Linguistic knowledge leads to higher intercultural competence because:

a. it is the first step everyone needs to take to learn about intercultural communication.
b. we cannot communicate with people from different cultures if the interaction is not conducted in their first language.
c. knowing the difficulty of learning a second language us develop empathy for individuals who face challenges in new cultural contexts.
d. fluency in a foreign language increases tolerance for ambiguity.

C. knowing the difficulty of learning a second language helps us develop empathy for individuals who face challenges in new cultural contexts

Explanation:

In second language learning, a language learner faces difficulties which helps him/her to have empathy for those who have undergone similar challenges. Empathy is a strong feeling of finding oneself in the role person who faced identical problems in but in different cultural context. The learning process by the difficult process leads the learners to understand the cultural sensitivity and competence of other cultures.

today we'd use social media to quickly spread a controversial idea, but in the eighteenth century, the printed pamphlet was highly effective. and thomas paine took full advantage of it. on january 9, 1776, when paine published his pamphlet, "common sense," he wanted to push the american people toward independence from britain. it ultimately ignite the american revolution. thomas paine argued that the monarchy was evil and should be rejected as a form of government. to underscore his point, he cited the bible to argue his case -- in judges 8: 22-23: "the israelites said to gideon, 'rule over us, you and your son and your ' gideon told them, 'i will not rule over you. the lord will rule over you'" (nrsv).