ELC Posts

The Differences between Language Teaching and Neurolanguage Coaching

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Language teaching classically places the learner in a passive role, in Neurolanguage Coaching the learner becomes much more active and takes much more responsibility for his/her own learning process. The notion of “ownership” becomes key, and the learner then finds him/herself empowered as his/her master/owner of the process. This in turn creates much more motivation and commitment to the whole process, as in the end, it boils down to the learner taking responsibility for the learning and the learning process.

Language teaching is much more directional, instructive and mandatory, language coaching assumes a more flexible, adaptable process, which is absolutely non-directive, but flows more through equal status conversations and dialogues, allowing the coachee to assimilate and then put the knowledge into practical use immediately.

Language Teaching traditionally is book-related, however, language coaching veers more to the freestyle of no books and no order of book topics, but more suited to the requirements of the coachee and the best possible way for the coachee to learn such requirements quickly and easily through whatever conversations/ actions are best suited to that coachee. It may be that some specific material can be utilized or parts of a book may be referred to, for consolidation or demonstration; this again depends on the specific needs and preference of the coachee or coach to enable the established goals to be reached.

The teacher is very much in the role of an expert within the language teaching process, often denoting a superior status, whereas the language coach acts as an absolute equal, who is also fully aware of his/her limitations and is not afraid to voice these if necessary. The language coach in addition is conscious of ethics and confidentiality and creates a trustful environment for the coachee to be able to approach sensitive topics and areas with the knowledge that all information remains within the session. This is extremely important for corporate clients and professionals, who are maybe taking language coaching sessions to improve their professional vocabulary and language in practice.

Language Coaching also creates the environment for an experiential, realistic and personalized approach whereas teaching often does not take into account the social context or cultural aspects of the coachee or how the coachee potentially interacts in these socio-cultural contexts. As already mentioned language coaching is geared towards tailor-making and adapting to the coachee him/herself and definitely veers towards a much more individualized and personalized process.

Finally, Neurolanguage Coaching also brings a code of ethics and principles which are well suited to the corporate and business world, bringing trust, intimacy and confidentiality into sessions.

Diversity, Internationality and Inclusion Culture

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Ultimately, companies that foster diversity, internationality and inclusion culture understand that executives and employees from different cultures need to understand and appreciate each other. These companies frequently invest in team building which focuses on cultural discovery and implementation of policies that reflect respect and promote team strengths. Translanguaging becomes habit among the employees and hearing and speaking many languages are just daily business. Multi-language conversations are encouraged. These companies also understand the neuroscience of culture and how social and emotional pain can affect employee relations and they are aware that constant imparting of knowledge regarding the brain and how the brain reacts is an absolute “must” to enable and facilitate better relations and deeper appreciation at all times to ensure greater cooperation and generate greater compassion among all. And compassion in the sense of going beyond empathy: the neuroscience of compassion demonstrates how the brain goes beyond empathy, which is when our mirror neurons and vagus nerve ”react” to others´ feelings or behaviours. Compassion goes beyond “reacting”; it means we sense and we “act” to actually help others and extend our hand to pull each other out into solutions and actions.

Variety of spoken languages

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Companies that also demonstrate Linguistic Excellence through diversity and a strong inclusion culture foster respect for all nationalities, as well as recognition and appreciation for diverse customs, beliefs and cultural behaviours. Certain companies lay great emphasis on their internationality and embrace the positive aspects of this dimension to actually promote the company, brand and products to the maximum. And the more global that we all become, the more we, the clients, “like” this depth of comprehension and ultimately compassion.

Some companies have embraced their diversity and internationality by recognizing the cultural skills of the different nationalities. For example, Italian flair and design with German engineering and technology. Clever companies know how to tap into the particular skills that each culture excels in and take this one step beyond by combining and implementing those strengths to create excellent products, processes and services. Frequent cross-cultural brainstorming takes place to ensure creativity flow and innovation, so that global players stay one step ahead at all times.

Global presence

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Global presence signifies multilingual knowledge and companies that recognize and encourage language skills and provide the right language training to hone language skills greatly benefit from the knock-on effect of expansion and increasing worldwide business. Companies now are understanding the importance of the right approach to language learning: language should be coached beyond language into cultural comprehension and impacting communication. From neuroscience, companies now understand that each brain is unique; each brain is different and pushing people into large learning groups and paying “dumping prices” are no longer acceptably efficient ways of language training. In addition, global HR now recognize that linguistically competent employees should reflect and consider the best suited language services for their company and not process driven administrative staff who have no clue about learning languages and no experience of speaking languages themselves! Ultimately, companies just drain money away on ineffective learning. Clever companies appreciate that they are accustomed to paying thousands for business consultants and therefore are prepared to pay higher prices for “language consultants”, “language troubleshooters” and “language coaches”. Brain-friendly neurolanguage coaching® (trademark in the name of RM Paling) is often used as an approach that embraces how the brain potentially learns best; how the learning can be extremely focused and how language goes beyond simply understanding words, but into that deeper comprehension of cultural and communicative aspects that ensure doing business worldwide with certainty and greater sensitivity.