Meditations are one of the best ways to counteract post traumatic stress, however I noticed that when I put on a guided meditation in my native language opposed to English, I got so irritated that I felt unable to relax. It is not unusual to come across ambitious English learners, but when I felt so annoyed towards my native language in such a supposedly calming exercise, I thought it would be worth investigating.
Science calls it context-dependent memory. It relates to the phenomenon, that I think I have forgotten all the French I have ever learned in school, until I go on holiday to France and slowly things keep coming back to me. Maybe you feel me there.
In an experimental set-up Russian/English bilinguals were interviewed in each language. They were prompted with words and then had to state the first memory that came to them. After 16 memories were recorded this way, participants were ask to recall the language (Russian or English) they had spoken or were surrounded by at the time the memory took place. The results show that when interviewed in Russian more „Russian memories“ were retrieved and more „English memories“ when interviewed in English (1).
All my memories of my abusive parents are in my native language. And according to these finding I am able to retrieved them more easily, when I am surround by that language. So I don’t hate my native language but I associate unpleased times. Understanding the importance of this now, I found more way the replace my native language with English, listening to podcasts and watching movies and I do find that it is calming for me.
Are you bilingual and have the opportunity to switch languages? Let me know if it helps you, too.
(1) Language-dependent recall of autobiographical memories. (2000) Viorica Marian, Ulric Neisser
