By Capt. Mark Jacobsen, USAF
Best Defense guest columnist
A few months ago I wrote up a list of
secondary benefits that come with learning a foreign language, based on my own
experience learning Arabic. It's a bit long, but I hope it will be of interest.
How to listen to other people's stories and
perspectives. Being able to
shut up and really listen to different opinions is a rare skill. If we want to
make informed policy in cross-cultural contexts, we need to humanize and
understand the "other" -- which includes both our allies and our
enemies. We do not have to agree with each other, but we need to listen long
enough to genuinely understand each other's narratives. Being in a foreign
language environment forces you to concentrate and listen, especially because
you probably lack the language skill to respond as you wish.
How to operate in an environment of constant uncertainty. When you arrive
in a foreign culture, everything is uncertain. You feel a constant tightness in
your chest because you don't know the rules for even the most trivial
day-to-day tasks. Even something as simple as buying hummus and falafel or
riding in a taxicab involves new processes, rituals, and vocabulary -- especially
if you want to do it like the natives. You can't be a perfectionist, because
you'll never get anything done otherwise. You learn to control negative
emotional responses like fear, anger, or frustration. Fortunately, you do
acclimate to this uncertainty. You learn to be patient, cool, and observant.
How to communicate without a solid common language. The lingua franca of
the world is not English; it is broken English. This only gets people so far,
and in many contexts they fall back on a variety of second mutual languages to
communicate. It's common for a multiethnic group to shift from one language to
another as they try to communicate a point. Learning to communicate in this
fragmented, multilingual manner is an important skill in its own right.
Not to take yourself too seriously. None of us like being made a fool
of. But when you live in a foreign culture, there's no getting around it: you
are the fool. You get ripped off. You make embarrassing cultural and linguistic
mistakes. These experiences teach you to relax and to laugh at yourself. They
teach humility. Anyone charged with crafting U.S. foreign policy should
have a few of these experiences under his or her belt.
The limits of cross-cultural "expertise." If you're wise, you
come to disdain the word "expert." I suppose there is such a thing as
a cross-cultural expert, but few who claim the title really deserve it. It
takes years -- probably decades -- of close work with another culture to really
develop expertise. When you gain enough language to really penetrate the local
culture, you realize how much is going on beneath the surface that you were
previously blind to. You gain a healthy skepticism for reigning conventional
wisdom about the culture.
The importance of local relationships. This is the corollary of the
above point, and it is especially true if you can really immerse and avoid a
supportive American network. You are utterly dependent on your local friends. This
requires deep trust and humility, because you are constantly at their mercy. You
quickly learn that you, as an American, are not the main actor in their
country; you are a bewildered guest, and your success hinges on the strength
and quality of your local relationships.
How to learn about culture and language. When you live in a foreign
culture, you learn how to learn. You learn what vocabulary is important, what
language learning techniques work, how to make relationships, what skills are
important, what details to pay attention to. These skills will carry over to
other languages and other cultures in the future.
The nature and unique dangers of translation. You learn that translation
is not a mechanical science; it is an art. You learn what ideas translate
directly and what do not. You gain an intuitive sense for the moment-by-moment
decisions an interpreter must make, which can have serious impacts on the
message. You learn how to communicate clear messages to an interpreter to
increase the odds that they will be transmitted accurately.
How to speak clearly and directly. As a student of a second language,
you learn a lot about communication. You learn to appreciate people who speak
clearly, slowly, and in a direct way. You are frustrated by those who speak
quickly and use lots of slang or jargon. As your ear gets attuned to these
characteristics, you begin to analyze your own speech -- and the speech of
other Americans -- when they speak English to non-native speakers. You gain a
feel for when a message is being successfully transmitted, and when it's not.
Capt Mark Jacobsen is a C-17 pilot and
Olmsted scholar studying Arabic, Conflict Resolution, and Islamic History in
Amman, Jordan.
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