Lying in a foreign language may be easier

Most people find it easier to lie in a foreign language than in their native tongue, according to a study. The findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, could be important for a lot of processes in which the trustworthiness of certain people must be evaluated — for example in asylum procedures.

In such situations, reports by nonnative speakers tend to be perceived as less believable even though they may be truthful. The discovery also explains why people communicating in a foreign language are generally perceived as less trustworthy even though this may not be justified.

“In our globalised world, more and more communication takes place in a language that is not the native language of some or all communication partners,” said Kristina Suchotzki from the University of Wurzburg in Germany.

This research has revealed that observers seem to be more likely to judge statements of native speakers as truthful compared to statements of non-native speakers.

The researchers conduced a number of experiments in which up to 50 test persons had to complete specific tasks.

They were asked to answer a number of questions sometimes truthfully and sometimes deceptively both in their native language and in a foreign language. They found that it takes longer to answer emotional questions than neutral ones. Answers in the foreign language also take longer than their native language counterparts. Generally, it takes longer to tell a lie than to tell the truth.