Why bilingual people are more creative

Business, Education, Know-how Sharing

by Silviu Dragomir, Co-Founder Eucom Business Language

Although, at first glance, creativity does not seem to have anything to do with the workplace, it is very important for the current working environment and it is, also, one of the skills of the future, according to an article published by the World Economic Forum in November 2020. If you are thinking about how to develop your creativity, learning a new language could be a method.

Engage in Learning shows us that creative thinking and problem solving in a creative way are two sure ways for success at the workplace. There are many ways by which you can develop your creativity, but, in this text, I have thought about focusing on how your creativity is influenced by the fact that you know several foreign languages. Keep reading to find out 5 creative skills that learning a new language can develop for you.

1. Creative Thinking

This means freedom of thinking and exploring new possibilities. And, for that, you need to take risks, to make mistakes and then learn from mistakes. And, when you learn a new language, that’s exactly what you do.

2. Mental Openness

When you learn a new foreign language, you will discover words and phrases that are used in a totally different way than you were used to in your native language. Transposed to the workplace, this mental openness will make you discover totally new and different solutions, which no one has thought of before.

3. Vocabulary development

By translating words from a new language into your native language, you will discover new words even from your own language that you have never heard of before. This will help you express yourself differently at work, discover terms that will increase your credibility and persuasiveness.

4. Development of Non-Verbal Language

When you try to communicate with someone in a language you don’t know very well, you will often have to use gestures and non-verbal language to express what you fail to do in words. This will help you express yourself better and support your point of view just like when you make a presentation or communicate with colleagues.

5. Problem Solving

Problems and challenges appear all the time at work, and, to solve them in a creative way, you first need to understand the situation, and, then, find ways to solve it. In a similar way, when you learn a new language, you must first understand words and grammar rules, and, then, find a way to express an idea based on that knowledge.

When it comes to learning new skills, more and more people prefer to go through the information in brief bursts. Both the lack of time and the merging of personal and professional life, especially during working from home, has led people to prefer short periods of time in which they can focus on a particular thing. Thus, there appeared the concept of agile learning, a combination of self-learning and assisted learning in which everyone learns at their own pace according to a schedule established by a trainer, who, at certain time intervals, checks the quality of information retained by students. With the accelerated digitization, this process can be performed exclusively in the online environment and this is how agile learning platforms appeared. These types of solutions are not only handy, but they have also developed  price calculators so that companies can evaluate the investment they need to make based on the learning needs of their teams.