Women have been winning the battle of the sexes for years when it comes to learning new languages.
Business Women’s Day on 22nd September is an appropriate day to celebrate this.
There might still be many glass ceilings to smash through to address gender inequality in the workplace. But, learning new languages isn’t one of them.
According to business intelligence platform IntelligentHQ, women have been learning new languages more effectively than men for centuries. It claims –
“In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Swiss writer, educationalist and advocate of education for women, Albertine Necker de Saussure, stated that women made better translators than men. It’s an interesting fact that today women continue to excel at language learning, and appear to be more interested in undertaking it than men.”
Why Do Women Excel at Learning New Languages?
So, why is it that women seem to be making light work of learning new languages more successfully than their male counterparts?
Here’s five general reasons –
- Empathy – Women are generally better at listening to what’s said, understanding what people mean and reading body language. These abilities bolster language learning.
- Speaking – Women have always been perceived as chatterers. Chattering works well for language learning. The more women chatter in their new language, the quicker and easier their fluency levels improve.
- Curiosity – Women are more inclined than men to want to ask questions and explore details. Natural inquisitiveness boosts language learning more effectively than a male-oriented direct conversational approach.
- Perseverance – Oprah Winfrey, one of the most celebrated and successful business women of all times said –“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”To this end, women’s determination to converse reduces any potential embarrassment about making perfectly normal silly mistakes when learning new languages.
- Familial Associations – When a woman or her partner originate from another country, it’s usually the woman who is most likely to perpetrate language learning for the children. Women see it as more of a priority than men that their children are able to understand their heritage and converse with overseas relatives.
At La Academia, it’s not our mission to get involved in gender wars. We’ve helped thousands of brilliant men and women with learning new languages over the years.
But, just for Business Women’s Day, it’s all about the fabulous females in our team and our student bases. When it comes to languages, you’ve got this, girls!
Sources
Business Women’s Day, Days of the Year
https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/business-womens-day/
Are Women Better At Learning Languages Than Men? IntelligentHQ
https://www.intelligenthq.com/are-women-better-at-learning-languages-than-men/