There’s no doubt that my plans when starting college were a bit unformed. My favorite classes in high school were French (four years) and German (one year), so it made sense to me that I would study languages in college. I had no real understanding of what I might do with these languages I was going to learn, but I liked studying them.

Now, in my defense, I have told thousands of parents over the years to let students study what interests them. It’s true for all of us that we spend more time and energy on topics that interest us. But if a college student asks you for advice, don’t let them do what I did – take Beginning Russian (five days a week) and two intermediate French classes which meant I was in one French class or the other every day of the week. I did the same thing my second semester, but when I couldn’t remember how to spell dance during an in-class French composition test (I couldn’t decide it if should have an S or a C and I used cursive Cyrillic letters for one of the consonants), I began to realize that studying multiple languages wasn’t really for me and went hunting for a new major.

But the real point of today’s newsletter is the reason beginning language courses are scheduled for five days a week. Unlike many of the classes we take in college or topics we want to learn later in life, language learning is about skills. And there’s really only one way to become proficient in a skill. Practice, practice, practice. And that means repetition. In a physical practice like dance, we talk about muscle memory. Repetition of steps and patterns make them easier to use because we don’t have to search our brains for what comes next, we know how these steps fit together. In language learning, we grow our vocabulary but also through repetition know how to use, and spell, the new words.

Today in a conversation with a client, we talked about teaching a new language for strategic planning. More and more we need to be able to tell our stories in multiple languages – traditional words, pictures, and the newest language for some, numbers. Telling our stories in multiple languages means we are able to convey meaning to different groups of people whose primary “language” may be different from one we are used to.

I’ve often talked with Student Affairs staff about needing to be able to speak about our work in a language faculty understand. But no matter what your field is, we have to be able to talk numbers from budget to projections to continuous improvement. And, just like any other language, there’s really only one way to learn the language of numbers – practice, practice, practice.

What languages do you need to know to be effective in your work? What languages come naturally to you – your first language so to speak? What languages do you need to learn, and then to become proficient in to be able to work effectively with others in your organization? Every field has its own technical language that is incomprehensible to others. Every organization has its share of terms and acronyms used as shorthand, a form of idiom or slang that means nothing to outsiders. When you bring in a new team member, it’s important to help them learn the new language. It’s one of the ways to help them feel like they are part of the team. Just don’t expect it to happen immediately.

When you take on a new role, join a new organization, want to be an effective leader, make sure you pay attention to the language you are using. Know one of the most important tasks you will have at the start is paying attention to and learning a new language. And don’t forget to practice, practice, practice.

Take care,

Gage