Abstract: The subject of the study is language education as teaching a foreign language; the object of the study are the concepts of "competence" and "competence". The authors consider the views of foreign and domestic scientists and researchers on the content of the categories "competence" and "competence" and give their comparative analysis. Special attention is paid to the components of key competencies, namely communicative competence. Such aspects as "communicative competence" and "communicative tolerance" are analyzed. Communicative competence includes not only knowledge of languages, but also knowledge of various social roles in the team and the ability to communicate. The role of the discipline "Foreign languages" in the formation of communicative competence and communicative tolerance of students is emphasized. В  The main conclusion of the study is that communicative tolerance is a component of communicative competence. It is necessary to purposefully educate students' communicative competence, as students' communicative readiness for tolerant communication with interaction partners. When teaching students a foreign language, a communicative competence is formed, aimed at mastering the ability of students to tolerant communication. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that communicative competence includes not only knowledge of languages, but also possession of various social roles in the team and the ability to communicate tolerantly. The proposed analysis will be of interest to specialists in the field of scientific research of the nature of the categories "competence" and "competence".