Languages in the Workplace

Photo: National Cancer Institute, Unsplash

Listen to article here. 

 

Here’s some rather depressing news that will have knock-on effects for years to come: fewer students at less affluent schools in the UK are studying foreign languages. Now, some people won’t think this matters, because, after all, as some people will say, “everyone in the world speaks English” and “learning languages is less important than learning maths or IT”. But this couldn’t be more wrong. Studying languages is an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) issue and it’s one that has an impact on workplaces, as well as on people’s brains, self-confidence and personal lives.

First of all, the news article tells us that fewer than half of the students in less affluent state schools study a language, and actually the news isn’t that much better at the more affluent state schools, where fewer than 70% of the pupils choose a language. In other words, on average, only about 50% of young people take a language in the UK to GCSE level, which means that their skills may not even be at a high enough level for them to feel confident going to that country and ordering a meal, never mind trying to conduct a business meeting in that tongue. And for the 50% who don’t study a language to even GCSE level, they won’t be able to communicate with people from other nations unless that’s in their own tongue. It seems a lot to ask for everyone else in the world to always have to use English to communicate.

Even among those who do study a language, the options taken in the UK are primarily French, Spanish and German. Those are all excellent, important languages, but they definitely aren’t the only ones in the world, and they quite possibly aren’t the most essential ones for the future. More than 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today and, interestingly, it’s thought that over 300 different languages are spoken in homes and communities in the UK, of course including Welsh, which is an official language in schools, the Senedd (parliament) and elsewhere in Wales. Currently, the most spoken languages in the world are Mandarin, English, Spanish, Hindi, and Arabic; as noted, only one of those is regularly studied in the UK (Spanish).

Sure, us English-speakers can probably get by with our English, but it shows a lack of respect if we travel or try to do business with people from other nations and can’t even have small talk with them in their language. Our communication options will be decreased and we might miss nuances in our discussions if we try to converse solely in English, which might be a second, third or even beyond language for the people we are talking to.

There are many benefits to speaking other languages. We’ve already mentioned how useful it can be in a business context, because it can improve cultural and practical understanding, prevent confusion or awkwardness, and it can impact interpersonal understanding. From a financial perspective, companies that wish to do business outside their own country’s borders can make a real impact and attract clients by having staff who speak the languages of other nations. As a customer, would you place more trust in an organisation that spoke your tongue or one that didn’t? Which one would you rather do business with and give money to?

 

Written by Dr B.J. Woodstein (Research Associate, PILAA)

To read the full article, you must be a PILAA Member.

Tiny Experiments and Reframing

Photo by vigor poodo on Unsplash

Listen to article here. 

 

There comes a point for nearly everyone when we might get stuck in a rut, in either our professional or personal lives, or, even harder, both. Sometimes we need something to shake us out of that rut or to help us find a new path. That’s where the idea of Tiny Experiments comes in.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, author and former high-level Google employee. Her latest book, Tiny Experiments, and her regular newsletter offer just the inspiration we might need. Her most recent article, entitled The Art of Seeing Things Differently, is worth exploring in more depth, but before that, let’s have a brief overview of Le Cunff’s work and ideas more generally.

Le Cunff runs Ness Labs, which she calls a “playground for curiosity”. The “Ness” comes not from, say, the Loch Ness monster but in fact from the suffix “ness”. Le Cunff references awareness, consciousness, and mindfulness, but we could add many others, including resourcefulness, happiness, healthfulness, kindness, and so on. Part of the concept behind Ness Labs is that we lose some of our natural curiosity and playfulness (another “ness” word!) as we get older, and this negatively affects how we feel about ourselves, our lives and our work. If we can attempt to view things in new and different ways and if we can try out new approaches, activities and ways of thinking and being, we might find ourselves feeling better and actually being more successful at work.

In Tiny Experiments, Le Cunff describes how she gave up her well paid, very respected job at the massive and influential corporation that is Google and wanted to bring back creativity into her life and to challenge herself. Her main idea is that people should make a small pact with themselves and to just show up for themselves, without causing additional stress. It’s a way to try out new activities without pressuring themselves to make it a permanent habit or part of their life. So someone decides, “I will do X for Y [days or weeks].” This could mean, “I will take a salsa class once a week for three months” or “I will meditate for ten minutes every morning before I get out of bed for eight weeks” or “I will spend one hour each Sunday afternoon researching other job options” or “I will invite a different colleague for coffee each month for a year so I can learn more about what other people in my company do”, or whatever else it might be. It’s pretty low-risk, unlike, say, a New Year’s resolution or a firm decision to “get in shape” or “find a new job” or “network more” and so on. People can then see how it goes. After the period has ended, they can either continue the activity, stop it, or change it in some way; Le Cunff refers to this as persist, pause, or pivot. For instance, a person might decide they liked salsa dancing and wanted to continue, or they might find they’d rather try tap lessons, or they might feel that dancing isn’t for them after all and they’d rather try knitting. That’s it. It’s simply a way to try new things.

 

Written by Dr B.J. Woodstein (Research Associate, PILAA)

To read the full article, you must be a PILAA Member.

Mr Loverman: Coming out, lights, camera, action!

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Mr Loverman was the BAFTA award-winning TV series adaptation of the book by the same name, by acclaimed author, Booker Prize winner and most recent awarded recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Bernadine Evaristo. In the series British actor Lennie James took home the award for Leading actor for his role as Barrington “Barry” Walker (James) and his co-star Ariyon Bakare, who played the role of Morris, won the award for supporting actor. Mr Loverman’s success, despite a strong lineup of contenders, highlights how important it is to show stories like these, that make visible the hidden experiences of topics we are often too afraid to speak about.

If you haven’t watched the series, then this is a spoiler alert. This particular story was not what I expected it to be, for how often do we hear a word like loverman and assume that the male protagonist on the show is actually a 74-year-old Black man of Antiguan heritage, living in London, married to his wife, has two grown up daughters, a teenage grandson, but who happens to be in a secret long-term relationship with his best friend and lover, known to the family as Uncle Morris.

The series showed the complex relationship the main protagonist had with living an authentic life, one free of the trappings of past histories, where being homosexual was frowned upon. Barry is in the closet and has been for all of his life, not only to those around him, but to him, himself. His smart dress, matching one-piece suit and Fedora hat, worn to precision, accompanied by a charming personality, only masks his true identity. Beautifully captured, this was a series deserving of its awards, especially where both actors, who are not known to be gay themselves, play the roles so well, that any argument that only gay men should be cast in such parts, goes out of the window. It was Evaristo herself who said in the Radio Times, of what is often seen as a contentious casting issue, that:

 

“From my position as the writer of the book, I want it to go to the person who can play the part, and it’s not important whether they’re homosexual or not.”

 

Indeed, Lennie James and Ariyon Bakare are the perfect choice, because of what they were able to convey on camera, which far exceeded their identities. They were able to capture the pain, denial, fear and vulnerability with coming to terms with one’s sexual orientation, the difficult and often emotional process of coming out, juxtaposed with the feeling of being trapped in the closet for much of your entire life.

The unravelling of Barry’s secret strikes the family, by unearthing complex familial relationship dynamics; failed interrelationships and unresolved grievances between husband and wife, father and daughter, within the context of varying intergenerational dialogues. Indeed, with the show fluctuating from past to present, through the memories of Barry re-telling his story and that of his wife Carmel, it is a stark reminder of how far things have changed in the inclusion of LGBTQ+ communities in society. 

 

Written by Dr Ope Lori (Founder & CEO, PILAA)

To read the full article, you must be a PILAA Member.

Rules of Engagement

 

You can listen to Rules of Engagement here.

 

We look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming EDI IS, EDI ISN’T Virtual Town Hall Debate – Featuring CeLillianne Green to open the discussion, on the 29th of May at 15:00 – 17:00 (BST). To make sure that everyone who is attending can participate openly and freely, we have put together the following Rules of Engagement. These are key points and behaviours to consider, when participating and interacting with others.

In addition, we have put together a suggested Glossary of terms. Whilst many of these terms will come up naturally, we have listed a few here, which will act as prompts and can be drawn upon by the facilitator (or any other participant) throughout the meeting.

 

GLOSSARY (not exhaustive)

 

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

 

o Be courageous

Speaking up can be difficult, especially in a room full of strangers. However, remember why you’re here and know that you’re amongst others with a common goal. The likelihood is that whatever you’re thinking about saying, there’s someone else in the room who’s already thinking it. So pluck up your courage, take a deep breath and speak your mind.

o Cameras

For best engagement, we ask that all cameras are turned on, however we appreciate that this doesn’t work for everyone. If you are blind, partially sighted, neurodivergent or have accessibility needs or are none of the above and just have technology gremlins working on the day, then that’s no problem. Keep your cameras off.

o Chat box

For best engagement we also advise that everyone uses their audio to speak, however if this is not possible for any reason, please use the Zoom chat box feature. The session facilitator will monitor the chat box as best as possible.

o Listen

It’s not possible to think clearly, without listening to others or even to yourself. We encourage you to actively listen to what’s being said before responding. Remember it’s not a race, so take your time, listen and respond.

o Open and safe

We want the town hall to be an open and safe space where everyone can speak honestly and freely without judgment. We appreciate that there will a mixture of people in the room, with different perspectives and viewpoints and so we ask for everyone to be respectful of each other. Feel free to challenge or support what others are saying, but please do so with politeness.

o Prompts

We know how awkward it can get when you have those uncomfortable silences and so to avoid those moments (unless the discomfort is related to a theme or argument, in which case do bring it up in the discussion), we have prepared a list of terms to be used as prompts. Feel free to familiarise yourself with these terms or come as you are, ready to expect the unexpected.

o Raise hands

Please use the raise hand Zoom function when you want to speak. The facilitator will moderate hands as fairly and quickly as possible.

o THINK

If all fails, we encourage you to THINK before speaking. Yes, THINK! We don’t want you to censor what you say, but by utilising the acronym THINK, consider whether what you’re saying is True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary or Kind?

o Time and response

We know how passionate people can get when wanting to get a point across. We encourage your enthusiasm but ask that everyone is mindful about how long you speak for. If you find yourself speaking over 2 to 3 minutes when it’s your turn, wrap up your point and give the floor to someone else. We won’t be monitoring how often you speak; you can respond as little or as much as you like, but just be mindful of giving the floor to others. The facilitator will also help to move conversations along.

o Transcription

If you are deaf, have hearing impairments or want to aid accessibility and clarity with conversations, please make use of Zoom captions and transcripts. These will be activated at the beginning of the meeting and all participants can control whether they display or not.

 

Finally, we want to remind everyone to have fun and to remember that by participating in the town hall, you’re already contributing to an important conversation.

We look forward to seeing you there and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

 

The Team at PILAA