Globalization for Military and Civilians

      I recently read a blog post from the US Military's European Commander, Adm. James Stavridis.  He began a conversation about our military’s culture savvy and effectiveness abroad.  Without calling into question the strength and capabilities of our military, he suggested that our forces would be incredibly more effective if, as a part of their training, individual military officers each received culture and language training, with the goal being to have bilingual and multicultural military officers. (Read the blog post here).

As someone who has lived abroad and seriously studied a foreign language, I know that it can be a daunting and often times frustrating task to become acclimated to both a foreign culture and language.  But at the same time I have experienced firsthand the open-mindedness that culture immersion, the effectiveness of speaking the native tongue when traveling abroad, and the general efforts to being a more engaged global citizen.

I fully support Adm. James Stavridis, already fluent in English, Spanish, and French and currently studying Portuguese, as he urges the US military to add foreign language and foreign culture training to the requirements of becoming an officer.

Tying this into the 8 spheres of wellness that I described in my last post, it is clear that these efforts would fall under the umbrella of 2; studying foreign language and culture is a way of exercising both intellectual and social wellness.  Studies have shown that individuals who are bi- or multilingual have an intellectual benefit over unilingual individuals.  A NYT study, to cite just one, suggests that being bilingual plainly makes you smarter (read here).  And what better way to integrate globally than to familiarize ourselves with foreign cultures – moving from thinking foreigners are weird and stupid to understanding that different is sometimes just that: different. 

I fully support foreign language study in the military, in college, in junior and high schools, and as early as parents can provide such learning for their children.  I think that the more consciously we all work to exercise as many of our spheres of wellness that we can, the happier and more productive we all will be.

Let me know what you think about the Admiral’s suggestion for US military officers, and also feel free to share your personal experiences with foreign language, culture, and travel.

Brian