I’m monolingual. I took three semesters of Latin in High School, I failed two. I speak and write only in English, although perhaps not very well. I try, as you nay have noticed, to make up for it in volume.
Languages fascinate me, especially accents. My mother was born in Czechoslovakia and was a toddler when she emigrated with my grandparents to Canada at the end of WWII. There she learned English and French before moving to the US as a teen. She had a very faint, very strange accent. I think you’d call it European. It would suddenly appear when she was excited, and then just as quickly it would be gone.
I’m no expert on accents, but I am a connoisseur. I delight at detecting an accent and trying to guess a person’s place of origin (the two are not, of course, necessarily causal.) My favorite American accent is Missouri where there’s a relaxed way of making consonants while hardly moving your mouth.
My favorite global accent is Dutch. I love it when the Dutch speak Dutch, a beautiful language made very exciting by the rather violent-sounding velar fricative ‘G.’ 95% of the Dutch speak English and, remarkably among Europeans, they don’t seem to mind it very much.
I once amazed a dinner table full of Germans by guessing the ethnicity of a colleague. She spoke English with an accent quite unlike her peers. It turned out her native tongue was French, but she grew up speaking Hebrew and English at home. The table knew she was of Israeli ethnicity, but they couldn’t see how I figured that out. I picked up her Hebrew-accented English, which they’d never noticed.
I adore meeting someone with a unique or unfamiliar accent. Is there anything more exciting than hearing someone speak a language you know with an accent you don’t recognize? There is something about hearing words that are completely familiar and yet totally mysterious. These sounds erase our borders and draw us in together, like threads across a seam.
Accents at Work
Accents and language skills come into play at work in several interesting ways.
Many of my clients speak English among other languages. Frequently they express to me their concerns about how their accent, fluency, or style of speaking could impact their success.
As a general rule, the more perfect your English language skills, the more likely you are to worry that they’re not good enough. It might interest you to know that this isn’t something I often hear older white men of European ethnicity worry about. I have heard the concern from women of color from every corner of the globe.
On some level, we’re all playing a game with rules written by a bunch of old white guys. Systems of oppression, dear reader, are going to oppress. They exist to keep you out and keep themselves in.
English skills probably aren’t holding you back, but the white patriarchy might be.
Your English is Fine
As I’ve frequently lamented, our leadership role models are white, male, and also very tall. The less you look and sound like them, the more insecure you’re likely to feel.
I’m going out on a limb and guessing that your English skills are probably just fine. If you can read my writing, you’ve got the language and comprehension skills necessary to interact with other people more than well enough.
There is more to communication than language. I’ll gladly strain to understand the great ideas of an interesting person with meager English skills. Better that than cringe my eyebrows off while someone in a puffy vest and an Ivy League diploma lectures me on what AI is going to disrupt. There’s no language in which I want to listen to something that nobody wants to hear.
If you feel insecure in your ability to communicate, you’re certainly not alone. Virtually all of my clients want to improve their ability to connect with, motivate, influence, and understand their colleagues, and to be understood.
Your multilingual capabilities, multi-cultural background, and international expertise is a tremendous asset to any career. I’m jealous! Maybe I can learn another language, and put it to use at work. I’ll never know as much as you do, though, about how business is done while moving between countries, cultures, languages, and traditions.
You Are Fine
Time for an confession. I’ve worked with a lot of people who communicate in heavily-accented English at work and I’m dismayed to say that I’ve noticed myself getting frustrated when I’m not able to easily understand them.
The good news is that with a little time and patience, this can be overcome.
From my co-workers and clients I’ve learned that people who are speaking a non-native language at work are already working extremely hard to understand and to be understood. Do I deserve to work less hard than them? Because of where and when I was born? Because I’m the member of a majority?
That doesn’t fly anymore.
Diversity, equity and inclusion are moral imperatives. They’re also an economic necessity. We’re all part of a global economy that can only be successful through the daily practice of patience, tolerance, and an willingness to do a little extra work.
An inclusive attitude to language is just as important as respecting the way people appear, dress, or worship. White folks, bless our hearts, sometimes have a hard time “understanding” people who are unlike them in any number of different ways. Having a little trouble with it is normal. It takes a little time, and a little practice, and we can get right over it.
I Was Wrong
Some people will say that leaders should be encouraged to be clear, crisp communicators. It’s said this contributes to their “charisma” and “executive presence.” I understand this point of view, and I respect people who pursue these goals. I disagree with this construction of what makes a leader, though, because it’s lazy, wrong, gendered, and racist.
I’m ashamed to say that I once gave someone a lecture just like this on “executive presence.” I coached a woman on her “up-talking” because I felt her communication style may have been limiting her credibility and influence with the team.
It may have been, but it was wrong for me to approach it this way, and I regret it. Like “charisma” or “gravitas” the problem is with the audience, not the speaker. Stereotypes tell us how a leader is supposed to look, sound, and act. We are expected to see past stereotypes, to work around them, and overcome them. We’re not meant to train ourselves or others to emulate them, or live up to them. Gross!
Put that energy instead into deciding what you have to say. Practice your craft. Study your sources. Prepare your ideas and arguments. If the substance of your message is unassailable, people will jump through hoops to understand you. Nobody will remember or care how you sound.
If you feel pressure to improve your language skills in order to be a more effective leader, collaborator, or employee — I support you! I think that’s terrific. The drive towards self-improvement is a dependable predictor of future success. Good things will come of your efforts to become a better writer and orator — in any language you choose.
As you do that, be proud of the languages you speak. Embrace the way that you sound, and celebrate your personal style of adapting to the language you speak at work. Whatever languages you speak, celebrate the capabilities that a multilingual colleague adds to your team at work. Learn what their experiences might contribute to your team. Help them feel that a first-rate contribution can be made in any language.
We need thoughtful, empathetic, conscientious leaders. We want to be inspired by authentic, honest, vulnerable people who will share with us their very best ideas.
Today, what matters most is what you have to say. What matters less is how you say it.
Naïve Americans
Our preference for “native” English speakers is part of a racist legacy. This bias is rooted in cultural norms that have shifted and are continuing to change we progress towards a more just and equitable society.
White patriarchal leadership stereotypes are deeply ingrained in our culture, but they’re also being smashed to pieces every day by our experiences working together as a diverse multilingual workforce.
You can find role models everywhere. I know I have. Over just a few years, I’ve worked with University Professors, Product Managers, Finance Leaders, Engineering Managers, Data Analysts, and Chief Product Officers who are multilingual and who command influence and authority via their heavily-accented English.
These are top minds in some of the most competitive, innovative, and prestigious institutions in the world. The way that these people sound is just one aspect of the way they communicate and lead.
The quality of ideas, the meaning of their work, and their willingness to continually improve their skills is what matters.
If they can do it, so can you. The rest of are listening. We want to hear what you have to say.
I’d like to hear what you have to say about language and accents in the workplace.