Communication using non-native language is difficult. The illustration above is something actually happen to me when I talked with professor who I met first time. This event provoked me one question: ‘I have studied English over ten years, though, I still couldn’t make myself understand, why???’. Here, I would like to share some ideas which I learned about communication using non-native language.
- Relax: People will try to understand you
- Talk clearly: Goal is to understand each other
- Pronunciation: A key to improving communication
- Short story: An American meets a Japanese
- Summary
Relax: People Will Try to Understand You
Scientific studies show that performance, including IQ, can drop under pressure due to “choking.” This happens because anxious thoughts occupy working memory, reducing its capacity for problem-solving. This limitation affects performance even in those with high cognitive abilities (Frontiers for Young Minds).
When we talk in non-native language in front of unfamiliar people, we put ourselves under pressure and get the nods of listeners minds. ‘People may think I am stupid’, ‘OMG! what do I have to talk next?!’, ‘Ohh no…some people seems not to be interested in my talk’, and etc… At the moment, we become panic and we forget what you are going to say, and finally as you talk, as far audience and you are separated… like you are pushed away from beach by waves…
Don’t worry, most of us should have similar experience. And audience understand you give a talk using non-native language and this is difficult, at least those who has consideration. And they would have attitude trying to listen you. Ideally, you should find the one person who listen you well among the audience and talk to him/her, which will help you to relax. If there’s someone who laugh at you because of your English, you can ignore such a rude person. (Of course we have to make effort to improve our skill though).
Don’t worry, there’s always someone who has motivation to listen to your talk. You can talk for one person.
Talk clearly: Goal Is To Understand Each Other
Why do we learn and speak in a non-native language? Because we want to communicate and understand each other. For this reason, it is important to speak clearly. When we lack confidence, we often speak in a low voice and quickly. Even if you don’t have confidence in speaking a non-native language, you can speak slowly and clearly so that listeners can hear you. Even if we make some grammatical mistakes, people can still understand us if they can catch the important words.
Pronunciation: A Key to Improving Communication
What is the priority skill we need to improve? Grammar? Vocabulary? While all factors are important to improving communication, the most important factor, in my experience, is pronunciation. If we don’t pronounce words properly, it becomes very difficult to be understood. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, even if you make grammatical mistakes or have a limited vocabulary, you can still communicate using the words you know. However, if we cannot pronounce words correctly, communication itself becomes very difficult.
Short story: An American meets a Japanese
An American visited a small village. Since nobody spoke English, he was bored. One day, he found a Japanese man visiting the village for business who spoke perfect English. The American was very happy because he could finally communicate with someone after 10 days. They talked a lot. However, the American soon realized that the Japanese man’s conversation was extremely boring, and he felt like running away.
(Zyuzo Itami, ヨーロッパ退屈日記)
The American was excited to find someone who could speak English, but the lack of engaging content made the interaction dull. This suggests that being authentic and expressing their own thoughts and emotions can be more impactful than perfect language skills. Speaking from the heart and share meaningful experiences make the conversation more enjoyable. This is one of the lessons we can learn from this short story.
Summary
- Our ability decreases under pressure: Relax, people around you will try to understand what you’re going to say.
- Talk as slowly and clearly as possible: The goal of communication is to understand each other.
- Pronunciation is the key to improving our communication skills in a non-native language.
- Trying to speak from the heart will always help us communicate, even if we cannot speak as well as a native speaker.
Techniques are very useful but even if we don’t speak well, speak honestly and convey our thoughts as they are.
Expressing through emotion (in a good way) is definitely more powerful than relying on technique. What we can always keep in mind is to ‘speak with a sincere effort to communicate.’
