there are lots of things you can sense they don’t notice and don’t seem to think about, especially if they’ve never even travelled.

From small things like always being cognizant of time zone differences and phone number country codes you use, to bigger things like seeing how crappy American restrictive zoning laws, suburban hellscapes, and car-centric society are.

Also, from the weeb perspective, going from needing anime subtitles to almost not needing them is pretty interesting.

Speaking from my own personal experience, recall and exposure as a whole give a definitive perspective on the human experience, as well as contributes to those you exonerated along the way.

As a whole I’ve found it isn’t a huge difference as a single event in the grand scheme but it can really add up over time.

Absolutely! A lot of an country’s or region’s culture and history is reflected in their language. In their expressions, vocabulary, loan words, etc.

Definitely. I spent several years living in a South American country, one that is considered almost “high income” for the region. Uruguay. Now back in the States I still recognize how much less we USA folks could live on if our society was not so pushed by constant consumption by the corporatocracy’s propaganda.

Learning to think in another language. Learning how even everyday things like doors and locks are different. Feeling distant from yet also slowly growing into that new to me culture

Smaller space, more use of renewables for heat, cooking, electric generation. Smaller cars than the giants on US roads that everybody here seems to “need”. Yet many of those very small cars are indeed USA street legal if Hyundai/KIA, GM, etc imported the Brasil-Made Chevrolet Onyx, the Argentina-made small Chevrolets, the South American KIA Picanto, VW “city car” the Volkswagen Up! (Already on EU streets in an even smaller version)

Grocery stores with more home made and store made products. Yet without the massive duplication we have of entire aisles of breakfast cereals, soaps, etc. There was a reasonably broad degree of consumer choices but not the overwhelming and ridiculous amount here.

People shopping in small amounts for what they need that day. Rather than huge hauls from Costco?

And the universal and affordable healthcare. Which was not the single-payer free-at-service nonsense that some US politicians claim everywhere in the world’ has. (Dear Bernie, NOBODY in the world has that!) Paid out of your local social security tax equivalent if employed, or about $60 US per month to buy into it if neither employed nor on benefits. Small “ticket charges” for physicians, labs, imaging, and about a $40 US ticket charge for the hospital ER. ZERO charge for hospital stay and all labs, tests, etc during that stay.

Mandatory voting with real competing parties and coalitions of parties. Military used almost only for UN peacekeeping.

There were frustrating times, and I personally had family reasons to return. But I still miss it, and sometimes envy those of my Uruguayan friends who could afford to travel to the US and my US friends that could afford homes in Uruguay while keeping a home also in the US.

One learns in ones bones that the US way is not the only way.

If you mean that “thinking” in another language influences things like your outlook and even reaction to things… you’d be correct. It’s been studied and documented that with every language you learn, you also get something of a personality upgrade that comes with being able to understand and convey concepts specific to that language.

It’s not exactly as elaborate as gaining an whole new pov, but it’s nonetheless similar.

I don’t know if no one can understand my POV, but I get myself into strange situations that are awesome. I speak English, Chinese and Spanish. Once I was in Brazil and while they speak Portuguese, everyone understands Spanish, but not necessarily English. Especially if it’s for a local tourist activity. I saw a pirate ship and thought my kids would love it. So I talked them into selling me tickets and boarded the ship. What I didn’t know was it had nothing to do with pirates, it was a boat to go to an island. And everyone was drunk on caiprinahas.

Anyway while on the boat, suddenly the boat guide person said it’s dancing time. I swear to God every one just started synchronized dancing. I thought it was a flash mob.

Then when we got to the island, on our local side, everyone was dancing and eating Brazilian food. I noticed a fence and looked over and realized half the island was for American tourists. And wow the difference was stark. The Brazilians were dancing and having fun. The Americans were overweight laying on beach towels and not moving. Really makes you think about culture differences.

Ultimately, I don’t know if people can understand my view points. But I am super grateful I know the languages I do because I get to have experiences others simply can’t. As well as I don’t worry about visiting random nations because I’ll almost certainly find someone who can speak a language I know. Like I had to speak Spanish once on top of the great wall.