On the smallest scale, cultural competence requires understanding cultures from places far from home and personal differences amongst those we interact with daily. The skill of making small adjustments in our interactions with others has suffered with the use of social media and the decrease in face-to-face communication. These so-called “soft skills” – essential for the workplace, successful interpersonal relationships, and a thriving society – are explicitly taught and practiced in the language classroom. They are just as important as the exploration of culture or grammatical accuracy.
Cultural competence begins with experience. Learning language in a classroom setting allows young people a sheltered and safe environment in which to explore, ask questions, and take risks when experiencing the new and uncomfortable. Learning means making mistakes: developing cultural competence cannot happen without inadvertent cultural misunderstandings and social errors caused by ignorance. After building their cultural repertoire in the comfort of a supportive, safe classroom environment, students are better prepared to engage in authentic interactions in the "real world" with grace and confidence. Especially for students with no experience outside their own home country and native language, the ways in which languages and interactions differ can be astounding. Something as simple as using the pronoun “you” can be fraught with cultural nuance: in English, using “you” is neutral and unavoidable. In Japanese, the many pronouns for “you” each carries subtle and impactful connotations reflecting social hierarchies and relationships. Navigating these nuances in a classroom bridges the leap to navigating the intricacies of daily society.
It is particularly rewarding to help young learners experience another language and culture. They are still building their own life experiences, and to have access to various cultures through language learning comes at a crucial point in their development as humans in our global society. Young learners can proactively and confidently approach the “adult” world having built their cultural competence in the classroom, whether through role plays of situations they will experience as tourists or students in target language countries and communities, or even just the ability to express their thoughts, solicit others’ ideas, and engage in respectful discourse and disagreement in any language. Through exposure to and experiences with various global cultures in the classroom, young learners can transfer that curiosity to their future work experiences, travel experiences, and virtual interactions. Without world language classes, none of this would be possible.
