What factors shape who you are, what your values are, and how you communicate?
As intercultural experts, we emphasize the importance of culture in how we relate to others. Culture comes not just from our country of origin, but also from our regional, generational, economic, and political circumstances, and yes, culture is even shaped by our mother tongue.
As we celebrate International Mother Language Day on 21 February, we can reflect on the relationship between our first language and how language shapes the way we view the world. As an example, the French, Arabic, and Japanese use honorific pronouns or phrases to reflect their value for formality and, in some cases, hierarchy. Native speakers of Mandarin, Cantonese, and other tonal languages often use puns and word-play to underscore a point of view or sense of humor, reflecting a contextual communication style. Indigenous communities, such as Inuktitut, Māori, and Hawaiian, with cultural values of community and group harmony, can be reflected in phrases and storytelling in their respective languages.
In some cases, fighting for the right to use one's mother tongue is a form of cultural resistance, which is how the International Mother Language Day was founded: the Bengali language movement of 1952 in Bangladesh, where students fought for the inclusion of Bengali alongside Urdu as the official language of the nation, led to the creation of International Mother Language Day. Speaking in your mother tongue provides a sense of belonging among others, a linguistic bridge towards cultural understanding.
Here are three habits you can adopt for a more globally inclusive of linguistic diversity in the workplace:
1. Speak thoughtfully, without jargon.
Even for people who are fluent in the dominant language spoken in the workplace, idioms, sports analogies, and colloquial phrases can be difficult to interpret. That said, there are times when a phrase or idea comes to mind that resonates most deeply when spoken in the original language, in which case it can be fun to discover your colleague has a similar saying in their native language!
2. Allow for silence or long pauses.
The reality is that in some cases, it takes time for people to switch to their non-primary language. This doesn’t reflect a person’s intelligence or comprehension, and therefore, it is important for those native to the dominant office language to provide time for responses.
3. Use the technology available, with some caution.
A small click of a button that can make a huge difference in providing a more linguistically inclusive workplace. Various meeting platforms, apps, and AI tools can offer real-time translations and transcriptions of live meetings, chats, and websites that can minimize language barriers. AI as a language translation tool should be used with caution, however, as there is research that shows AI in other languages is biased in favor of dominant languages, such as English, and can reinforce bias in the form of English-centric values.
Linguistic diversity is just one layer of culture that impacts the behaviors and expectations we bring to our workplaces. International Mother Language Day invites us to appreciate where we come from and the different perspectives we are able to offer others, thanks to our cultural diversity. Discover other ways culture affects the workplace, try our sample course: Impact of Culture on Teamwork.
