7/12 – I went a stationary store to buy some pens, and the employee asked me if I needed any help, and I felt my voice change a little for them. It went a little higher than usual and I smiled a little more than I would have otherwise.
7/13 – When talking with my mom, I was switching between English and Spanish. (“Pero like, I think que eso es…”)
7/14 – When talking to my boss, I spoke a lot more formally with her than I would with my co-workers.
7/15 – I was out eating with my friend, and we were mid conversation arguing about something, when the waitress came without food. We both immediately stopped arguing and say thank you to the waitress like three times. When she left, we started arguing again like it was nothing.
7/16 – At work, an older woman was looking for someone to help her and asked me if I spoke Spanish. I replied yes and proceeded to speak to her only in Spanish until she was done with her entire transaction. I was a bit more cheerful than I would have been otherwise too because she had told me many times sorry for not knowing English.
7/17 – I ordered Chinese food for my brother and I on the phone. I realized after I hung up that I had a “phone voice” where I was more formal with the worker than I would have been if I were talking to my friend on the phone.
7/18 – I was playing with a kid that my mom looks after, and I felt my voice get a lot softer and kinder (if that makes sense). I felt like I really needed to entertain the kid, so I offered to watch whatever show they liked, and if they wanted to pay with their toys.
I find it fascinating that we code switch so many times and sometimes don’t even realize. Code Switching becomes second nature to us. When I talk to my boss I also tend to speak more formally than I would with my co-workers.
I find it interesting how a lot of people code switch when speaking to their boss. I think it is because we want to build a good image in front of our bosses and speaking formally is one way of doing so and it shows that we respect the our boss and the environment.
I relate with switching languages to speak to our parents because they wouldn’t know what I would be saying if I spoke in English. I would always have to code switch to a different language to speak to parents, aunts, uncles, etc. Switching languages comes naturally since we communicate with our parents on a daily basis.