Editor’s note: According to the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, 34.21% of the greater SA area population and 37.5% of Bexar County’s residents are bilingual (English and Spanish); an additional 3.35% and 3.7%, respectively, speak English and another language.
There are many benefits to knowing more than one language. For example, it has been shown that aging adults who speak more than one language have less likelihood of developing dementia.
Additionally, the bilingual brain becomes better at filtering out distractions, and learning multiple languages improves creativity. Evidence also shows that learning subsequent languages is easier than learning the first foreign language.
Unfortunately, not all American universities consider learning foreign languages a worthwhile investment.
Why is foreign language study important at the university level?
As an applied linguist, I study how learning multiple languages can have cognitive and emotional benefits. One of these benefits that’s not obvious is that language learning improves tolerance.
This happens in two important ways.
The first is that it opens people’s eyes to a way of doing things in a way that’s different from their own, which is called “cultural competence.”
The second is related to the comfort level of a person when dealing with unfamiliar situations, or “tolerance of ambiguity.”
Gaining Cross-Cultural Understanding
Cultural competence is key to thriving in our increasingly globalized world. How specifically does language learning improve cultural competence? The answer can be illuminated by examining different types of intelligence.
Psychologist Robert Sternberg’s research on intelligence describes different types of intelligence and how they are related to adult language learning. What he refers to as “practical intelligence” is similar to social intelligence in that it helps individuals learn nonexplicit information from their environments, including meaningful gestures or other social cues.
COD Newsroom / Creative Commons
Language learning inevitably involves learning about different cultures. Students pick up clues about the culture both in language classes and through meaningful immersion experiences.
Researchers Hanh Thi Nguyen and Guy Kellogg have shown that when students learn another language, they develop new ways of understanding culture through analyzing cultural stereotypes. They explain that “learning a second language involves the acquisition not only of linguistic forms but also ways of thinking and behaving.”
With the help of an instructor, students can critically think about stereotypes of different cultures related to food, appearance, and conversation styles.
Dealing with the Unknown
The second way that adult language learning increases tolerance is related to the comfort level of a person when dealing with “tolerance of ambiguity.”
Someone with a high tolerance of ambiguity finds unfamiliar situations exciting, rather than frightening. My research on motivation, anxiety, and beliefs indicates that language learning improves people’s tolerance of ambiguity, especially when more than one foreign language is involved.
It’s not difficult to see why this may be so. Conversations in a foreign language will inevitably involve unknown words. It wouldn’t be a successful conversation if one of the speakers constantly stopped to say, “Hang on – I don’t know that word. Let me look it up in the dictionary.” Those with a high tolerance of ambiguity would feel comfortable maintaining the conversation despite the unfamiliar words involved.
Applied linguists Jean-Marc Dewaele and Li Wei also study tolerance of ambiguity and have indicated that those with experience learning more than one foreign language in an instructed setting have more tolerance of ambiguity.
What Changes with this Understanding
A high tolerance of ambiguity brings many advantages. It helps students become less anxious in social interactions and in subsequent language learning experiences. Not surprisingly, the more experience a person has with language learning, the more comfortable the person gets with this ambiguity.
And that’s not all.
Individuals with higher levels of tolerance of ambiguity have also been found to be more entrepreneurial (i.e., are more optimistic, innovative and don’t mind taking risks).
In the current climate, universities are frequently being judged by the salaries of their graduates. Taking it one step further, based on the relationship of tolerance of ambiguity and entrepreneurial intention, increased tolerance of ambiguity could lead to higher salaries for graduates, which in turn, I believe, could help increase funding for those universities that require foreign language study.
Those who have devoted their lives to theorizing about and the teaching of languages would say, “It’s not about the money.” But perhaps it is.
Language Learning in Higher Ed
Most American universities have a minimal language requirement that often varies depending on the student’s major. However, students can typically opt out of the requirement by taking a placement test or providing some other proof of competency.
sarspri / Creative Commons
In contrast to this trend, Princeton recently announced that all students, regardless of their competency when entering the university, would be required to study an additional language.
I’d argue that more universities should follow Princeton’s lead, as language study at the university level could lead to an increased tolerance of the different cultural norms represented in American society, which is desperately needed in the current political climate with the wave of hate crimes sweeping university campuses nationwide.
Knowledge of different languages is crucial to becoming global citizens. As former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan noted,
“Our country needs to create a future in which all Americans understand that by speaking more than one language, they are enabling our country to compete successfully and work collaboratively with partners across the globe.”
Considering the evidence that studying languages as adults increases tolerance in two important ways, the question shouldn’t be “Why should universities require foreign language study?” but rather “Why in the world wouldn’t they?”
When taxpayers and business have to spend millions for Spanish language for elections and personnel, is that “cultural competence”?
I don’t believe the article is discussing what language government documents are/should be printed in. However, nowhere in the Constitution or federal law does the US have an official language, so yes providing an option for customers of private businesses and users of government services in their primary language is indeed cultural competence. I would be very surprised to hear anyone argue that a person has to learn a new language to interact with their local economy or government. Government is supposed to serve the people, not the other way around. The US is a nation of immigrants, and yes that means we have a wide range of languages spoken across the country. Do you believe those people should automatically lose out because they aren’t fluent in English?
Then why aren’t all other languages being forced on us? The government takes care of way to many people now. They lose out because they are ignorant, irresponsible, and lazy. $20 TRILLIOIN in debt. Please tell me something I don’t already know.
First of all, no language is being “forced” on you. You clearly are fluent in the dominant language where you live. I’m sorry you have to listen to the automated operator say “Para espanol, oprima numero dos” or that the sign outside your polling site says “vote aqui” in addition to “vote here”.
You have an extremely prejudiced view of those in this country who do not speak English. I have a friend and former co-worker who works 50 hours a week and still raises her 3 kids to be smart, caring people. Is she “ignorant, irresponsible, and lazy”? How many more like her did you paint with that broad brush? How many non-English speakers do you know? Can you really categorize them all with those terms?
The government takes care of everyone in the US. The military and police maintain public safety. TxDOT and the US Dept. of Transportation provide our infrastructure. Obviously everyone receives different levels of support from the government, but to try to opt yourself out of that category entirely is ludicrous.
All of this is to say, the intent of the article is to focus on the benefits of learning a second language. I also wish that the people living in the US who don’t currently speak English could learn it. These people will better understand our culture (including the ugly parts) if they speak the dominant language. They will become smarter, more productive citizens and residents. They will be able to pay more in taxes to hopefully one day cut that federal debt you’re so worried about.
How many immigrants have you hired to get them off the government dole? How many ESL classes have you taught? It’s easy to dismiss this population as lazy and walk away. It’s another to offer a hand up if you are so offended by the idea of a handout.
I wouldn’t hire any illegals. How many immigrants do you have living with you?I’m tired of supporting other parents kids now matter what language they speak. No problem knowing any languages as long as you support yourself, your family, and friends. $20 TRILLION in debt. Can you pay your share today?
I didn’t ask about illegal immigrants. I was asking about those who are hear legally. Those who may have left families or careers behind to move to a new country for a better opportunity for their families. Those hardworking people who came to the US are the thing that has always made America great.
You’re right though, I don’t currently have any immigrants living with me. Perhaps I will look into organizations that do that kind of work. However, you can’t have it both ways. To my view, it seems like you want to tell “those” people to care for themselves and their families while simultaneously seeking to prevent them from getting work here, denying them access to public assistance, and ultimately be removed from the US.
But kicking out all the immigrants doesn’t eliminate poverty. All you’re doing is removing people who can be and are contributing to the economy. I know you view them as a net drain on our debt I believe you are missing the economic energy they bring. Some may come just to abuse our welfare system but most don’t. They come here to work.
The economic energy they bring starts at the Western Union provider by sending millions back to other countries. Kicking out immigrants won’t eliminate poverty, but it will help eliminate our overbearing debt. You still haven’t said if you could pay your share or our $20 TRILLION today.
And you still haven’t said why you consider 81 million legal immigrants and 12 million illegal immigrants “ignorant, irresponsible, and lazy” so I guess we’re both wrong. To directly address your question, no I could not write a check to the government to cover my portion of the $20 TRILLION debt today. Could you? Have you? If it’s that important to you, don’t tell some stranger on an internet forum to do it. Put your money where your mouth is.
But that whole line of argument is irrelevant because that is not how the federal debt functions. Governmental debt is very different from debt carried by a private business or individual. We need a broader economic base, not a more restricted one. Countries that reduce immigration reduce their economies, period.
Somehow, I knew you were going to bring up remittances sent home by immigrants. Once again though, even if they are sending a portion of the income they earn in the US back their families in their home countries, they still have to buy food and gas and rent. What happens to that money? It stays in the local economy. And if an immigrant is working here in the US, they are providing labor to their employer who benefits from having that job filled. It’s still a net positive.
Just saying millions are living off the government. Food stamps, healthcare, housing, medicare, and medicade. If you like this, take a few home with you and raise them. End of discussion.
I’m glad that’s where the discussion ends for you. Money. Specifically, keeping more it for yourself and screw everybody else. Where’s your sense of human decency?
Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad to you.
Your ignorance is overwhelming.
And a Happy New Year to you, as well.
I can sleep very soundly at night knowing that I don’t have an irrational fear or hatred of poor people and immigrants. I would rather be ignorant than prejudiced.