讲外语能避免商业决策出昏招

    那么，这对企业意味着什么呢？

    科斯塔指出：“如果用外语来进行经营决策，人们就能更好地防止直觉带来的错误反应。它能让人们稍稍置身事外，告诉自己‘稳住’。”

    我问道，对于正在考虑新策略的员工，要求他们在做决定时用外语进行交流是个好办法吗？科斯塔用力地点了点头。

    他回答说：“我会这样做，会的。显然还有其他办法，但这个办法不需要花钱。如果你想置身事外，避免过于情绪化，那就用外语。”

    这种效果对企业家和投资者的决定具有同样的影响。科斯塔指出，用外语来考虑自己的计划或许不能阻止企业家追寻梦想，但可能有助于他们变得比较谨慎。

    他说：“使用外语时人们很可能变得更加小心。这并不是说他们不会冒险，而是说他们会用更符合逻辑的方式来冒险。”

    和别人做生意时，如果你懂两种语言，你或许可以在它们之间进行选择，具体用哪一种语言取决于你是卖家还是买家。

    科斯塔说：“如果想说服别人进行投资。我就会用他的母语跟他交流。反过来，如果对方是卖家，我就会说，‘好的，但咱们用外语来谈吧。’”

    要注意，使用外语并不会让你的所有决定都变得更好。面对简单而且不影响情绪的问题，人们用母语和外语时的表现相同。科斯塔还提到，没有哪种语言天生就比别的语言更有逻辑性，比如说，德语的逻辑性并不比西班牙语强。使用外语只是有助于人们屏蔽感情因素带来的影响。

    最后，这是美国人学外语的又一条理由。懂两种语言的美国人只有20%，而且其中大多数都有从小在家就不说英语的优势。

    如今，科斯塔和他的同事们开始研究道德判断问题。在一个经典的测试中，测试对象面对这样的问题：有一辆火车飞驰而来，让它继续前进会撞死5个人，你是否愿意让它改道，然后撞死1个人。接下来的问题是，如果测试对象知道把一个胖子推到火车前面就能让这5个人幸免于难，他愿不愿意去推这个胖子一把。用母语测试时，80%的人在第一个问题上选了“愿意”，在第二个问题上选了“不愿意”。

    而用外语进行测试时，40%的人表示，他们愿意去推那个胖子一把。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    So what does this mean for business?

    "If you make decisions in a second language in business, you can better block the intuitive biases that will lead you to wrong responses," Costa said. "You can distance yourself a bit more and say, 'Hold on.'"

    When I asked Costa if it would be good to push employees considering a new strategy, for example, to speak to each other in a second language while making decisions, he nodded vigorously.

    "I would do it. I would. There are obviously other ways of doing it, but this is free," he told me. "When you want to distance yourself and not be emotional, move into a second language."

    This effect also extends into entrepreneurial and investment decisions. For entrepreneurs, Costa says, considering their plans in a second language might not stop them from following a dream, but it could help them be more prudent.

    "You would probably be more cautious in a second language. It's not that you wouldn't take risks, but that you would take them in a more logical manner," he said.

    And at deal time, if you speak two languages, you might chose one over the other depending on whether you're pitching or being pitched.

    "If I wanted to convince someone to invest in something, I would speak to him in his first language. On the other hand, if someone was pitching me, I'd say, 'Fine, but talk in my second language,'" Costa said.

    It's worth noting that using a second language doesn't make one better at all decisions. When solving simple, unemotional questions, people perform equally well in their native and second languages. And, Costa noted, it's not that some languages are intrinsically more logical than others -- German more than Spanish, for example. Rather, it's that using a second language helps you block out emotional noise.

    In the end, this is one more reason for Americans to learn a second language. Only about 20% of the population is considered bilingual, and most of that group had the advantage of growing up speaking a language other than English at home.

    Today, Costa and his colleagues are taking on moral judgments. In a classic test, subjects are asked whether they would divert a barreling train from one track, where it would kill five people, to another, where it would kill one. Then they are asked if they would push a fat man in front of a barreling train, if they knew killing him would save five people. When asked in their native language, 80% of people answer 'yes' to the first question and 'no' to the second.

    But in their second language, 40% of test subjects say they would give the guy a push.