Flexibility and Adaptability: Foreign Language Adaptability with Ali Thomas of NiHao Chinese

Guest Ali Thomas, co-owner of NiHao Chinese, is here with us today talking about Flexibility and Adaptability, especially in regards to Foreign Language Acquisition.

Learning a foreign language and international travel helps you understand people and cultures different than yourself- develops flexibility and adaptability as well as empathy and compassion.

When Ali was a young adult she traveled alone to Nghệ An Province in Viet Nam.

Trying new things may include failing. We need to look at failing is just a jumping off point- we have to lean into the fear- and realize that no one is a professional at facing down fear.

First time we do something is the hardest- but we learn what’s possible.
We have to be willing to course correct.
Develops our human gift of curiosity

Professor Joe Fuller of Harvard Business School- we are preparing our kids for jobs that don’t exist yet, work and industries are changing quickly but the one constant students need regardless of the future is Soft Skills. Emotional IQ is the commodity of the future!

You can’t outsource them
They can’t be digitized

Romans 12:2 “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.”

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” – Nelson Mandela

On the future of work:

https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Pages/default.aspx

https://edtechtimes.com/2018/04/06/skills-over-degrees-managing-future-of-work/

https://fosteredu.pennfoster.edu/the-future-of-work-for-middle-skills-america

Regarding Specific Foreign Language study program:

Duolingo & Rosetta Stone – great for on the ground learning, like Bootcamp 101 for those in a cross cultural setting.

https://www.duolingo.com/

https://www.rosettastone.com/

To be able to understand a language to the point of fluency in written and spoken word: