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David Hoza asked:




My experience with a foreign language has been limited mainly to working with Latinos in many of the occupations I’ve held. Sometimes they spoke English, some well, some poorly. I was required to take two years of a foreign language in order to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. My chosen language was Spanish, and while the formal Spanish of a university curriculum is not always the informal and dialectical Spanish of the diverse workplace, having formal schooling in another language under my belt I believe has served me well.

Many of the stressors associated with foreign or dual language issues in the workplace are largely unknown and poorly understood. Research shows that kids who learn in their own language tend to learn and perform better. Much of what we have learned about standardized tests has shown that when they are designed or are specific to one culture, they don’t necessarily translate to other cultures. One famous example is the discovery that when the outline or inkblot of a guitar, a tennis racquet, and a drum were shown on an intelligence test, those who had never played tennis and were unfamiliar with a tennis racquet grouped it with musical instruments because of its similar shape.

You may be wondering what this has to do with differing language stressors in the workplace and marketplace. The answer is, quite a lot. In the examples above, two conclusions can be drawn out. First, we perform better in a familiar context. Second, if we don’t perform well in a given context, we may be evaluated poorly. We grow up knowing in the back of our mind that if we don’t communicate well in public, we may be humiliated.

We commonly learn our native language through a wide variety of experiences, one of which includes shaming. Watch how parents and peers react to mispronounced or misunderstood words, and you will eventually see a moment of shaming or humiliation. While not all or even most of our learning takes place under this kind of behavioral conditioning, these emotional moments when we are young before cognition becomes the dominant factor (we hope) in our behavior can have deep impacts on how we react to similar circumstances later in life.

Put simply, a lot of the emotion generated over language issues in the work and marketplace may be traced back to how we ourselves were schooled to ’say it right’ or ’say it in plain English’. These emotionally tinged disciplinary imperatives I believe inform how we react to others we do not understand. We were shamed into talking ‘right’, and so we shame others into talking right, or wonder why we find it so frustrating when we don’t understand others. I believe there is a clue here, though no hard research exists that I am aware of to offer statistics and scientific certainty.

In many cases, not being able to understand what others are saying is more than just frustrating. The fight or flight system can take over. This much uncertainty can make us anxious, and our perceptions struggle to provide us with security. This security may come in the form of ‘I know what they’re saying about me’, when the truth is we cannot know without better understanding of the language. We reach for understanding, and we may even misinterpret words that sound like words in our own language, skipping the question of whether these words mean the same thing in different languages.

Our sense of frustration with the language barrier can also bring on feelings of inadequacy that surely have roots in childhood and the learning of our first language. Revisiting these feelings can’t be pleasant for most of us, yet we do not have the recollection, the analytical tools, or the speed of assessment necessary to recognize that feelings of shame and inadequacy-feelings we are projecting onto the present situation in the form of moralizing against a second language in the workplace-can be much of what we are experiencing in a truly stressful way.

In a situation where we are trying to communicate with someone who does not adequately understand our language, nor are we able to adequately speak in their language, misinterpretation or lack of understanding are assessments quickly leaped over in favor of assessments that point to will and intention. The other party intentionally ignored me or did the opposite of what I wanted them to do to spite me.

I think of all the times I have noticed others agreeing with me and nodding to suggest they understood what I have said, and they really aren’t certain of what I’m talking about. I’ve noticed this from many co-workers and subordinates who understand English. As I have paid attention to this phenomenon, I have noticed that many of these people are not asking what certain words I am using mean, though it seems unlikely that they come from a specific enough background to have a clear grasp of the term or my use of the term.

We as a culture, perhaps as a species, tend to find that to ask what a word means, or what it means when used a certain way, implies stupidity, ignorance, and other forms of inferiority. Research shows this is an unfortunate tendency in the workplace. In my world, nothing could be further from the truth.

Language barriers are often difficult and frustrating to interact with, let alone communicate through in a way that permits rapid and certain understanding and action. While I respect the way we confront these issues in the workplace currently, we would do well to take a moment to reflect on why so much stress comes up when we find it difficult or impossible to communicate or understand one another. Difficult communication is not made any easier when loaded with stress.