(1) You know firsthand how it feels for the non-native speaker of English to try to communicate with you in English. This makes you more sympathetic, and the speaker more comfortable (he/she knows you understand how he/she feels). It’s not the same as saying, “Well, your English is better than my Japanese!” which just makes you look foolish.

(2) You understand more about people. If you only have experience speaking with foreigners in English, you are missing part of their personalities: the part that comes when they feel comfortable speaking in their native language. This is like watching a ballet where everyone’s got one hand tied behind his back. People are less likely to joke, less likely to laugh, less likely to use their favorite gestures, less likely to use fun idioms- you lose all that, and thus, the best part of most people- when you insist speaking English. This means your whole view of the people is a bit off, usually for the worse.

I think that learning a foreign language cannot be confused with living abroad, in and of itself. Learning Russian, Spanish, Chinese or French to speak with immigrants and tourists can also broaden one’s scope as I mentioned above. Living abroad in a bubble is likewise hardly more than fancy year at boarding school.

Other skills (STEM) are likewise necessary. I once had to explain to a non-English-speaking Chinese comrade, in a French class in France in which nobody spoke Chinese, what “energetic” meant. This is not easy when both of you are only two weeks into French! Fortunately, in China, they also know e=mc2. Mathematics, the beautiful universal language…

At least that’s what I’m telling all the companies that I’m sending my resume to.

Without knowledge of the language, you can get a log of information for sure. I don’t know Italian well enough to read an Italian newspaper, but know that their economy is in the toilet, that Berlusconi is not the free market reformer he claims to be, that Italians have a massive demographic problem, and so on. But I don’t begin to have the feel for Italian politics and society that I do for that of France.

Knowing Arabic allows me to follow events in the Arab world in a way that would simply be impossible otherwise. If you think otherwise, then I would suggest that this is because you don’t know what you are missing – indeed you can’t, because you can’t read a representative sample of the materials out there, you can’t talk to people in that society who don’t speak English, and so on.

All of this assumes, of course, that you really need to have that level of understanding of the foreign society. Often you do not, and as a practical matter, no one has the time to learn all the languages necessary to so understand all the countries he might have an interest in.

The world needs linguistic and cultural aptitudes as well.

Perhaps what is most important about STEM disciplines for persons who do not actually practice them is to achieve some understanding of how scientists, engineers, and their ilk do practice.

That understanding is neither universal nor automatic within STEM communities themselves. I’ve met a fair number of engineers who were resolute cookbook designers, not often called upon to do new or innovative things, and who were not particularly clear on the scientific method. Contrariwise, I’ve seen a few scientists who failed to shine when asked to do the grunt work of taking exploratory mechanisms to scaled-up production.

I would infer that you likely picked up a reasonable background in this stuff by dint of having had someone in the family whose professional life you could observe.

And as far as struggles with math are concerned, I have met a great many highly intelligent persons who have struggled similarly. Much of this appears to me to be an artifact of the curriculum. The instructional style practiced by most mathematical professionals is pretty spare and terse. Textbooks are often horribly dry. People who come to the game with native mathematical aptitudes don’t notice the deficiency. Those who lack inherent talent, but are still capable of learning if well taught, often get discouraged and turned off. This needs to be improved across the board.

Two other things I found interesting. First, the idea that ‘STEM’ is as good if not better than linguistic skills. Yes, it is, and it is among my utmost regrets that I am not more talented/educated in that area. My father was a civil engineer and was able to do a tremendous number and types of work throughout his life. My talents are primarily linguistic and cultural. I’ve struggled with math for years and eventually reached a point where I decided to indulge in what I was inherently good at instead. I think everyone gets to that point, but I agree with the poster’s main point, that many ‘educated’ people just have no clue and need to be better rounded. The idea of a real liberal arts education is being lost to proficiency testing and other such nonsense. Of course, you can also get a scientist with no cultural knowledge at all, but he’s going to do okay financially as long as he produces.

Adamu: As for respect, it never really came into the equation for me. I think it is a ancillary benefit of whatever other reason one would have for learning the language. Chinese gets respect, yes, but the sort of respect I’m interested in is professional, then academic, and then personal. It’s nice to have Chinese people tell me that I speak well, but it’s better to get a job I like. It also opens up (eventually) more reading material and allows me to travel more freely.

CTD: If you are, or you become really good at something, nothing should stop you.

Indeed, a Curzon would make a far better future leader than your average young republican in the student senate. Maybe if the French-speaking John Kerry were elected he’d have saved our asses somehow.

CTDeLude: clearly, there’s only one option for a person like yourself. Go to law school! (Half kidding)

The biggest problem about studying a history or culture of a different country is that this doesn’t translate into a better job. When I got back from Japanese high school, I started at a US college and worked part time at a financial information company in their Japanese funds division (it was the late 1990s — they were giving out jobs to anyone with two legs). But what I realized then was that knowing a language wasn’t itself enough to get me outside the cubicle (unless you’re one of those people who can turn it into a profession as a professor or think-tanker, or if you’re going into a career in world affairs or politics, elected or administrative).

Basically, don’t forget the line that started this post: “the three most important disciplines a geopolitical player must study are history, geography, and a foreign language.” Knowing another culture does not translate into better job prospects, although it does open up some doors.

That last comment reminds me just how annoying it must be when people try and push time abroad as some kind of mind-altering experience. Yes, it can be. But at the same time I’m reminded of my high school years when everyone had sky high hopes for the future that went almost uniformly unrealized. Just as no one you know is going to grow up and be the President, the opportunities to go abroad and live like a loser backpacker hippy just aren’t there for people with families or without money. Or with felonies on their record. Or sick pets.

Such blind optimism about the future stems from personal success or otherwise anecdotal experience and helps no one one but the broadcaster of the message. One should hope we can find hope within ourselves without putting down others. But in fact a lot of the braggarts who pat themselves on the back for being international are hopeless dorks who need to believe that they’re special. Not that different from being a Trekkie. It’s the kind of pretentious fake sophistication that Starbucks has masterfully marketed in this country.

Joe is right: learning a language/living abroad is not for everyone, and it is most definitely not a panacea for ignorance. In fact, a good amount of the expats I’ve known use their experiences abroad to justify their own beliefs in whatever, or end up swallowing the lies fed to them by society they live in.

Some people here have gushed about how much they learned about their own country while they were away. Indeed, there’s no way to replicate the feeling you get when you notice all the little differences. But I have a slightly different story. I spent so much time concentrating on and living in Japan that I had to go back and relearn what was so good about being here in the US.

And another thing: learning a language out of “respect” for a country strikes me as disingenuous. Is paying for language classes some kind of courtesy gift? That’s just the “if you’re in America you should learn to speak English” mentality that is typical of monolingual locals. People only learn a language when it’s in their own personal interest (get chicks, get a job, barter down the price of electronics) and simple gratitude just doesn’t cut the mustard. Sure, you don’t want to make an ass of yourself, but I’m not sure if you actually owe it to a country to take some language classes just because it gave you a visa and and let you spend your money there. And it’s not like learning the language will necessarily get the country or its people to “respect” you back. Quite the contrary – if you speak with a stupid accent people will make fun of you.

And what about the opposite? If you have no respect for a country would you then refuse to learn the language? This is a dilemma faced by millions of America-hating ESL students (and reminds me of the post on Napoleon’s attempts to learn English as reported here on CA).

I guess the reason for being so verbose (read blabbing) is that I feel almost at a crossroads where either I go down the path I want in study and life or I conform to “normality” which is something I largely loathe. I’ve never been one to want the simple 9 to 5 as I’ve wanted my life to have impact beyond the 3 walls of an office cubicle. Having never had a figure who did that though growing up has left me with the feeling that I have a desire to do something, but no map as to the how. So I read this and find myself inspired, but also with a sense of “What the hell are you doing with yourself?” Maybe time will only tell me which sense will have the greater impact on my life. I know I have taken the dicussion on a far tangent but I feel better getting that out. I love the site (also love the figures you have chosen to represent you as I am also a big fan of Sir Richard Burton) and want to thank everyone for providing me a little reminder that where I’m currently type this from (at work) is NOT the last stop on this train.

Well said. It’s just simple respect, not wanting to end up one of those embarassing expats who do nothing but bitch about the place they’re in (Japan has a lot of these characters), and it goes back to Curzon’s statement about picking up on the subtleties of culture. For that, you need some kind of insight, and for me language is one of the best and most rewarding ways to provide that insight. Even if you’re not a language enthusiast, it helps to just learn a few words or phrases to use in a meeting.

I’m happy to have my overseas experience, and if I had to go back in time, I would want to do it again. But it’s not for everyone, and it certainly has different effects on different people, based in large part on their lifestyle, their goals and their background.

Very true Joe.

I would like to do an AHP analysis of all this. I think it would be very interesting to see what the “perfect” candidate would look like. So far we have got:

Languages
Overseas Experience
History
Geography
STEM

If you guys are up for a bit of pairwise comparison, I can whip up a matrix and have you all fill it out, then do the all the squaring and and geomeaning and post the results. Anybody interested?

I grew up in California, a state that absorbs a disproportionate amount of America’s recent immigrants. It used to rankle me that there were individuals living in California for decades who never learned English. I suppose one of my prime motivating factors for learning Chinese (I now live in China) was not becoming one of the people I once disdained.

There are plenty of foreigners here in China that choose not to study Chinese for a variety of reasons, most of which are mere excuses. Instead, I suppose, they prefer to sit in overpriced bars eating club sandwiches and whining about how strange the locals are.

I subscribe completely to Curzon’s conception that having deep fluency in tongues other than one’s own, and immersion in cultures other than one’s primary culture, lends immeasurably to flexibility and competence when having to understand and negotiate across borders. And it would be devoutly to be wished that the pool of individuals with such experiences were larger than it is; the small base which does exist is an underutilized national treasure.

Unfortunately, in contemporary America, there is little impulse to seek beyond the borders. It is one of the symptoms of our national cultural rot. The number of affluent adult university graduates who have never owned an active passport can be a shock to international visitors. Correctly so.

And linguistic breadth is rarest of all, especially in the difficult non-European tongues. I am put in mind of a gaijin gentleman working in an office in Tokyo, who was asked by a Japanese co-worker intent on polishing his already impressive English, “Can you help me with a prefix question? A person who speaks three languages is ‘trilingual’. A person who speaks two is ‘bilingual’. What is a person who speaks only one language?” To which, of course, the answer was “An American.”

For the time being, we are going to have to work adaptively with what we have got, which is still usually monolinguality. As dire as the prospect may be.

And for that matter, as amusing as the prospect may be at times. I do still laugh at the recounting of George W. Bush first campaigning in Texas in the 1990s, and making a play for the Hispanic immigrant vote in fractured prep school Spanish. He didn’t seem to realize that the banner behind him which had been intended to read, “Juntos Podemos,” “Together We Can,” actually said “Juntos Pedemos,” or “We Fart Together.”

Hearkening back to the original notion that history, geography and language should form the Trinity of geopolitical instruction, and to my demurral that STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) might well be of more utility than language, a few further comments.

If severely pressed for candidates, I would take someone with a genuinely solid grounding in history over one in geography. I have observed on many occasions that serious students of history often absorb substantial geographical knowledge as an ancillary topic. The process works in the opposite direction, but neither as completely nor as reliably.

I believe that disciplined pupils are capable of learning history, geography or STEM rudiments at any age, and with rapidity given good source texts. Language training is much more of a roll of the dice. Especially in languages with a very different syntactic model or a non-Latinate alphabet. The plasticity of the neural systems for language coding really do have to be leveraged during their period of maximum receptivity in youth.

However, when I state that learning these disciplines can be done “with good source texts,” this should not be construed to endorse the idea that such suitable source texts are always close to hand. For example, the materials used for historical instruction in contemporary American universities, even elite ones, are what I think most here would correctly consider to be mush. It would be an illuminating topic of discussion to hear what the C-A regulars would suggest as a curriculum with rigor.

Let me close with two anecdotes which underscore the need for improved STEM backgrounds in our political class.

I knew a university professor who was working in a recondite area of materials science deemed to be of national importance, for defense and other purposes. He was brought to D.C. to provide a summary of new developments. While there, the head of a Federal agency said to him, “I’ve just been overseas on an inspection tour to see what’s up, and the Europeans and the Japanese are kicking our asses. I want to know precisely when your next breakthrough is scheduled for.”

Which was followed by a long silence, during which my professor was trying to figure out how best to explain that scientists do not necessarily know when, or if, or how, a breakthrough might occur.

In another example, the deep space exploration section of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory hosted a Senator from one of the appropriations committees. They showed him a digital animation of what the Cassini probe would look like as it approached Saturn.

“This is great,” their eminent guest said, as they beamed. “This is better than great. It’s fantastic! Instead of spending all this money to launch robots to send us back pictures, now we can just get the pictures from a simulation. I love computers.”

After which there was, again, a long silence.

English is the most valuable language in the world right now. No question. Native speakers who learn one or more difficult foreign languages improve their marketability and open new opportunities for themselves. In my view, languages are best viewed as an effective complement to other skills such as business or the social sciences, or even the hard sciences.

Only in certain areas, such as intelligence, advertising, translation, and perhaps the media, are they in any way invaluable.

I’m happy to have my overseas experience, and if I had to go back in time, I would want to do it again. But it’s not for everyone, and it certainly has different effects on different people, based in large part on their lifestyle, their goals and their background.

We’re all interested in geopolitics here, and many of us have taken the plunge and immersed ourselves in life abroad, so of course we’re going to want to say it’s awesome, i.e. totally sweet, because we enjoyed it enough to make the world our intellectual playground.

That doesn’t make it invaluable. Like Curzon, I spent a year of high school in Japan. But quite a few of the people I went abroad with ended up feeling as if they had wasted a year of their lives. The value really depends on the person and the circumstances.

Yago: you are correct sir.

lirelou: I think the core competence of understanding international politics (if it ever can really be understood) does require first-hand knowledge of other cultures. Of course analysts have to be competent in a broad range of fields (history, economics, psychology, etc) but overseas experience is what makes the difference between a ramrod thin young rookie and Jack Ryan.