Why it is so important to learn foreign languages
Learning foreign languages has many advantages. Research shows, for example, that older people who speak multiple languages are less likely to develop symptoms of senile dementia. The bilingual brain is also less distracted, and learning foreign languages also improves creativity. We also know that after learning a first foreign language, it is less difficult to learn others.
Why is it so important to study foreign languages at university? As a field linguist, I study the cognitive and emotional benefits of language learning. And among these benefits, there is one that is not necessarily obvious: it improves our tolerance. This effect manifests itself in two ways. First of all, this learning allows us to open our eyes to other ways of doing things, what we call “cultural competence”. The other gain linked to this learning is related to the greater or lesser ease of finding oneself in an unfamiliar situation, which is called “tolerance to ambiguity”.
Intercultural understanding
Cultural competence is essential in an increasingly globalized world. But how does language learning strengthen it? The answer is to be found on the side of the different types of intelligence. Intelligence research by psychologist Robert Sternberg describes two types of intelligence and how they relate to language learning in adults. What he calls « practical intelligence » is comparable to social intelligence because it helps individuals understand non-explicit information about their environment, such as certain meaningful gestures or other socially meaningful elements.
Learning a language necessarily means immersing yourself in different cultures. Students draw cultural elements associated with the language during the lessons, but also during their immersion experiences. Researchers Hanh Thi Nguyen and Guy Kellogg have shown that when their students learn a language, they develop new ways of understanding a culture different from theirs through the analysis of cultural stereotypes. They explain that “learning a new language involves not only the acquisition of linguistic elements, but also the integration of new ways of thinking and new behaviors”. With the help of their teacher, students can practice developing critical thinking about stereotypes associated with different cultures, be it food, appearance, or ways of conversing.
Meet the unknown
The other way in which language learning improves tolerance is related to “ambiguity tolerance”. A person with a high tolerance for ambiguity finds unusual situations more exciting than frightening. My own research on motivation, anxiety, and beliefs shows that language learning improves tolerance for ambiguity, especially when the person speaks more than one foreign language.
The phenomenon is quite simple to understand. Any conversation in a foreign language involves the use of unfamiliar words. If one of the interlocutors spent their time interrupting the conversation and saying, “Wait, I don’t know that word. Let me look it up in the dictionary, ”it would be difficult to argue. People with a high tolerance for ambiguity are not embarrassed to continue the conversation although they may not understand all the words.
Field linguists Jean-Marc Dewaele and Li Wei also study this aspect, and for them, there is no doubt that learning more than one foreign language significantly increases tolerance for ambiguity.
What changes this faculty of understanding
A high tolerance for ambiguity has many advantages. It helps students to limit their anxiety in the context of social life and facilitates their future language learning experiences. Unsurprisingly, the more accustomed a person is to learning languages, the more comfortable they are with the ambiguity inherent in this learning. But that’s not all. People with a high level of tolerance for ambiguity are entrepreneurial; they are more optimistic, more focused on innovation and risk-taking.
Most American universities have a minimum foreign language teaching requirement, which varies depending on the student’s major. Princeton University, on the contrary, recently announced that all students, regardless of their language level when they enter college, must now learn a foreign language.
It seems to me that other universities should follow Princeton’s lead, because learning a language at the university level could lead to a greater tolerance of the diverse cultures found in American society, tolerance of which we have. great need given the current climate …
* Amy Thompson teaches linguistics at South Florida University (United States).
Don’t forget to share the post !
