Amazing quote by Nelson Mandela!! "If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." N. Mandela. What do you think of this extension of the quote?...if he knows the only reason you talk to him in his own language is to talk with him at the heart level, then he is even more affected at the heart level.
With Global business, international teams are a given. And technological advances are providing short cuts in translation (E.g. Google Translate) apart from gaining language proficiency. But such short-cuts also affect quality and "getting to the heart." Mandela You wrote "They score higher on extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness" Could the cause-effect go the other way, those who tend to be more agreeable and conscientious are more likely to be bi-lingual all else being equal? Under your point "Cultural Connectivity," multilingualism "builds trust and empathy" I could not agree more. One additional factor that it might build trust and empathy is that native speakers of your second language understand you are lowering yourself, lowering your perceived giftedness in order to defer to them. In the opposite direction, many times I have seen a potential leader incidentally evaluated by his ability to speak in my language (her second language), and not evaluated purely by her abilities, and experience... and even when she would be leading in her native language.
Thank you David. The latter argument had with my son. Surely language plays a role but is more than that as you state. Is character and heart. Language and what it entails is more then mere words . Yourself knowing a few more languages then your mother tongue helps you understand better the Scriptures and the descendants of Illyrian’s
Yes, character and heart, abilities and experience are all important when it comes to leadership but we need to be careful that the specific ability to speak well my language fluently can have an undue effect on evaluating leadership of that person in their native context and language... undue assuming the person has given appropriate effort to speak my language. If that same person was being considered a leadership role in MY language and culture then fluency would be very important and needed to "get to the heart" (N. Mandela) of those the person were to lead.
Amazing quote by Nelson Mandela!! "If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." N. Mandela. What do you think of this extension of the quote?...if he knows the only reason you talk to him in his own language is to talk with him at the heart level, then he is even more affected at the heart level.
With Global business, international teams are a given. And technological advances are providing short cuts in translation (E.g. Google Translate) apart from gaining language proficiency. But such short-cuts also affect quality and "getting to the heart." Mandela You wrote "They score higher on extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness" Could the cause-effect go the other way, those who tend to be more agreeable and conscientious are more likely to be bi-lingual all else being equal? Under your point "Cultural Connectivity," multilingualism "builds trust and empathy" I could not agree more. One additional factor that it might build trust and empathy is that native speakers of your second language understand you are lowering yourself, lowering your perceived giftedness in order to defer to them. In the opposite direction, many times I have seen a potential leader incidentally evaluated by his ability to speak in my language (her second language), and not evaluated purely by her abilities, and experience... and even when she would be leading in her native language.
Thank you David. The latter argument had with my son. Surely language plays a role but is more than that as you state. Is character and heart. Language and what it entails is more then mere words . Yourself knowing a few more languages then your mother tongue helps you understand better the Scriptures and the descendants of Illyrian’s
Yes, character and heart, abilities and experience are all important when it comes to leadership but we need to be careful that the specific ability to speak well my language fluently can have an undue effect on evaluating leadership of that person in their native context and language... undue assuming the person has given appropriate effort to speak my language. If that same person was being considered a leadership role in MY language and culture then fluency would be very important and needed to "get to the heart" (N. Mandela) of those the person were to lead.