DIPLOMACY: LANGUAGE HOUSE COFFEE CHATS
As you learned in my introduction, I love foreign language. I love breaking down and piecing together the puzzle of how a language works and I love using the skills that I develop to communicate with a broad range of people.
The ability to "start a conversation with a stranger" is a competency of the diplomacy competency of developing global social capital. If you think this is challenging to do in your native tongue, try doing it in a foreign language! For six weeks this semester I did just that by visiting the Language House's weekly coffee chats.
Coffee chat is a weekly opportunity for speakers of all levels and backgrounds to come together in a relaxed environment to speak their target languages. Staggered across the basement of St. Mary's Hall are twelve tables, each bearing a flag representing a language.
For ninety minutes participants can practice, improve or maintain their language skills with coffee and snacks. Students come from all backgroungs and departments at the University; some are majors, some are taking courses, some are native speakers, and others (like me) wish to maintain skills they gained in high school. Having been unable to continue the formal study of French in college, I've actively sought ways to maintain my proficiency in the language. Coffee chat seemed like a perfect opportunity to do so, while developing my global social capital by making new connections.
I split my time during coffee chats between the French table and the Spanish table, aiming to improve my language skills and meet new people. Fortunately, I was able to accomplish both of these objectives.
When sitting down at the table next to an unfamiliar face, the most evident point of conversation is how one came to speak the target language. I used this as a foray into most of my conversation. One of my conversation partners this past week was a French major who lives in the French apartment in the Language House. Another comes to coffee chats in order to build up the confidence to communicate with her Dominican family members in their native tongue. I then shared with them how I became interested in French and Spanish, respectively, before conversation progressed to include current world events, University controveries and even fashion.
The Takeaways
The experience at the Language House coffee chat allowed me to foster diplomacy and practice carrying on engaging conversation with strangers. Additionally, the experience helped me to maintain and develop my language skills as I worked through the challenges of discussing diverse concepts. However, I think the most salient takeaway from this experience is the interconnectedness of the various types of capital. Building global social capital through diplomacy required intellectual capital (knowledge of current events and world politics) as well as psychological capital (the confidence to use my language skills.) By being abreast of what was going on in the world and having the self-assurance in my language skills, I was able to better position myself to have meaningful conversations with new conversation partners. This experience truly crystallized the relationship between the different types of global capital, and how effectively developing one requires the support of the others.
