Do you feel different when you speak English? Maybe you talk louder or use more gestures. Some studies found that bilingual people answer personality tests a little differently in each language.

For example, Spanish and English speakers seemed more outgoing when they answered in English. But they do not become a different person. Each language may bring out the way people usually act in that culture. So enjoy your "English self" when you speak.

In a 2006 study, Spanish-English bilinguals in the US and Mexico took the same personality test twice, once in each language. In English, they scored higher in extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness. These differences matched the typical gap between American and Mexican people.

A study in Hong Kong found something similar. Chinese-English bilinguals acted more outgoing and assertive in English, and their behavior also changed depending on who they were talking to. Psychologists call this cultural frame switching.

A language works like a switch and brings one culture's way of thinking to the front. There is no evidence that a person's basic personality is replaced. So if you feel louder or more confident in English, that feeling may come from the culture that goes with the language.

In 2006, Ramírez-Esparza and colleagues handed Spanish-English bilinguals in the United States and Mexico the same personality inventory in Spanish and in English. In English, the same people reported higher extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, and the gaps mirrored the average contrast between American and Mexican samples. Self-reports can only go so far, so a 2010 study in Hong Kong observed real conversations. Chinese-English bilinguals behaved more assertively in English, although their behavior also shifted with the person across the table.

Psychologists call this cultural frame switching. People who have internalized two cultures can have either set of norms activated by a cue, whether that cue is a language or a national flag. The research has gaps. A translated questionnaire may not measure exactly the same trait as the original, much of the evidence comes from self-reports, and few studies have followed bilinguals through ordinary days.

So far, the data point to a change in how personality is expressed. Nobody has shown that a second self takes over. Even so, in a 2013 survey of 106 multilinguals, many said they felt less logical, less serious, less emotional and more "fake" in a language learned later in life.