Write and speak in the preferred language of others, unless you are negotiating in which case it may be useful to take the weak language of the "opponent".
Language is incredibly powerful, it can create a bond or a distance between people depending on how it is used. Language is an important element of a culture and ethnicities often define themselves by the language they speak. It is therefore not surprising that language disparity has in some cases led to rivalry and even war. Similarly language can create an immediate bond between strangers, for example when they meet abroad. We have all witnessed what happens when two people who speak the same language meet in each other during their holidays in a foreign country. To push things even further, accents can have the same effect than languages.
Awareness about this issue is especially important in a business world that becomes more and more international. Whereas before you might have been used to meetings where everybody had the same nationality, it is nowadays not unusual to have multiple nationalities the same room.
If you understand the importance of language, you can use it to your advantage when dealing with your boss, your colleagues and your clients. In order to do so, you first need to define your goal and assess the person or people you are dealing with.
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