Imagine a group of people sitting in a meeting or classroom when two people, who are definitely from outside the country, walk into the room. They are going to make a presentation. It’s clear they are a bit uncomfortable and struggling with the language. As they speak, the listeners appear a little agitated at the communication problem. One whispers to another “I wish they knew how to speak our language”.
This may be a familiar situation and you may have overheard, had the thought, or even said, “their accents are so heavy I can’t understand what they are talking about” or “they are saying so many things wrong”. It’s distracting, you are frustrated, and some people even snicker.
Oh, did I mention, in my scenario the two guests were Americans trying to present to a group of Russians? Yes, this happens on both sides of the table. Yet in my travels, I have found people from other countries to often be more tolerant or appreciative of the struggle people have in communicating in different languages.
Those in other parts of the world have had to face language barriers and figure out ways to interact for centuries. Just think, what would it be like if people in each of our states spoke a different language or dialect? When one of us crossed the Indiana-Illinois line, we better know how to speak as they do.
Much of the world operates this way. We Americans have had the convenience of one primary language which our culture has expected, and sometimes required, everyone to use. We are also at a great advantage when English is practically a universal language. We can travel, be among other kinds of people, and it is usually them trying to speak English.
This is changing as we become more of a global society. We hear the demand for everyone to speak English in America. Yet communication is the responsibility of all parties. If I lived in another part of the world, I would probably work to learn that language as well as customs and culture.
Would I be good at it, probably not, but they would know I was trying. And, I hope when it came time for me to make my presentation using their native tongue, they would not snicker, act frustrated, or whisper “his accent is horrible, I can’t understand anything he says”.