Conquer Your Fear of Speaking English at Work with Private Training
According to linguists, our language is intimately connected with our identity and sense of self-esteem. As children, mastery of language is an essential survival skill. Effective communication gets us what we want and need, enables us to be social, and makes us feel competent. Our mastery of our mother tongue tells us we are smart and part of our group. And of course, other people judge us by our language ability–beginning early with our proud parents. “Did you hear that? She called you ‘papa!’ “ And later, (if we are lucky) the positive reinforcement continues with high school teachers who say, “Great work on that essay!” We get the message: Language competency = smart. Language incompetency = dumb.
When we learn a second language (an L2), we are immediately aware of our deficiencies. We know that we are, in fact, inadequate. Suddenly, competent adults are challenged to perform, and come up short. This experience can be devastating for business people who pride themselves on their communication abilities. They know that these abilities are a cornerstone of their success. No amount of product knowledge, technical expertise or passion can compensate for language disability.
Many professionals will not ask for help with this deficiency. In fact, they may engage in avoidance behavior – trying to hide their “problem” by avoiding situations that require their second language. When such situations cannot be avoided, they fall silent and let others carry the discussion. Stress and English anxiety are the obvious results for the professional. Lost time, revenue, and “edge” are the obvious losses for the company.
• Meetings
• Negotiations
• Social business interactions
• Fielding questions and objections
• Presentations
• Agreeing and disagreeing
• Explaining
• Phone calls / Listening
• Asking pointed questions
• Telephone conversations
While these situations are mastered by many professionals in their mother tongue, these same professionals become disabled when they must perform in their L2.
• I can’t find my words.
• I always think in my mother tongue.
• I have to think too long before I speak.
• I am too agreeable in English: I say yes because it is too hard to say no.
• I cannot be persuasive in English.
• I let other people take over in meetings. I just sit there.
• I dread and/or avoid meetings with English speakers.
• I cannot be a leader in English.
If your fear of speaking in English at work is holding you back, contact The English Center about customized private training. Private training is absolutely the way to begin building English confidence. Contact us today about fully customized 1:1 training, online or in person in Amsterdam, Den Haag and Amstelveen.
If English anxiety problems are affecting you or your colleagues, you can be sure of two things: Workers with these issues are under stress and not performing at optimal levels. Needless to say, that means corporate profitability is suffering, and completive edge is diminished.
Remember – many professionals will hide their fear of speaking English from bosses and colleagues, perhaps – even from themselves.
By Brenda de Jong-Pauley, MA, May 2019, 2024
Brenda holds a master’s degree in psychology and is the founder/director of The English Center in Amsterdam.
Learn more about English Center private Business English training.
