As a native portuguese speaker, I've done and redone portuguese MBTI tests and always got INFJ as definition. So recently I found myself worrying whether alternating between languages could somehow affect my thinking pattern, I've redone the test in english (same questions as the portuguese one), and SURPRISINGLY got ISTJ. Anyone else has been through the same situation? How much you think language affects our personality?
Doing MBTI test as a bilingual
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I've found that when I express myself in another language, or when I read in another language, my first instinct is to simplify. There's less chance of being misunderstood if I say things as simply as possible. And as I read something, I tend to simplify as much as possible, because it helps me bypass the odd word I don't understand. I also don't understand the nuances of meaning in another language like I do in my native language. It means that even if I understand every single word, I may oversimplify the questions.
I've always felt like a foreign language acts as a filter to emotions. When I hear a song I know in a foreign language, it never has the emotional punch that the original does. I've also found the same for reading poetry in a foreign language vs. my native language.
I can imagine it would affect your test results. It seems pretty safe to trust the test results of your native language.
I've always felt like a foreign language acts as a filter to emotions. When I hear a song I know in a foreign language, it never has the emotional punch that the original does. I've also found the same for reading poetry in a foreign language vs. my native language.
I can imagine it would affect your test results. It seems pretty safe to trust the test results of your native language.
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If you're interested in running an experiment in reverse, I'm learning Portuguese, but I'm conversational at best. If you've got a link, I'd love to take the test in Portuguese and see if my results change.
That's awesome! I haven't met many people who are into learning portuguese, even the majority of brazilians seems to dislike it due to it's complexity lol. My main problem when thinking in english is exactly as you described, oversimplifying things, I tend to be perfectionist when typing in english, probably to make up my lack of english's vocal communication skills I guess.
It'd be fantastic if you take the test in Portuguese, anxiously waiting for your results!
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Alrighty, here are my test results:
I counted 2 questions where I left the bar in the middle, because I really wasn't sure what they were asking, even after I cheated and plugged the sentence into Google translate.
What was most interesting was that I didn't have a visceral reaction to some of the questions that resound most with me in English. For instance, the question about valuing justice or mercy higher. I spend a lot of time going back and forth on that question. This time around, I just looked at it and thought that mercy had better connotations. It didn't tug at my heartstrings, didn't bring to mind any specific instances where I had chosen between the two in the past, and didn't create any hypothetical scenarios in my head.
I believe nuances in wording made that difference. The wording for the Portuguese version is
I guess my take-away was that while my type didn't change, it did change some individual responses, particularly emotional ones.
What do you guys think?
So I came out with the same type. The tests I've taken before didn't have the assertive/turbulent option, so I can't compare that. I can say that my score for intuitive is a lot lower than it usually is, and my preference for judging is higher than usual. The rest fell about the same.
I counted 2 questions where I left the bar in the middle, because I really wasn't sure what they were asking, even after I cheated and plugged the sentence into Google translate.
What was most interesting was that I didn't have a visceral reaction to some of the questions that resound most with me in English. For instance, the question about valuing justice or mercy higher. I spend a lot of time going back and forth on that question. This time around, I just looked at it and thought that mercy had better connotations. It didn't tug at my heartstrings, didn't bring to mind any specific instances where I had chosen between the two in the past, and didn't create any hypothetical scenarios in my head.
I believe nuances in wording made that difference. The wording for the Portuguese version is
Which I translate in my head as "Justice is more important than mercy." versus the English version of the question which is
When I see "value," I immediately go with my gut, thinking about the things most important to me and that define me. Whereas asking which is more important makes it more of an abstract question and less personal.
I guess my take-away was that while my type didn't change, it did change some individual responses, particularly emotional ones.
What do you guys think?
That's very intriguing indeed! Interesting how changing a few words on the subject gets a different response, as the portuguese's question is very direct
I see no correlation to the ISTJ I had scored earlier!
there is a tendency on giving conclusive answers aswell, whilist stating something you didn't have the chance to think for yourself may cause a contradiction within yourself, turning it into a much deeper subject
I may have figured out a way to take english tests without being too much affected by language-barriers, which is translating each question to portuguese and giving it some thought in my native language.
I see no correlation to the ISTJ I had scored earlier!
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Interesting question.
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Sweet! Glad you found a work-around.That's very intriguing indeed! Interesting how changing a few words on the subject gets a different response, as the portuguese's question is very direct
there is a tendency on giving conclusive answers aswell, whilist stating something you didn't have the chance to think for yourself may cause a contradiction within yourself, turning it into a much deeper subject
I may have figured out a way to take english tests without being too much affected by language-barriers, which is translating each question to portuguese and giving it some thought in my native language.
I see no correlation to the ISTJ I had scored earlier!
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