Taming the steamroller

Speaking and Presenting

• the basic principle: you want to be more understandable without making your content less rich or interesting. Nobody wants to feel like their being talked down to or getting a second-rate version. But they do want to understand you, and they will notice when you care about their understanding.
• There’s a trend in presentations, driven by a TED-like style, to put fewer and fewer words on slides. […] a few words on sldies are awesome for people whose English isn’t as fluent as yours–especially terms that you are going to use a lot. People like knowing how to spell things correctly. Don’t try to be super cool and go full minimalist with your slides.
• Phrasal verbs in English can be particularly hard to master (prefer “decrease X” or “stop X” over “cut X out”)
• you don’t need to try too hard to avoid slang or figures of speech. Any tie you slip something slangy into a conversation, just restate it in other words right afterwards.

In Meetings

• Pausing between paragraphs is really important. You need to make sure that people have space to think and react. They may not be quick enough with English to interrupt you.
• After somebody else finishes a sentence, don’t jump right on their last word. As you would in a conference call, leave a space before you talk.
• I often have the problem that I listen too closely to a colleague’s words. Their actual English words are likely to be the least accurate and least expressive part of their communication. Give a lot more weight to body language and facial expression.

In Email, Text, or Chat

• Be concise. Every word you’re writing is a word that your recipient has to read: this sounds obvious, but sometimes we forget. Keep the word count down.
• Make your message very clear, especially your request. This is doubly true for me, because I work with Germans, who are famously direct. The American habit of softening and burying a request is just confusing and pointless to them.
• A long email can look like you expect the same in return, but that might be a big burden on your recipient.
• try not to guess the sender’s emotional state.

Correcting Others' English

• I use a consent model: unless someone has said they want to be corrected, I do not correct them. And I never, ever correct people in front of others in a work setting.
• If somebody does say that they’d like you to help them with their English, try this very gentle technique: continue the conversation while repeating back a corrected version of the last sentence.
• For the most part, just let others' small mistakes watch over you, and focus on what you’re trying to get done together.