There is an old joke that says a person who speaks three languages is trilingual, someone who speaks two languages is bilingual, and someone who speaks one language is an American. It?s an old joke, but still true.
As Americans, we live and work in a global network of economies, cultures and commerce. The price we pay at the grocery store and the gas pump reflect current global political and economic events. With the ascendancy of players like China, the United States can no longer assume the rest of the world will adapt its customs and procedures for conducting business to ours.
That?s why the reluctance of Americans to incorporate global language and cultural understandings is frightening. While other emerging economic entities have emphasized multilingual training, the United States has not.
Fewer than 10 percent of U.S. undergraduates take a foreign language and fewer than 2 percent study abroad.
The lack of language training and cultural understanding threatens the security of the nation and limits our ability to successfully compete in the global marketplace. In a January briefing, the assistant secretary of state for Education and Cultural Affairs, Dina Powell, and the assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Barry Lowenkron, said: “Deficits in foreign language learning and teaching negatively affect our national security, diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence communities and cultural understanding. It prevents us from effectively communicating in foreign medical environments, hurts counter-terrorism efforts and hamstrings our capacity to work with people and governments in post-conflict zones and to promote mutual understanding. Our business competitiveness is hampered in making effective contacts and adding new markets overseas.”
Communication is influenced by many things including culture, religion status and economic conditions. Even within the U.S., regional variations of custom and culture impact how we interact with one another. In northern areas like New York, being direct and sometimes aggressive in business conversations is common. In the South, people are more likely to wait their turn to talk. Not understanding these regional differences can dramatically alter the effectiveness of a business meeting or a sales call.
In Japan, with whom you communicate is as important as how you communicate. To discuss something with a company president requires a title or position of equivalent status. In South America you have to know when to use the right “you.” One is formal and one is informal; usage depends on age, stature and class.
It?s considered impolite in Japan to ask someone to repeat what he or she said. In contrast, when in Mexico you may be asked to repeat what you?ve said several times. Either you weren?t understood or the person hopes you will change your mind. Not knowing these communication nuances can be detrimental.
The community college, with its strong emphasis on community education and corporate and business training, is ideally suited to facilitate language and training forthe new millennia. At the Community College of Baltimore County, we offer courses in more than 15 foreign languages, including Arabic, Russian and Chinese, languages critical for local business to compete in the global marketplace.
Although English will and should continue to be the primary language of the U.S., if we are to truly compete and succeed in a global society, more Americans must gain a fundamental understanding of other languages and cultures.
Bill Rice is chairman of the Department of Language and Philosophy at The Community College of Baltimore County.
