London – Recently, the London Financial Times organised a roundtable of senior executives and consultants to discuss the benefits of multilingualism. Chaired by Antonella Storace, a professor of linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, these key business leaders agreed that having multilingual managers added value beyond mere communicative functionality. Put simply, the human resourcing specialists present were convinced that multilingualism and multiculturalism made for better leaders.
This of course begs the questions: why and how? To answer this, it is best to start with the most straightforward examples: those raised bi- or multilingually. It is fair to say that there has been a sea change in thinking with regard to bilingualism, thanks to discoveries made in linguistic research over the last thirty years or so. From a belief that early bilingualism impeded or interfered with cognitive development, it is now known that the opposite is in fact closer to the truth. Paradoxically, research shows that the overwhelming benefits of growing up bilingually go far beyond mere communicative competence.
Children raised as bilinguals generally have a greatly enhanced sense of empathy. In the most common sense of the word, this means a greater understanding of the feelings of others. Growing up with more than one language means growing up with a foot in different worlds; in turn, this fosters a better understanding of the perspectives and positions of others.
The second major benefit to growing up bilingual is concerned with what developmental linguists and psychologists call executive control. This is a little more complex. In layman’s terms, executive control refers to the processes in the frontal lobes of the brain which manage different stimuli, or how we sort the relevant stimuli from the irrelevant.
York University’s Professor Ellen Bialystock, among others, has shown that bilinguals consistently out-perform monolinguals in experiments testing executive control. A classic example of such a test has been to ask participants to list sets of words, for example, to name all the fruit they can think of in a set time period. This test became the basis on which bilingualism – especially childhood bilingualism – was seen as detrimental to cognitive development. The reason was that bilinguals perform significantly worse on such tests when compared to monolinguals. However, Bialystock modified the experiment in a way that superficially might seem slight. Instead of asking participants to list words based on themes (e.g. fruit, vehicles etc.), she began asking participants to list words alphabetically. Although this appears little different, for the executive control function of the brain it is an infinitely more complex task. She found that the tables were turned: bilinguals consistently out-performed monolinguals in the revised experiment. The reason is thought to be that the two (or more) languages inside a bilingual’s head are constantly running. This means that bilinguals are constantly having to do mental acrobatics as they go about their daily lives, whether or not they are conscious of this fact.
On the surface, the benefits mentioned so far might not appear to have a direct bearing on the workplace, since the examples given deal with childhood bilingualism. But these enhanced abilities can also they become available to those who learn languages later in life. So, with a keen eye, the value becomes apparent.
Greater awareness of different perspectives has been shown to increase the potential for better cooperation and negotiation: key skills for any business leader. Not only do these have a positive effect inside an organisation, they are also essential for creating and nurturing lasting client relationships.
The point about enhanced executive brain control is also highly relevant in the workplace. The ability to identify the most salient aspects of a problem, and of equal importance, to disregard aspects which are less relevant or distracting, makes for more efficient management decisions. Very often these are decisions which must be made quickly and under pressure, as different workplace issues compete for a manager’s attention.
In short, these are the benefits that the senior executives and specialists at the Financial Times roundtable perceived. They also pointed out that while forward-looking employers still prioritise the balance sheet effects that bilingualism brings, businesses are increasingly aware of the less direct benefits that linguistic science is uncovering.
In this regard, South Tyrol is immensely fortunate. Despite the politicisation of language issues sometimes, there is an underlying acknowledgement that languages are important. Although the real “hows” and “whys” are only beginning to be realised.
The Author: Peter Brannick is a sociolinguist and language trainer with a strong interest in multilingualism and globalisation, especially within the context of multilingual regions in Europe. He has extensive experience in language research and training in Europe and Latin America. He lives in South Tyrol.
