Oh, these are interesting indeed! Thanks for sharing them :)

For the different personalities one, I think that it's a really fascinating idea, but I agree with the commentary in the end that it is not clear if issues relating to differences in how the questions come across in the translated versions have been properly controlled for. I can very well imagine that the phenomenon is real though. An interesting question would then be how that relates to people using a mix of languages in their everyday life - as my bf and I do, for example, switching between german and english mid-sentence all the time. Are the choices of what language to use at what moment a result of this? Do we form mixed personalities corresponding to the mix language?

I see, that's a plan!

I like it! I started with the series yesterday and I am already at episode 7 xD
But: I am sick, so I have time and approval to binge-watch xD!!
On my netflix there are 5 seasons available.
A few friends recommended the series to me :3

mem:
I've read the first article so far. And I agree a little bit.
But what I noticed (due to my job) is that L1 speakers appreciate it a lot if one speaks English, especially if it's "good" English.
A few people told me that my English is almost perfect and asked me where I am from and were surprised to hear that I am not from the US xD (although I would rather say that I speak British English, not American, although I have to say that if I talk fast I tend to sound American).
But I agree, sometimes using simple language is difficult.
But I see a difference in Americans/Australians and Brits. Brits are more complicated to deal with. As far as I can tell with my experience so far.

Well I have a wknuffel at 99 now.

@Chrizine: Yeah, the way the questions might've been translated/formulated int he other language is a bother But the topic is super interesting nevertheless, because I've been feeling that I'm a more open person when I use English than when I speak Polish. Having an actual study/ies about it opens my eyes a bit. I'd gladly read more, maybe I'll google it or something, now that I've finished that silly translation at work XD
I always thought the reason I switch between English and Polish is because I forget a word in one or the other language. At least that's what my logic tells me. I have a crazy theory tho. Maybe I forget some words in Polish because they're easier to pronounce in English (I mean have you seen PL words??? chrząszcz vs. beetle, the choice is obvious XD), or they have a wider/smaller meaning scope, depending on what I want to say. So going further with this, I'd say there is a teeny tiny chance we do form mixed personalities as you said.
#JustATheory I made no study to support this XD

@Julez: You have much more experience dealing with English native speakers than I do :D (I only know one American guy in person, and by that his wife and daughter, but that's it for me ;n;) And for that lack of my own experience, I thought I'd share this article So far I can only recall Ash really complaining while he was working with Americans on a website (he was translating it to Polish) and they almost never did what he asked, like no Polish characters, so he had to include that (though this is obvious when you localize a website, right?), but they still ingored his requests... but he was also a mean butt and told them to end each sentence with a period, and they kept NOT doing it. Bf ended up coming home, saying Americans are idiots XD but that's a slightly different difficulty than described in that article, right?
I've been complimented on my accent (only by Polish people tho, so I don't really count it XD), but I very much prefer American over British (can't even make Australian, lol), British is too difficult and when I try it I feel like a stuck up aristocrat XD (sorry to Brits/jacob )

@River: Yay, so close!

@jacob: I'm trying to think of an abbreviation for lol in Polish.... ŚSNG???? wuuuut? XD Haha, makes no sense, that's why we use Lol XD But sometimes using slang in a business conversation can be confusing to those who speak English as second language.
Not asking is my thing! XD My philosophy is: if you don't ask, you won't bother anyone. I'm learning to think more like "if you don't ask, there is a bigger chance that you'll bothc the job because you misunderstood something, so better ask even if the question seems stupid, better safe than sorry x.x"

Loool, that Swiss xD Must've been frustrating like hell x.x

Ooh, I got an example of bad communication from my boss: Greek speaking English. So his English isn't the best, he makes a lot of basic mistakes, even though he has studied in U.S. I wonder if maybe he lost his language abilities due to lack of contact with the second language? Anyways, so he calls English-speaking support of a mobile network company, wants them to send September's invoice to his e-mail. So my boss calls, explains the situation, and when the consultant tells him the conncetion quality is poor and he can't hear him properly, my boss, without anything, starts yelling at the poor guy that what's so difficult to understand. So they continue the conversation, this poor consultant is nervous and even I can hear it, he asks if my boss wants to change his e-mail address (because that's what he could make out - something about e-mail adress). Boss yells again, that the guy doesn't understand English and he wants someone who speaks English (doesn't take into account that maybe the connection really is of poor quality). Okay, so he gets another consultant. The other guy also can't understand my boss, and thinks outloud that maybe it's about my boss's accent. Truth is, he does have a really thick accent ^^; Plus he loses his words when he gets angry, and he gets angry in a blink of an eye, and then another blink and he's a peaceful lamb again ;>_> I have no idea how, but after about 10-15 minutes of yelling at 2 guys, saying the same thing over and over again, my boss finally managed to make them understand what he wants.
Now tell me, what the fuck happened then? XD Language barrier? For me personally, it's really my boss's temper that got in the way, the two guys tried to understand him the best they could with poor connection quality, thick accent and weird grammar and yelling at them. I'd probably burst into tears in their place (I wanted to anyways, because I effing hate yelling, I couldn't concentrate on my own job. I tried laughing about it, making my boss think I laugh at the 2 guys' incompetence, but really, it's your fault old man ;>_>) I was like: jeez, he said the connection is poor and he can't hear you, you don't have to call him an idiot for that

Lol, maybe I'd be doing the same, who knows? XD Do they believe you when you say that?

Well, neither did I, but I assumed from the article that sometimes they do and it confuses others xD As I said, I have no real experience in that field, so I'm open to everything

Caravan confetti rain!
(mem, how come you did not do it yourself yet :D?)

Ugh, I have to deal with my health insurance, as I am earning too much money. Now I need to pay for myself whereas I was free so far, being part of a family insurance. Ugh. But well, I was earning more money. And I can cancel this personal insurance as soon as I stop working which is at the end of october.

Back to the language stuff:
Your boss sounds really feisty, I hope he's not like that with you >>
But I also think it is due to both, his temper and his language problems that he reacted that way.
I am also sorry to hear that Ash has had bad experience with Americans. They truly are nice mostly. If you are kind to them, they are kind with you. That's what I can tell.
The worst visitor we EVER had in the palace as long as I work there was from England.
But I actually have to say I like both though. Americans are more open-minded and easier to handle, whereas Brits are more polite (which maybe has to do with the 'do not ask anything' attitude :D?). But Americans are totally lost without help in the palace. They cannot find the easiest way xD And come one, our palace is big, but we have a huge staircase, on can really see where the way is xD

@jacob: Lol, then it wasn't as important, otherwise they'd call back, right? XD

Ooh, that sounds very professional, especially the talking slower part. It's a nice thing to do while doing business internationally.

@Julez: Lol, I have no idea o_O XD *joins in the caravan confetti rain* I probably got lost in the experience of the site, because I was off for 2 days and now I'm like on KOfK hype - I can post my ass off again, and it's caravan time, which makes me twice as busy with just posting xD

It always makes me laugh, those regulations with "if you make too much money, you gtfo" XD but what can you do, that's just how it is. I still rather make more money and don't get some of the perks than make less, live on a budget all the time and worry if I can pay all the stuff I need to pay, because it's "convenient" that the government provides me with some tiny help (my mom's logic tho? "I can't get a better job, because then I'd be making too much money and that would mean the government wouldn't pay your alimony that your father fails to pay", so yeah. fuck logic, mom, fuck logic.) Anyways, at least you'll be able to get it back in November, right?

Haha, he's a nice lamb for me, don't worry He just really loses his temper quickly. I wonder if that's a Greek thing or just his ;>_> #generalisation #itsatrap But luckily he only loses it with other people. He once raised his voice at me, because he asked me to do a thing I was not supposed to do and he snapped, but I endured. It was about making additional calls to people who made accounts on our trading platform but never paid any money. Or something. I didn't want to do it, because it wasn't a task for me (I only call to fresh clients who just deposited money and I warn them about the rules, risk, all that, I don't acquire clients, and that's what they asked me to do), but for the new guy who suggested it, then boss passed the idea on to Athens and of course the first question in Athens was "what is Martyna doing when we don't have new clients?". I asked boss to get the guy who suggested this help me with the calls, to make it faster and easier for myself, but he was SO EFFING SURE that the guy can't be bothered because he'll be calling clients who already trade (he never did it, kept talking about drugs, sex and other stuff with the other guys in our office). So I was pissed, said I wouldn't do it, 'cause it's not my job and Wojtek (the guy who suggested it) should do it. But no, I had to do it by myself, for one or two effing weeks, making a fool of myself, asking people if they want to trade in the accoutn they'd made 2 effing years ago. Ridiculous.
But that was the only time he snapped at me. Other times he does yell when he's angry, but all of the time it's not at me, but other people and I just listen to his lectures XD