I have left my world of English-as-a-second-language in Europe and arrived back in Canada where English is the only language I will communicate in for the next two weeks of my holidays here.
When I am back in Canada or England and speaking my native language of English, it suddenly dawns on me how difficult it is to live in a foreign country and try to communicate in English with those who speak it as a second language. It is no less difficult for them either. I have immense respect for all of our students whether studying advanced business theory in English, or those studying English as a second or foreign language. However, I cannot count the number of times a second-language English speaker has said something in a way that immediately offended or challenged me, due to their inappropriate use of the language and, more importantly, their non-verbal message senders. While using English might be an advantage, the tones and non-verbal message senders you use might do more damage than good, and might be seriously missing the intent, purpose and goal of communicating, whether in casual conversation or in a business meeting. I correct the misuse of expressions in most cases when I know the speaker, but I also know we native English speakers rarely do correct. I have had conversations with English students who are preparing for their English advanced qualifying examinations who can form correct sentences; who have achieved a good level of fluency, and are very impressed with their own skill, but who communicate in a way that is mechanical and without the familiar language characteristics that English speakers expect to hear. Thus the meaning or effect of the communication is altered at best, and damaging at worst.
The 'loudest' message senders in English may be the things that have no defined or articulated sound at all. The shrugs, or grunts, inflection or tones used when expressing emotion, fact, opinion, ideas or feelings. This is the skill that language teachers need to teach in conjunction with the grammar and other mechanics of the language.
In my business teaching career, I spent a lot of time teaching effective communication. To communicate effectively in one common language is difficult enough, and for years science has demonstrated that the words that form a message make-up about 7% - 9% of the message. The rest of the message senders are things we do not necessarily learn in school referred-to as paralanguage and metacommunication, although we all use them, in every language. They form regional ways of speaking and gesturing; colloquialisms; cultural anomalies that are finite and limited, in some cases, to very small geographic areas. We learn spoken grammar structures and the non-verbal senders the same way in all languages. We, at the UK Language Training Services, adapt and apply these learning principles in our English Immersion Programs and Professional Business English Retreats.
The message here is that, to understand a language, you must understand the culture, and to understand and communicate effectively, we must understand the more subtle non-verbal message senders that round-out and complete the message. For example, a tilt of an eyebrow at exactly the right time, whether speaking or listening, can send a very loud message. That's true in any language but the angle of the tilt, or the timing of the tilt, or the eye contact between the 'tilter' and 'listener'; all differ, ever so slightly, from culture to culture. In some cultures direct eye contact is threatening and perceived as aggressive and hostile or simply brazen and disrespectful, while in others it is regarded as necessary to signal openness and truthfulness.
The necessity for understanding English, it's nuances, and the cultural influences on the ways of speaking have prompted us to open a new language division in England where we will expose our students, not just to class work in language learning, but to life, culture; the importance and meaning, in speaking English properly. Our participants will 'live' in English for periods of two weeks or longer and will experience being spoken to, questioned, instructed, complimented, and corrected by the native English themselves in a variety of in-class and other common daily situations and interactions.
Our program will focus on the 'whole' language experience. Don't just speak English - speak English properly. At UKLTS 'English Is All We Do'
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