Allophones who grow up in an environment where they do not yet understand the language(s) often develop keen non-linguistic observation skills, particularly in decoding non-verbal communication, reading social dynamics, and a certain contextual intelligence.
Understanding the effects of language immersion among non-native speakers
Language immersion: between shock and invisible resources
Being thrown into a foster home, a boarding school, a school... without speaking the main language of this new environment is a form of brutal immersion, violent even when it is planned. This violence often adds to all the other challenges of the migration journey.
Then come feelings of confusion, incomprehension, helplessness... And sometimes self-effacement.
But something is happening in this enforced silence.
Just as when we lose one sense, we focus on the others to compensate, people who have lost their ability to speak use many skills and knowledge and develop many resources to meet their need for meaning, understanding and coherence.
Invisible to those around them, often overlooked by the individuals themselves, these skills—neither academic nor verbal—go unnoticed. Yet they exist and need to be recognised and valued.
The aim of this article is to highlight, at least to some extent, these adaptive skills. To draw pedagogical and human insights from them.
What informal skills do non-native speakers develop?
Invisible skills, silent knowledge? Gestures, looks, lived experiences
Being an allophone does not mean being ‘wordless’ or ‘tongueless’: we often have several of them, even if we do not recognise them all as such.
By changing environments, especially to end up here in France, where linguistic hegemony 1 is so strong that we suddenly find ourselves in a situation where these language skills are of no help to us: neither for interacting, nor for asking for help, nor for understanding what is expected of us in order to earn the right to be treated with the dignity we deserve...
We find ourselves surrounded by opacity and uncertainty, without any points of reference, completely dependent on the people around us... whom we are forced to trust, sometimes without any guarantee of goodwill or kindness.
So we do as best as we can : we observe, we listen carefully, we open all our senses to pick up the slightest possible hint of meaning. Intonations, postures, gestures, looks, perceived emotions... Everything becomes a vital clue, necessary to feel a little less lost, to regain a little control over our lives.
The skills developed in this way can be considered a form of social literacy. 2 . Here are a few examples:
a) Careful observation of non-verbal communication
– Posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, speech rhythm, etc.
– Interpreting emotions and intentions through gestures, tone of voice, eye contact, etc.
– Example: identifying who is ‘authoritarian’, ‘kind’, ‘open’, etc.
b) Reading routines and implicit codes
– Decoding habits without them being verbalised
– Identifying what is or is not done, even without understanding why, or with contradictions due to a lack of information
– Example: saying and repeating ‘bon appétit’ every time you see someone eating
c) Behavioural adaptability
– Ability to “imitate” observed behaviours (whether expected or unexpected, socially appropriate or inappropriate... This is not always obvious!)
– Adjusting to others by observing their (re)actions
– Example: adopting an aggressive tone to adjust to what is perceived as the other person's attitude, closing oneself off when one perceives instability or inconsistency in the other person...
d) Implementing compensatory strategies:
– Analysing everything that is not spoken, and which often remains implicit or even unconscious for speakers of the unfamiliar language
– Interpreting what we see and perceive through our own cultural lens to make sense of it
– Using eye contact, gestures and mimicry to convey meaning
These ‘para-sociolinguistic’ skills are valuable but fragile. Without recognition or support, they can become exhausted, discouraging, worn out, lead to misunderstandings and reinforce feelings of loneliness.
And we may be led to mistake these strengths for flaws, for ‘false aids’ that deceive or betray us!
How can these informal skills be recognised and valued?
Rethinking our pedagogical approaches, looking at things differently
However, if supported and recognised, these skills enable connections to be made despite the temporary absence of words.
They enable us to overcome the well-known idea of the language ‘barrier’, too often seen as inevitable, or even as an excuse for not engaging with others: we expect people to learn a new language (or worse, to ‘master’ it, whatever that word may mean), before granting them the right to be understood, recognised, to find meaning, to express themselves, to be heard and quite simply... be taken into account.
However, these invisible skills are precisely the first social resources available. Recognising them paves the way for a different form of education.
So, what can we do?
There are educational and human approaches. Becoming aware of the existence of these skills is already a step forward. Making them visible and valuing them is another... Using them as a basis for learning the new language is yet another...
Encouraging multimodal communication (gestures, images, routines)...
Not overvaluing speech as the only proof of intelligence or understanding...
Promoting spaces of recognition where observation is seen as a resource...
All these steps contribute to change!
And more specifically…?
- Provide as many visual and translated resources as possible (daily, rights – human, linguistic, children's, etc. – that the people concerned are entitled to claim).
- Include paralinguistic skills in evaluations and autonomy monitoring
- Offer workshops on communication norms (voice volume, pauses between turns, cultural gestures, etc.).
- Adopt a multilingual approach: ensure to have translation software at your disposal, bilingual dictionaries, bilingual guides, etc.
- Learn a few words and expressions in the languages spoken by the people you are welcoming, and use them when speaking to them (greetings, polite phrases, etc.).
- Rely on more advanced learners, when the degree of confidentiality allows it, during exchanges.
- Encourage multimodal communication (gestures, images, routines) and multilingual communication.
- Welcome, allow and encourage all forms of expression: a drawing, a posture, an act, a silence... these also have meaning.
- Be aware of the cultural communication norms of your interlocutors in order to limit misinterpretations.
- Question our standardised linguistic expectations and do not transfer them to the public: no one speaks ‘perfectly’, no one speaks ‘the’ standard... not even allophones!
- Pay attention to how we speak, to make it more accessible to the public (for example: rephrase, articulate, avoid multiple subordinate clauses, cultural metaphors, repeated elisions in the same sentence, overuse of pronouns... especially if they cannot be explained).
- Changing your professional attitude: not speaking the same language does not mean you are doomed to misunderstand each other. It means understanding each other differently.
→ A person who feels emotionally and relationally secure is someone who can open up more easily to learning. Forcing the use of French without guaranteeing this security is like expecting a thirsty person to run a marathon!
Communicating with people who speak a different language gives us the opportunity to realise that language is not everything. It also gives us the responsibility to build bridges between languages and between different forms of communication. It invites us to rediscover other ways of communicating, learning and living together.
- See Philippe Blanchet, « Discriminations : combattre la glottophobie » (2016, Éditions Textuel) ; « Je n’ai plus osé ouvrir la bouche… Témoignages de glottophobie vécue et moyens de se défendre » with Stéphanie Clerc Conan (2018, Éditions Lambert-Lucas) ↩︎
- Literacy is the ability to read, understand and use texts to participate effectively in society, including digital, media and information literacy, which are essential for autonomy in a digital world. In this context, the term is broadened to mean "the ability to understand language in order to participate in one's own life and in social life"↩︎
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