The importance of bilingualism and cross-cultural communication in our globalized world

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Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, USA

THE IMPORTANCE OF BILINGUALISM AND CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN OUR GLOBALIZED WORLD

S.N. Bunker

In the forefront of the discussions on globalization and its effects that reach far and wide around globe, one must take into account the importance of the cultural dimension of globalization. Too often the emphasis is placed on the political or economic aspect of this phenomenon. However, contrary to popular belief, these two aspects are strictly intertwined - they cannot function separately. Furthermore, in disentangling the components of the complicated web of globalization, one finds that there are not only two intertwined aspects (although much of the emphasis is put on them), but instead there are five: political, economic, cultural, social, and environmental. Perhaps the most subtle one, or rather the most overlooked one, is the cultural dimension. This is mainly due to the fact that no culture can be pinpointed exactly. Even before globalization was recognized, there was not necessarily one distinct culture in each country; there was a mix of peoples and tribes due to the fluctuation of the boundaries. Nowadays, with political and economic globalization interconnecting to open borders legally for transnational and cross-border economic transactions, the world is becoming “smaller” and more countries are coming into contact with products/companies, traditions, people, and languages that they never would have seen or heard just a decade ago. So then why is it essential for so many people, to try to contain culture or to confine it in its own space or place?

Throughout the following paper, I will explain how, in this ever-so-globalizing world, it is crucial to break out of the mindset of containing cultures and to embrace the intercultural experiences that are being had. My purpose is to show that cross-cultural interaction alongside bilingualism, or even multilingualism, is the new norm in the world; not only for the youth, but also for older generations as well. I will also reveal some patterns of bilingualism and its acquisition, mainly focusing on the United States and Russia. Furthermore, it is essential to challenge the concept of transitional bilingualism and homogenization of world cultures and encourage permanent bilingualism and hybridization via a model of linguo-cultural preservation.

Before explaining the various processes of bilingualism in depth, we must clarify how globalization has enhanced and promoted language acquisition. Put simply, this seemingly new phenomenon refers to the world as a revolving international community, in which societies are currently being affected by the integration of industries, cultures, and nations in general. The word “seemingly” has been used in the previous sentence in order to emphasize that, contrary to popular belief, globalization is not actually a new concept of the 21st century. From slavery and expeditions, to immigration and academic or travel experiences abroad, to today's foreign direct investment (FDI) and outsourcing by international companies nowadays, people have always been and will always be moving around the world.

The more the citizens of the world integrate and connect with each other, the more people will need to learn how to communicate with one another. The cultural aspect of globalization concerns not only culture, but also its main conductor: language. It is predominantly through language that culture and history flow, regardless of whether it is by oral or written practices. Therefore, when the mixing of cultures happens, so too does the mixing of languages - and vice versa - which creates an ideal atmosphere for bilingualism or multilingualism to develop. As the acclaimed linguist, Franзois Grosjean, highlights in his book Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism, “Bilingualism is very much a social necessity: it opens the doors to education, jobs, the media, and public services” [Grosjean 1982: 25]. In terms of the media, since the invention of the internet, the circulation of information has drastically. With only a couple clicks of the computer mouse, one may change the country code at the end of a website address and instantly be exposed to millions of pages in a completely different language. Bilinguals, given their language skills, have the unique ability to use all of this extra information. Furthermore, they have the added advantage of watching television/movies and listening to podcasts or songs in the original language. In terms of education or careers, students or job-seekers that have adequate resources and guidance may travel all the way across the world from their motherland, in order to work, participate in conferences and various programs, or study at a different institution. Eventually, it all leads to reciprocity, as shown in flow chart 1.1 below, in which the arrows represent the phrase “leads to”.

The more bilinguals there are in the workforce, the faster and more efficiently company operatioins, information, and communication will flow. This in turn generates more wealth and a richer experience for the bilinguals (due to a better career choice). In addition, obstacles in transnational corporations caused by cultural differences are minimized. Thus, the rapidly moving global processes and effective industries produce more economic growth, knowledge, and opportunities for each of the nations involved and their citizens. All of which result in the betterment of resources that allow foreign languages to be taught, thereby increasing the chance for students to achieve bilingual status.

Flow Chart 1.1

Now, after having discussed the concept of globalization, it is easier to see how bilingualism works and how it is beneficial to our societies. To reinforce this thought, we must look at how bilingualism is being treated and used in various geographic spaces of our international community. In the United States, the issue of bilingualism has been fought over since the very first European ships settled the East Coast. Considering that they arrived from different countries, not all of the early inhabitants of the “New World” spoke the same language. In fact, America almost became a German speaking country instead of an English speaking country. Thus, it implies that if history had been a little different, German might have become the main language of communication and we would all be conducting TGFL (Teaching German as a Foreign Language) instead of TEFL classes. However, this is clearly not the case. America has always had a love-hate relationship with bilingualism. From the establishment of the colonies in the 1700s to about the 1960s, Americans had wavering attitudes towards the general acceptance of foreign languages. In the beginning bilingualism was encouraged so that the Europeans could keep their ethnic mother tongue. Later, it became a tool for discrimination against immigrants by banning the use of non-English languages in major institutions. In 1961, the Fulbright Cultural Exchange Program (the same program that funds me to teach) and the Foreign Languages in Elementary Schools (FLES) programs were established to promote foreign languages “for defense purposes” [Garcia 1984: 149]. The establishment of such encouraged bilingualism again, changing the idea of foreign languages from a positive, natural thing to a commodified good or skill.

Moreover, the United States was now using a method of transitional bilingualism instead of permanent bilingualism. One would think that these programs were installed in schools in order for the students to be comfortable speaking both English and another language. However, people like Ralph Yarborough show us a different side to the story. This Texas senator said to the public in 1967 that his purpose of allowing such programs was “not to keep any specific language alive…but just to try to make those children fully literate in English” [Kloss 1982: 37]. As a result, the relationships between the two languages that bilinguals speak started to look like this:

Ethnic Mother Language Transitional EML + English English

[A period of monolingualism in the ethnic mother language converts to a period of transitional bilingualism, and then lastly converts into monolingualism in English.] bilingualism homogenization linguocultural language

Instead of this:

Ethnic Mother Language + English Ethnic Mother Language + English

[A period of monolingualism in the ethnic mother language converts to a period of permanent bilingualism after the inclusion of English as a second language.]

In the first variant, the native language has been completely replaced over time by the second language acquired instead of being preserved alongside it. Herein lays the main problem of the US attitude towards natural bilingualism, or the natural merging of the language spoken at home and a second language (usually the dominant language being used in society): the goal is to homogenize the people, not retain their cultural differences. Not only does this lingual process erase the original language, but also the culture it carries. When culture is erased, the citizens of the nation become homogenized or the same. In other words, if we are not careful and do not salvage our cultures, we may end up becoming one big glob of people from the same homogenized culture speaking the same language.

This transitional strategy has been utilized in American assimilation of immigrants and has created the stereotype of Americans only knowing one language: English. Moreover, there are even sayings and jokes based upon this observation. For instance, it is common to hear the following: “A person who speaks three languages is trilingual, a person who speaks two languages is bilingual, and a person who speaks one language is American”. As funny as it may be to some people, it is unfortunately quite true. However, with more and more attention being paid to globalization, people are attempting to preserve their language. According to a more recent piece of Franзois Grosjean's work, the statistics show that the percent of bilinguals in the USA has increased from 11% in 1980, to 14% in 1990, to almost 20% currently [Grosjean 2012]. Approximately half of bilinguals in the United States are English-Spanish bilingual due to their heritage or simply due to learning it in elementary and high school. The latter situation is what one would define as learned bilingualism, when a person acquires bilingual status by studying a language in school or merely learning it in a non-native way. Often times, the learned bilingual speaker's native tongue is the dominant language in the society and in order to gain more experience and multiply the chances for opportunities, the speaker learns a second language.

This can be seen increasingly at all levels of education around the world. In most countries, students will learn English, however, American citizens usually learn Spanish, French, or, as of recently, Arabic or Chinese. Some parents will make their children learn new languages because it supposedly enhances the cognitive skills in your brain. Others would like to get a head start on making them a more attractive candidate for the workplaces in the future. Marcus Mabry, a writer for the New York Times, reveals that he would like to do both. His children are learning French as well as Chinese, even though neither he nor his wife speaks Chinese. He is a bilingual American in French and English and would like to pass on those same gifts that he enjoys as a bilingual person to his children: “the gift of the author's original words, and the gift of communication and understanding across geographic borders” [Mabry 2012]. He frequently explains to his children that French is for fun and Chinese is for work. Hoffman hopes that his children will appreciate his decision and that they will one day utilize their Chinese language skills, which are becoming very important due to China's increasing status on the political and economic field. This is not a unique story in America nowadays. With the disappearing jobs in the country, and branches of transnational corporations opening up around the world, learned bilingualism is being promoted and encouraged both publicly and privately.

In Russia, we can see the same issues of natural bilingualism as we had seen in America. This is especially true in the cases of the Tatar, Chechen, Chuvash, Udmurt, Mari and other minority ethnic languages found in Russia. Of the 100 or so languages spoken in Russia, 70% of them are endangered and on the verge of dying [Pinker 1994: 262]. This is mainly due to modernization and urbanization through globalization and the practice of transitional bilingualism. Just as native languages were slowly erased in the United States, these languages are facing a decline due to the prominence of Russian. As globalization reaches further into the far corners of Russia, it can be understood that Russian (in comparison to the ethnic languages, not to English) is the language of opportunities in the workforce, the administration, and economic advancement. Many people living in the villages or countryside use their native ethnic tongues on a daily basis. It is not until they travel to the bigger cities that they must communicate primarily in Russian. Globalization has witnessed a mass migration of people from their villages to cities, a process referred to as urbanization. In the Republic of Udmurtia, for example, urban processes are only one of the components of Udmurt language decline; other causes are “loss of Udmurt prestige” and “lack of appropriate terminology” [Chushyalova 2011]. In addition to having adopted Russian Cyrillic letters in order to write, the Udmurt language contains a lot of modern Russian words for things they cannot express. Since it is quite an old language, newer terminology must be invented. However, since Russian substitutes have been used for so long, the Udmurt equivalents are useless. Furthermore, there is a unilateral relationship between the two: Udmurt contains Russian words but Russian contains no Udmurt words. In such a way, natural bilingualism of Udmurt-Russian is necessary. Unfortunately it is only transitional in nature because younger generations are finding less and less opportunities to speak the ethnic language in public. Thus, prestige and culture are lost. While they may speak Udmurt at home or with grandparents, it is likely that the language of academic instruction, the media, and their daily interactions with local citizens and friends are in Russian. In some cases, because the native language is not being passed down in the family, grandparents may have to learn Russian only so they can converse with their grandchildren. Ostensibly, such circumstances are not explicitly for Udmurt speakers, but for all of the minority languages in Russia. In order to foster permanent bilingualism and create conditions in which the language and culture will be preserved, some kind of projects must be implemented i.e. conferences, seminars, public courses, and songs/stories in the native language.

Just as there had been a shift from natural to learned bilingualism in the United States, there is evidence of this shift happening in Russia as well. In larger Russian cities, it is mandatory for students to learn English in elementary and high schools; thus automatically starting their process of bilingualism and giving them the opportunity to potentially reach a linguistic level with would allow them to work in an English speaking company situated in Russia, or even outside of the country. In the Eastern parts of Russia by Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, Chinese language and Far East cultural studies are frequently found in the academic curricula. This leads not only to learned bilingualism, but also hybridization of Russian and Chinese cultures via the method of teaching. Such a connection is important, especially with the rise of the emerging world leaders of the BRICS group - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. One can only imagine: In what language do the countries' leaders speak to each other? Most likely the answer is English. The reasoning is the same as the Udmurt -Russian relationship connection. Most of the languages they speak contain English words, yet English does not contain any words from the BRICS native languages. With the exception of some French phrases like “bon appetite”, “vis-а-vis”, “maitre d`”, and “hors d'oeuvres”, one can extend this observation to the connection between English and any language. English's unilateral relationship with (almost) all languages allows it to be their global leader. Although many see this infiltration and invasion of English words in other languages as a problem, it does not mean we will form one glob of a homogenized English speaking culture as a result.

In order to prevent such a thing from happening, we must advocate for hybridization, or the acceptance and mixture of another culture within your own, through permanent bilingualism. Just because a young man in Russia might work at an English speaking company or institution, watch TV programs in English, and like to eat at Subway, KFC, or McDonald's, does it mean he is less Russian? Or that he is becoming American? Neither. He is hybridizing his life by preserving his old traditions and language while taking on a new one. Seeing as language and culture are intertwined, we may say that cross-cultural communication evolves through effective bilingualism. Since English has become a world language, the methods of teaching it have progressed. In 1966, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) was created in order for language-minority citizens in the United States to learn English [Fitzgerald 1993: 46]. This represented a transitional approach of natural bilingualism via assimilation to American culture and English monolingualism. Nowadays, this same organization of teachers can be found in other countries where students acquire a learned bilingual status and add it to their knowledge of languages instead of replacing their native language via permanent bilingualism. Unfortunately, not many of the teachers focus on teaching the cultural aspect.

In any language, there is the chance of misinterpretation, even between two native speakers. When cross-cultural communication occurs, there is a higher chance of the intended message to be misunderstood. What is accepted in one culture may be strictly prohibited in another. Teachers must facilitate this cross-cultural learning in the classroom by paying more attention to the knowledge, values, and mentality expressed by the foreign target culture. Even if everything conveyed is perfectly understood, more information may be necessary to grasp the whole idea. American humor in the form of sarcasm is encountered quite often and is a prime example of this; one may understand the entire phrase or words without understanding the correct or intended meaning of it. Thus the teaching of culture not only helps for hybridization, but also for successful communication.

In conclusion, being bilingual has more significance today in our globalizing world than it has ever had before, although globalization is not a new phenomenon. The value of bilingualism has increased due to the unique opportunities it provides in careers, education, and above all, cross-cultural interactions. Most importantly, each language exudes its own culture; therefore, we must avoid homogenization and the vanishing of languages/cultures by preserving them through permanent bilingual practices. Ultimately, this inseparable connection of bilingualism and globalization leads me to my closing thought: you are as many people or cultures as you speak languages, so save them and take pride in them because they are the most useful tools in your toolbox.

Works Cited in Order of Appearance in the Article

1. Grosjean, Franзois. 1982. Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

2. Garcia, Ofelia. 1984. “Bilingualism in the United States: Present Attitudes in the Light of Past Policies”. In The English Language Today:  Public Attitudes Toward the English Language, ed. by Sidney Greenbaum. Oxford: Pergamon Press

3. Kloss, Heinz. 1982. Ricardo Otheguy, Thinking about Bilingual Education: A Critical Appraisal. Harvard Educational Review, 52. No. 3.

4. Mabry, Marcus. 19 March 2012. Rendezvous Always Knew `Bilinguals are Smarter'. International Herald Tribune: The Global Edition of the New York Times

5. Pinker, Steven. 1994. The Language Instinct. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics.

6. Fitzgerald, Jill. 1993. Views on Bilingualism in the United States: A Selective Historical Review. Bilingual Research Journal, 17 No. 1&2.

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