"Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt."
"The limits of my language are the limits of my world."
This German quote by an Austrian philosopher named Ludwig Wittgenstein perfectly describes an overarching theme of the lessons I've learned during my summer internship in Berlin. In a sense, the way we experience the world is through language and dealing with more than one language unlocks different perspectives of the world and how other people think. With so many different ways to communicate an idea, there are endless learning opportunities in a new country.
Over the past year, I’ve developed a fascination for language learning and multilingualism — an interest largely influenced by my upbringing in a Spanish-speaking household. Since high school, I’ve taken courses in French, Dutch, and Portuguese and have always enjoyed the process of listening carefully and trying my best to pronounce a word correctly. Needless to say, I was eager to work in Germany and see how much of the language I could learn.
How Language Hacks Your Brain
During the Tech Open Air conference, I had the opportunity to attend a talk by Markus Witte, the Founder and CEO of a language learning app called Babbel. In his presentation, Markus touched on the extensive research that points towards the benefits of language learning and how the ability to choose different ways of saying something expands our understanding of the world around us — a concept known as linguistic interference.
As an example, he explained how in English someone might say “I am hungry,” but in Spanish it’s said as “tengo hambre” which translates to “I have hunger.” Being able to draw comparisons between the two and be able to understand the slight differences maintains neuroplasticity throughout life and strengthens executive functions. Ultimately, the key to unlocking greater communication and understanding is to expose yourself to different languages as soon as possible.
Still, for those who did not grow up speaking multiple languages, there are benefits to immersing yourself in a new environment of language at any age. Witte explained that the process of learning a new language in itself is still impactful, because it’s not just about knowing as many words as possible — it’s making connections between languages and engaging with them consistently. From personal experience living in Berlin this summer, I can agree that even though I am not at all fluent in German, I’ve spent enough time navigating through the city and interacting with German speakers to the point where I can look at a German word and break it down into parts that I can somewhat understand.
Communication in the German Workplace
Coming to Berlin, I was comforted to know that nearly everyone spoke English and that I’d be able to communicate with my coworkers — however, that doesn’t mean I didn’t encounter language barriers at every turn. On one of my very first days when I arrived, I went to a local fruit store down the street and tried to order a smoothie, but the shop owner only spoke Turkish and German. With no middle ground in communication, we resorted to the universals — pointing, nodding and a smile for “Thank You.” In my office alone, my coworkers would often turn to each other and speak in German, Spanish, Italian and sometimes even languages I couldn’t decipher. To say that Berlin is a diverse city with plenty of opportunities for interacting with different languages would be an understatement.
As I mentioned before with linguistic interference, there are several ways to communicate the same idea and I often wondered if my way of speaking would get through to my non-native English-speaking coworkers, or if things would get lost in translation. As a member of the marketing team, communication was critical and there were times when I had to reword my way of saying something to make it more clear and oftentimes this meant saying things more directly.
Aside from the obvious differences in English vocabulary knowledge and accents, a large part of communicating with others involves mannerisms. Before coming to Berlin, I had heard that Germans were typically straightforward and blunt. This is not at all the way I’m accustomed to speaking — in fact, it would probably be considered rude or unprofessional to speak so directly in an American workplace. After a few misunderstandings however, I began to accept it for its literal meaning and realized it was simply a different way of communicating the same idea.
Moving Forward...
My goal is to continue growing my understanding of human behavior and language acquisition through my background in psychology and applying it to real-world digital media workplaces around the world. Multilingualism is the future of communication. It has to be, especially in tech businesses that have the possibility to reach all corners of the world. Learning new languages is necessary for communicating your ideas with others, but at the end of the day, it’s mostly important for understanding one another.