It’s time to dust off that old Spanish-language dictionary. 

You won’t make an ass of yourself when that tapas place finally reopens … and it might change your outlook.

Research shows that speaking a 2nd language can open your mind to different perspectives, give you new ways to solve problems, and make you a more rational thinker. 

This is your brain on languages

Polina Marinova, Trends contributor and founder of The Profile newsletter, described how her thoughts change depending on which language she uses.

In her native Bulgarian, she said she’s “straightforward, logical and thoughtful when selecting my words.” In English, she’s “extroverted, friendlier and more emotional in my decision-making.”

She asked: “Can speaking a different language change our thought patterns, and in turn, our perceptions of who we are?”

Science says this is a real thing

These mindset changes are well-documented: In one study, bilingual Mexican Americans were given a personality test in both English and Spanish. Participants scored higher in extroversion after taking the test in English. 

This could be because American culture emphasizes assertiveness. 

Speaking a foreign language can also sharpen your decision-making. It requires logic to choose the right words and put them in order. You’re more likely to make rational — as opposed to emotional — choices.

And you thought talk was cheap

A 2nd language can give you a different brainstorming strategy. Stuck on a concept? Try thinking about it in French.

As Marinova put it: Speaking multiple languages can help in “connecting disparate ideas while understanding there’s always more than one way to think.”

We’re asking big names in business and tech to answer 5 burning questions. 

Today’s guest: Morgan Housel, partner at Collaborative Fund and author of the forthcoming The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness.

What’s your favorite book that you’ve read in the last 12 months?

The Body by Bill Bryson. It’s just fascinating. It’s basically an anatomy textbook told by one of the great storytellers of our time.

What’s one thing you splurged on recently?

A good mattress. Next to picking a good spouse, picking a good mattress is one of life’s most important decisions.

Who’s the most interesting person you know?

He’s no longer with us, but I used to know a guy who was a paratrooper over Normandy on D-Day. I was in so much awe of him. 

I can’t fathom what it would be like to be part of something so terrifying yet so important to world history and still think of himself as a normal, average Joe who no one would recognize. 

Most celebrities have accomplished a small fraction of what a lot of average Joes like that man have. I think that’s fascinating to think about. The world is filled with quiet heroes.

What’s the best piece of advice someone ever gave you?

Measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. That, and don’t read the comment section.

What’s one mistake you made in your career, and what did you learn from it?

The details don’t matter but I’ve done things that I genuinely thought were well-meaning and innocent that came off as greedy and self-serving to others. Ideas don’t matter if you don’t communicate them effectively.

Take your tattleware and shove it. 

Companies have spied on their workers’ productivity for years (and it’s gotten worse during the pandemic). But now workers are poking the eye that watches them.

I think they’re onto us

As Wired reports, demand for monitoring software like ActivTrak, Time Doctor, and StaffCop has spiked since we were sent home. 

Some analysts predict 80% of companies will adopt tracking tech by the end of 2020.

But people will do anything to get away with sh*t 

Presence Scheduler’s software sets your Slack status to permanently active. Sales and traffic doubled for the company during the first 2 months of lockdown.

Tech-savvy slackers run virtual machines on their company laptops to work in one window and play in another.

For more inactivity inspo, here are a few of our favorite Reddit-approved hacks:

• Keep your Slack status on “Away” even when you’re working. Your colleagues eventually won’t notice if you don’t have a green dot.
• Open Notepad and set something heavy on your space bar.
• Tie your mouse to an oscillating fan. Extra, we know.

Ask your neighbor. 

Average Joes and Janes can make big bucks running small telecom carriers out of their homes. These smaller players have driven down the cost of long-distance calling — but cheap calls come at a cost.

Robocallers love ‘em

As The Wall Street Journal reported, small carriers can land in hot water relaying spam calls into the US from overseas.

The ne’er-do-wells weaseled at least $38m from victims in 2019.

An entrepreneur named Nick Palumbo was making $266k/month at one point — his businesses routed hundreds of millions of calls over 38k phone lines.

The calls could end it all

The authorities say one of Palumbo’s companies became the largest conduit for Social Security phone scams (he said he didn’t know they were frauds).

Regulators don’t require carriers to police high-volume customers, but that could change. In July, the FCC asked for public input on ramping up efforts to shut down robocalls.

It won’t be easy. 

Gail Ennis, inspector general at the Social Security Administration, told the Journal that it could look like Whack-a-Mole: “The worry for us is of course that the volume just shifts to another player. That very well may be what’s happening.”