????那么，這對企業意味著什么呢？

????科斯塔指出：“如果用外語來進行經營決策，人們就能更好地防止直覺帶來的錯誤反應。它能讓人們稍稍置身事外，告訴自己‘穩住’。”

????我問道，對于正在考慮新策略的員工，要求他們在做決定時用外語進行交流是個好辦法嗎？科斯塔用力地點了點頭。

????他回答說：“我會這樣做，會的。顯然還有其他辦法，但這個辦法不需要花錢。如果你想置身事外，避免過于情緒化，那就用外語。”

????這種效果對企業家和投資者的決定具有同樣的影響。科斯塔指出，用外語來考慮自己的計劃或許不能阻止企業家追尋夢想，但可能有助于他們變得比較謹慎。

????他說：“使用外語時人們很可能變得更加小心。這并不是說他們不會冒險，而是說他們會用更符合邏輯的方式來冒險。”

????和別人做生意時，如果你懂兩種語言，你或許可以在它們之間進行選擇，具體用哪一種語言取決于你是賣家還是買家。

????科斯塔說：“如果想說服別人進行投資。我就會用他的母語跟他交流。反過來，如果對方是賣家，我就會說，‘好的，但咱們用外語來談吧。’”

????要注意，使用外語并不會讓你的所有決定都變得更好。面對簡單而且不影響情緒的問題，人們用母語和外語時的表現相同。科斯塔還提到，沒有哪種語言天生就比別的語言更有邏輯性，比如說，德語的邏輯性并不比西班牙語強。使用外語只是有助于人們屏蔽感情因素帶來的影響。

????最后，這是美國人學外語的又一條理由。懂兩種語言的美國人只有20%，而且其中大多數都有從小在家就不說英語的優勢。

????如今，科斯塔和他的同事們開始研究道德判斷問題。在一個經典的測試中，測試對象面對這樣的問題：有一輛火車飛馳而來，讓它繼續前進會撞死5個人，你是否愿意讓它改道，然后撞死1個人。接下來的問題是，如果測試對象知道把一個胖子推到火車前面就能讓這5個人幸免于難，他愿不愿意去推這個胖子一把。用母語測試時，80%的人在第一個問題上選了“愿意”，在第二個問題上選了“不愿意”。

????而用外語進行測試時，40%的人表示，他們愿意去推那個胖子一把。（財富中文網）

????譯者：Charlie

????

????So what does this mean for business?

????"If you make decisions in a second language in business, you can better block the intuitive biases that will lead you to wrong responses," Costa said. "You can distance yourself a bit more and say, 'Hold on.'"

????When I asked Costa if it would be good to push employees considering a new strategy, for example, to speak to each other in a second language while making decisions, he nodded vigorously.

????"I would do it. I would. There are obviously other ways of doing it, but this is free," he told me. "When you want to distance yourself and not be emotional, move into a second language."

????This effect also extends into entrepreneurial and investment decisions. For entrepreneurs, Costa says, considering their plans in a second language might not stop them from following a dream, but it could help them be more prudent.

????"You would probably be more cautious in a second language. It's not that you wouldn't take risks, but that you would take them in a more logical manner," he said.

????And at deal time, if you speak two languages, you might chose one over the other depending on whether you're pitching or being pitched.

????"If I wanted to convince someone to invest in something, I would speak to him in his first language. On the other hand, if someone was pitching me, I'd say, 'Fine, but talk in my second language,'" Costa said.

????It's worth noting that using a second language doesn't make one better at all decisions. When solving simple, unemotional questions, people perform equally well in their native and second languages. And, Costa noted, it's not that some languages are intrinsically more logical than others -- German more than Spanish, for example. Rather, it's that using a second language helps you block out emotional noise.

????In the end, this is one more reason for Americans to learn a second language. Only about 20% of the population is considered bilingual, and most of that group had the advantage of growing up speaking a language other than English at home.

????Today, Costa and his colleagues are taking on moral judgments. In a classic test, subjects are asked whether they would divert a barreling train from one track, where it would kill five people, to another, where it would kill one. Then they are asked if they would push a fat man in front of a barreling train, if they knew killing him would save five people. When asked in their native language, 80% of people answer 'yes' to the first question and 'no' to the second.

????But in their second language, 40% of test subjects say they would give the guy a push.