Those things that cannot be said in Chinese will be better if they change the language?
is correct. In the words of psychologists, this is a way to open up emotional distance.
According to this theory, speaking a foreign language can help you get rid of emotional bonds and think more objectively.
Think about it, it is true. When you write in Chinese, it may be easy to express emotions; but if you write in English, it is often "talking about things". Of course, this is not ruled out that it is because of your limited English proficiency...
However, this rationality and objectiveness are quite useful in the workplace.
Colombian mediaman José Luis Peñarredonda used his experience working in the London office of the BBC (BBC) to count the benefits of working in a foreign language.
Benefits of working in your second language: Working in another language can be both awkward and challenging, but it can also have a lot of positive aspects.
Jose's native language is Spanish. During his four months in London, he had to speak English without the clear expression and precise words when speaking Spanish. In his words, it was like "trying to eat soup with a fork".
I often forgot words, made grammatical slips, and missed the usual precision of my native Spanish. It feel like trying to eat soup with a fork. To me, working in English feels like scooping soup with a fork.
slip n. Error; accident
As I write this, I have a dictionary open in front of me because I have learned to mistrust my ideas about what some words mean. Even when I write this article in English at this moment, I have this English dictionary on hand. Because I am really afraid that my understanding of some vocabulary meanings is not accurate enough.
However, for people like Jose who work in non-native environments, studies have shown that people who speak foreign languages are usually more analytical. Other studies have also pointed out that people with bilingual skills make decisions differently than those who only know their native language. Why are these benefits? Let’s listen to Bilingual Jun (WeChat ID: Chinadaily_Mobile) to tell you in detail.
The magical "foreign language effect"
Albert Costa, a psychology professor at the University of Pompei Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, said that when performing logical tests, people who use non-native speakers make fewer mistakes than those who use native speakers.
He explained:
In a foreign language, people seem to take more psychological distance when assessing risks, they have a less emotional impact and engage in a more analytical mind process.
This feeling is a bit like an emotional separation. The same self-introduction is like telling someone else's story in English...
Professor Ge Sida and his team called this phenomenon the "foreign language effect" and guessed that this is related to the emotional distance that people generate when speaking foreign languages.
The mechanism of this effect is not clear, but it may be related to the situation when using a foreign language. Professor Ge Sida added:
It could also be that if you learn this second language at a very early age, you experience greater “emotional engagement”, he says. Or is it simply that your brain has to work harder while you speak a foreign language? Of course, there are also some other reasons, such as those who start learning foreign languages at a young age will have more emotional investment when using foreign languages; or is it just because the human brain operates more nervous when speaking foreign languages?
Some psychologists also point out that foreign languages can affect the way people think and respond.Ceri Ellis, a psychology researcher at the University of Manchester, introduced:
people can be more objective in a foreign language, as they are better at deflecting false criticism about their own culture when it is expressed in a foreign language. For example, if others criticize your own culture, even if this criticism is wrong, your reaction will be more objective and tactful when expressed in a foreign language.
deflect [dɪ'flekt] v. deflect; make bend
Eris also mentioned in an interview that generally speaking, the greater the difference in origin between native language and foreign language, the more significant this effect is.
Non-native negotiations can prevail
At first glance, using non-native language for negotiations seems to be a weakness, but in fact it will make you the calmest-minded person on the negotiating table.
In fact, many diplomats and business people use their foreign language negotiations as a negotiation strategy.
If the other party throws out any sharp problems, then...
Ge Sida said:
Speaking a foreign language allows you to buy time in a negotiation. You can act like you have not understood for thinking your answer. Using a foreign language in negotiation can buy more time for you. You can act as if you don't understand it too much so that you can think more calmly about how to answer.
This is exactly the sort of trick expert international negotiations such as diplomats and business people often employ. Not being a very fluent speaker can also be useful as a strategy to ‘sell yourself short’ and appear as less smart than you really are. This is a move that might make your opponent fail to cover all their bases and give you an unexpected advantage. Using non-native language is not fluent as a negotiation strategy to "expose one's own shortcomings" to make oneself seem less agile. Using this strategy will prevent the other party from taking into account all the arguments and will give you unexpected advantages.
There are also studies that some words with excessive verbal expressions will be much less "lethal" in non-native languages. No matter what you say, speaking in a foreign language will not cause permanent harm to your working relationship.
Although speaking a foreign language can make people more objectively evaluate the situation, real life is not that simple.
In a specific working environment, this "foreign language effect" cannot play any role, such as working in an organization with a lot of internal conflicts (a workplace with a lot of intergroup conflicts).
The author appears and says
In the article, Jose also uses the examples of himself and his friends to illustrate this situation.
Natalia Vivas is an entrepreneur from Colombia who currently lives in London. She is also an user experience design consultant.
She said that when speaking foreign languages to customers, she could "talk about money" more generously, and when speaking Spanish to their own people, it would take a long time to talk.
Natalia Vivas recalls how easy it was to broker a more popular contract with a Swedish client in English. “I didn’t fear telling him ‘this is what it costs’,” she says. She said: "I didn't shy away at all, and told him directly, 'It just took so much money'."
Of course, her ability to speak out to customers is not entirely because of the "foreign language effect." Maybe it's also because they come from different countries and will not meet and deal with each other again.
"With local clients in Spanish, and particularly with big ones, the negotiation was a lot slower, and I felt a lot more insecure," she explained.
For some people, the insufficient vocabulary of foreign languages they master is the main reason why they express it more concisely and rationally. The understanding of culture and observance of etiquette in other countries is also a great challenge.
Visa said when talking about his current work in London:
"I feel anxious about the way people write their emails, how do they greet and say goodbye." "How to write emails, say hello, say goodbye, these things make me very nervous."
And the clever way is to express it as concisely as possible.
To sum up, foreign language workers need to think more with their brains than native speakers. As Vivas said, "In English, you will have more time to think."
Of course, this article is not applicable to all people working in foreign languages.
If your job requires you to talk endlessly in a foreign language, then your foreign language proficiency may become an obstacle to your work; on the contrary, if the components that require you to think more than the components that require you to express, then working in a foreign language may help you.
Editor: Li Xueqing Source: BBC
Source: China Daily Bilingual News
