One language to rule them all
Have you ever had the luck of working in an international environment where the official language is not your mother tongue? If your answer is yes, then you belong to those 60% of the world population who speak at least two languages (according to some statistics) and switch them in their brains without ever thinking about it. Probably you also use a different language in a different context! With time, this creates strong neural connections in your brain, up to a point when the language you use may influence the type of reasoning you do.
But let me tell you about my adventures…
Germany
I’m from Italy and it wasn’t until the age of 24 that I had to use a different language from my own to “survive”. This was when I left Italy to do an internship at the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany. Before that experience, my English was at academic level, that is: being able to ask for directions or to tell that “the pen is on the table” or “the cat is under the bed”. During those 6 months, my survival instinct pushed my brain to improve my English and motivated me to go an extra mile: I took a beginner course of German and started to grasp something of Spanish from my Spanish friends over there (Spanish is really simple for Italian speakers, while German is.. well, German!).
France
The German experience woke up in me the passion for foreign languages.. and that was just the beginning. After two years back in Italy I moved to Nice, in the Côte d’Azur, in the south of France. There I was working as a consultant for Texas Instruments, an American company that does microchips. At work we would speak English for work related stuff and French during lunch and outside work! My karma seemed to remember that years before I was sure I wouldn’t need to learn French in my life (“No way!”) and threw me in that situation! You either learn French.. or you just miss out a lot of conversation and possibilities to socialize! So there I was, learning French against my initial will, eventually having fun at it, and still improving my English at work.
At that time, I wouldn’t really notice anything special about the two languages, just initial headaches at the end of a long day. But bear with me: the fun part is about to begin!
Spain
In 2008 the financial crisis occurred and the French experience was inevitably put to an end! The same happened to my not so promising career in Microelectronics (maybe the best thing that ever happened to me). After a summer back in Italy, enjoying my Sicilian sun and sea, I moved to Barcelona and I started working in a call center as a Service Desk Engineer, taking calls in English, French and Italian!
The same French I didn’t want to learn gave me a job in one of the best cities in the world! So there I was, speaking those languages at work and learning Spanish at home with my flatmates or in the gym.
Funny thing about the gym.. Barcelona is indeed Spain, but is first of all Catalunya! They speak Catalan as the first language. So, here I was again.. learning Spanish at home and learning Spanish and Catalan in the gym! Catalan is another Latin language, quite close to Italian, Spanish and French. Everything seemed so confusing sometimes! But when you enjoy life, those challenges don’t seem quite hard!
Finally, fast forward a few years later and now I can say that I speak fluent English and Spanish.. I cheat my way out with French and I understand Catalan (and if I almost never speak it that’s due to my laziness :P ).
I am now working as a Software Engineer for Oracle | NetSuite and there we have a rule: you’d speak English if it’s work related and Spanish during break, provided that everybody present is comfortable in Spanish, otherwise we just speak English!
Eventually you get used to it.. and you become so fast in switching languages with different people or even with the same person without even realizing it! And it’s really fun!
Separation of responsibilities
The rule at Oracle and my previous experiences with languages created a separation of responsibilities in my brain! The part of my brain which speaks English tends to be a bit more serious, it’s used to talk about requirements, design, compliance, delivery, but also free time stuff… While the part which speaks Spanish just talks and thinks about free time, beers, parties, hanging out, relationships, sports, etc…
Neurological connections
This goes beyond being a pure habit.. It creates some strong neurological connections in your brain up to a point where the choice of the language you are about to speak influences the type of reasoning you’re about to do! Depending on the situation I’d choose:
- when it comes to logical stuff, especially at work: English (with few exceptions);
- for normal day to day life: Spanish mainly (or Italian or English depending on who I’m with);
- when I’m upset, surprised, in one word, emotional: Italian (I’m sure all my dear colleagues can swear to hearing me swearing a lot in Italian!).
There’s a theory, called linguistic relativity, also known as Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which suggests that:
the structure of a language affects its speakers’ world view or cognition, and thus people’s perceptions are relative to their spoken language.
Although this theory is often criticized, I like to think that there’s some truth in it, especially in the weak version of this theory. Either way, the habits I developed when I speak a certain language cannot be denied and the same is true for the ease I have in some situations with a language with respect to another.
Surely, some of you can identify yourself in this situation. But even if you don’t, just let me ask you a question: how much is 87 - 55 + 10?
Of course it’s 42 (aka the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything) and I’m pretty sure you were calculating the answer in your mother tongue, isn’t it? This is one of the exceptions I was mentioning about the languages for the logical stuff. We’re already busy in counting in our mind that we set the default language, whatever comes easier. Our mother tongue for example.
At the end of the day we’re all “wired” in a similar way, behaving in similar ways in similar situations.
So.. here are my final suggestions to you all:
- Try to improve your knowledge of other languages, even if you don’t feel like doing it or if you think you won’t need it. At first it’s hard.. Then it gets really hard (like when you want to follow a conversation) .. but then eventually it gets easier and easier!
- If you can choose the language.. Think about when and where you use each language and what is your goal! If you normally work in English and need to talk about work related stuff, maybe meeting a customer, presenting a talk to a conference, then go for English! You’ll already have all the terms in your mind without looking for them! Here is a counter example: I learnt how to climb here in Barcelona; I can communicate, I can climb in Catalan and in Spanish.. but I’m a clumsy climber in Italian! The first time I climbed with Italian friends I didn’t even know what you call a quick draw in italian and I had to relearn everything. True story!
- Have fun doing it! Learning a new language is not only interesting, but it opens up new ways of thinking, it’s a good exercise for the brain and probably the easiest ice-breaker topic ;)
At first it’s hard.. Then it gets really hard (like when you want to follow a conversation) .. but then eventually it gets easier and easier!
As Henry VIII said: I will speak Italian with my cook, German with my generals, English with my diplomats and French with my lovers!