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Research in brief: the benefits of negotiating in a foreign language

With the globalization of business, the ability to negotiate effectively across borders and cultures has become an increasingly important skill across a wide range of professional contexts including dealmaking, collaborations, job interviews or procurement. The question of language is key in such situations. Many people would probably assume that it would generally be beneficial to negotiate in your native language rather than in a foreign language. But is this really the case?

06/23/2026

3 min

Previous research has often focused on the advantages of using one’s native language in different professional contexts, for example in terms of perceived competence and trustworthiness among team members. And when it comes to negotiating, it might be easy to assume that it would be more beneficial to use one’s native language to negotiate from a position of strength. However, in a new study, two IÉSEG researchers recently found new evidence of the benefits of negotiating in a foreign language as opposed to one’s native language.

Professors Barragan Diaz and López-Cabrera and their coauthor from the University of Hohenheim carried out a series of three negotiation experiments, including a fictive recruitment process, involving more than 600 French & German participants (who all spoke English in addition to their native language).

Their study confirmed that while participants felt they were more efficient in their negotiation task (what is referred to as self-efficacy) when using their native language, better joint outcomes were actually achieved when negotiating in the foreign language (English).

In a more realistic context, this would mean that both recruiters and candidates gained higher individual outcomes, by trusting and helping each other more, exchanging more information and creating more value than they would have done in their native language.

Better insights and cooperation

According to the researchers, using a foreign language enabled the negotiators to have a better insight into their counterparts’ priorities and meant they were more likely to use more cooperative negotiation techniques including problem-solving or compromise.

“Using the foreign language helps participants to keep a good psychological distance and to focus on their overall target,” explain Professors Barragan Diaz and López-Cabrera.
“Moreover, when negotiators do not take their own competences for granted, they may actually work harder to make the most of a cooperative negotiation. Negotiation outcomes, therefore, may be even better when power dynamics are more balanced between counterparts, particularly when neither party is using their native language, as is often the case in international negotiations”.

Language choice as a strategic tool

This work underlines that the choice of language in negotiation is not merely a matter of convenience or fluency but can serve as a strategic tool. Managers may benefit from intentionally choosing a shared foreign language, particularly in contexts where clarity, perspective-taking and cooperation are essential for reaching joint gains.

Their insights also provide opportunities to enhance negotiation training and professional practice by leveraging the benefits of negotiating in a foreign language, such as increased psychological distance.

Find out more in their paper!

Barragan Diaz A, Hermann C, López-Cabrera R (2026), “Negotiating across languages: how self-efficacy shifts from native ease to foreign insights”. International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 37 No. 3 pp. 784–807