From classroom settings to spending time with family and friends, different environments have an influence on the way a person acts or speaks. According to the Cleveland Clinic, code switching is defined as one’s ability to adjust their identity to fit in or conform with a larger crowd.
In the past, code switching has been rooted in discrimination and pressure to mirror a certain group of people to be accepted. The term, however, has evolved into a mechanism that most individuals use daily in order to reach their goals and network with new groups.
Social science teacher Gloria Quintero reflected on the role code switching can have on one’s life. As an educator, she aims to enable students to thrive within different environments even beyond high school.
“When we’re young, we’re learning those ways of navigating from our home environments, from teachers,” Quintero said. “I often teach my students when you go to college, this is how you ask your professor: ‘Can you look at this one more time?’ Instead of going in a confrontational approach, this is how you advocate.’”
Freshman Jayne Chen has observed how she adapts to different languages depending on the specific age group and what they more efficiently understand.
“Usually during family gatherings when I’m with the younger kids, I would speak English because it’s easier to communicate. But if I’m speaking to the adults, I find it easier to speak in Chinese, as that’s their main language, and it’s easier to get the point across,” Chen said.
Though language is often one of the more prominent forms of code switching, behavior can also be tied into it. After moving to the U.S., freshman Solynn Jeon realized that others perceived her differently depending on if she was speaking Korean or English.
“If you feel more comfortable with one language, you definitely act more confident and may act more extroverted. That’s what I do,” Jeon said. “If you’re not familiar with speaking a language and you don’t feel comfortable, you become more interrupted and tend to speak less.”
In addition to language-related interactions, Quintero emphasized the significance that societal standards can have on the way one learns to adapt to context early on in their lives.
“I’m a woman of color…We were taught to, when something didn’t feel right or we felt like something wasn’t fair for us in a work environment or school environment, we would stay quiet,” Quintero said. “We learned only as adults that it’s okay to advocate for yourself.”
Culture is another factor that can have an impact on code switching and the reason many people are accustomed to doing it. Junior Sasha Gonzaga noticed how having a common ground in communication can help connect different groups past a language barrier.
“With people outside of my race, I feel like I’m more formal and more careful on what I say because I know, personally, Latinos are really carefree about their language and how they speak,” Gonzaga said. “With other people, I don’t really know how they take my way of speaking, so I’m obviously more careful.”
Chen emphasized a need for a common language for different communities to interact because of social media.
“It really does help people connect with one another, especially culturally. Now, we see the internet taking rise and all these cultures kind of all in a mash, but it’s beneficial for everybody to learn about other cultures,” Chen said.
While some believe that excessive code switching can make a person inauthentic, sophomore Sashank Boina pointed out that it is not always done to an extreme and does not change one’s identity.
“I feel like a lot of people will change how they act, not who they are really, but just change the little things (so) they can make some people around them happy,” Boina said. “I’ll only speak Telugu to my grandparents because it makes them happy.”
For many, code switching has long served as a survival mechanism to stay in line with the ideals of society. Although it has frequently promoted conformity, many people have found ways to adapt to situations while still invoking strength from within.
“It’s (code switching) definitely an advantage, especially in the language department. It just allows you to communicate more effectively to other parties,” Chen said. “I think recognizing that (codeswitching) is something that is normal or normalized in our society can help immensely in trying to prevent it from taking away from our personality and character.”