Category Archives: ESL/Cultural Communications

English as a second language and cultural challenges and differences in communication

What Workshop Topic Most Interests You?

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Hello everyone!

I hope you are keeping well and are not feeling any sort of ‘Monday blues’. I think I am fortunate as an entrepreneur and consultant in that I never feel any particular strain on Mondays. To me, Monday is just as good as Friday! (Are some of you hating me now? Sorry, I will keep it to myself then!)

Well the summer seems to be over and everyone is back to work and back to school. Holidays seem to be over as well and people are re-focused on their personal and professional development. Therefore it is time for me to set up a couple of public workshops before the cold Canadian winter comes. I wonder if you would like to help me choose the next topic?

I have just set up a poll on my website, under the tab that reads “Next Public Workshop”. There is a 2-second survey that is simply one question: “Which workshops would you be most interested in attending?” If you have 2 seconds right now, I would really appreciate knowing what workshop(s) you would like to see run in Toronto in the next few months.

Even if you do not live in Toronto, but you have an opinion on what topic you think you would enjoy in a workshop, please still take the poll and let me know. I am by no means limited to running workshops and seminars in Toronto. As a matter of fact I enjoy visiting new places to work! (Imagine that, getting paid to travel and do something you love….hmm…life of a coach eh? Yes it can be quite rewarding at times!)

Okay, enough of me and my chosen lifestyle. Let me hear from you. Here is the direct link to my website where you will find the poll.

http://www.communicationcoach.ca/pb/wp_a4623824.html?0.1247426423766621

If you cannot decide on just one topic, that is fine. You can simply vote again!

Thank you all very, very much for your interest and support. I will be sending out a regular newsletter next time with great communication advice. As always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to get in touch with me.

All the best and – oh yes – Happy Monday!

Ric Phillips

Content Stress is Best

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As a general rule,

▪ Stressed words in a sentence are considered content words. These include nouns (e.g. kitchen, Peter), (most) main verbs (e.g. visit, construct), adjectives (e.g. beautiful, interesting), and adverbs (e.g. often, carefully).

▪ Non-stressed words are considered function words. These include determiners (e.g.: the, a, an), auxiliary verbs (e.g.: is, am, were), prepositions (e.g.: before, of, in), conjunctions (e.g.: but, and, so), and pronouns (e.g.: they, she, he)

Read the following sentence aloud:
The beautiful mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.

Now read this sentence aloud:
He can come on Saturdays as long as he doesn’t have to do any homework in the evening.

Notice that the first sentence actually takes about the same time to speak well! Even though the second sentence is approximately 30% longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to speak. This is because there are five stressed words in each sentence.

One Day Communication Workshop

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If you are in the Toronto area, there is a communication workshop coming up soon that you may want to go to. BRASI is sponsoring a one-day workshop and I will be doing the training. For more information please follow this link to the BRASI website. IF interested, register through BRASI.
(Aftab Khan is the contact person there).

http://www.brasi.org/english.php

Thanks! I am on vacation for a week so am unable to respond to any questions until I get back on the 17th.

Assist Your Listener

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Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great summer and not working too hard.

Today I would like to remind you of something I am often repeating in training – assist your listener. Sometimes we can get caught up in our own speaking that we neglect the listener. We may be speaking too quickly, or too quietly, or without enthusiasm or proper stress, or we may be speaking over or under people’s intelligence levels.

Think in the past of someone who spoke to you that way. How did you feel? I hope and assume it was not done on purpose, but still, what is your typical reaction to someone who seems to be pontificating on and on, or otherwise seems to not need you in the conversation? Half of the time my reaction is to just stare with utter amazement! The other half of the time I actively re-balance the conversation with no egos bruised. Would you like to know how to do that? Great! Sign up for coaching! (ha ha).

Our public speaking performance improvement is great for our personal success, of course, but we cannot forget that if we lose our listener’s attention or respect, it is game over. No matter how eloquent of a speaker you may be or how fast you can speak, the important thing to remember is that communication is a dance. You need at least one other person working with you right?

So the next time you have lots to say, are excited, in a hurry, at work presenting ideas or whatever, remember to pause and mentally self-evaluate your delivery tools: volume, speed, rhythm, appropriate vocabulary etc. and ask yourself – can my partner/listener/audience/client/student etc. completely follow me? Do they have enough time to process the information being thrown at them? Are they engaged in this conversation or are they just passively waiting for their turn to speak? If so, what responsibility do you take in that situation? I hope from now on you take a lot of personal interest and responsibility in the ebb and flow of your conversations, and are careful to assist your listener at all times, especially when your listeners change frequently throughout the day, week, month, year and lifetime!

Mind Your Ps and Qs!

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This is an idiom that at first, seems a bit strange, even to a native English speaker. Why Ps and Qs? What exactly does it mean?

Well, it means to “be careful” or “be respectful (i.e. to elders)” or simply it serves as a reminder to young ones to be polite and on their best behaviour in public.

Why Ps and Qs? It originally came from The English bartenders! “Mind your Ps and Qs” = mind (or tend to, watch out for) your Pints and Quarts…of alcohol! Don’t spill any!

Funny eh?

There you go. Another strange English idiom root uncovered.

Polite Customer Service in Japan

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I am enjoying my time in Japan. I have spent my time in Yokohama, Tokyo and Kyoto. Although I have been working with Japanese people in Toronto for 8 years this is actually my first visit here. There are many things I could write about, but today I will focus on the politeness that is mandatory here.

Some of you may consider yourselves very polite, and/or very courteous in your job. I myself used to work in customer service so I understand how to be polite, even when handling disputes.

What I would like to mention today is how mandatory politeness seems to be here. Even if I do not enter a shop, the clerks are still greeting the people walking by. If you do enter the shop or restaurant etc. then of course they will welcome you again. And usually it is not just one person but several. When you are paying for your food or product they are very polite in how they handle your money or credit card. Very respectful indeed and very gentle. It goes without saying that all of this is happening with a smile and with a soft tone of voice. Finally, when you leave they thank you for your business.

One of the strangest things I have seen here so far was when we went through a toll booth, and both the driver and worker exchanged ‘good mornings’ and ‘thank yous’, in addition to an electronic image of a worker bowing to the driver!

I cannot say for sure how much of this society’s politeness is forced, conditioned, or genuine, but it is definitely expected, and to not act politely is a terrible social offense here.

I really like the calmness of the people and the politeness of the service industry. It certainly is better than a lot of customer service in the world, and there are a few staff workers in the past that I have dealt with that could use this kind of training. The politeness is standard here too, so you can expect it and count on it. In other countries, we seem to be thrilled to get excellent customer service or to get a happy, efficient staff worker. Here, it happens 99% of the time.

The big question remaining is, I suppose, how do the Japanese feel about it, and how do they feel about the perceived lack of social and professional courtesy when they travel or emigrate? If you know a Japanese person in your circle, why don’t you ask them?

All the best from the land of the rising sun!

FYI – In Japan

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Do you know this shorthand? FYI?
It means “For Your Information.”

It’s a great way to save time and space in text mail and email.
We even can use it in actual speech!
E.g. “John, I’ll see you at 6pm for dinner, and FYI, it’s your turn to pick up the tab!”  (Pay the bill).

I am currently in Japan right now, enjoying my time in Tokyo, Yokohama, and soon Shizuoka and Kyoto.
I’ll post again soon.

Thanks for reading!

In Japan

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Hello everyone,

I will be here in Japan until July 9th. Some work, some relaxation.
I am in Tokyo and Yokohama right now and soon I will visit Shizuoka and then Kyoto.

I will put together a post/newsletter soon about communication issues here in J-town.

For now, sorry that I have not posted for a while. Jet-lag is brutal.

ttys
Ric

Simplify Your English ok?

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Today’s mini-lesson is simple. Be simpler.
Is simple a bad thing? No. (See? A simple answer!)

As a communication and career coach I have seen resumes and cover letters that are too ‘wordy’ and absolutely unclear. This little advice is not just for resumes and CVs, it is also for presentations, speeches, meetings, etc. or just plain conversation.

If you are using ESL – English as a second language – then you are already probably a little nervous about what you say and how you say it. Let me give you some good advice that you can smile with: simplify your language and communications. Do not over-complicate it all. We do not think a person is stupid just because they use simple, easy-to-use English. We often choose the simplest form of speech as it is the most direct and quickest. However if you are using too many big words and are over-polite and too formal etc. we then might think that you are not very comfortable in our world of casual no-nonsense ‘direct’ language.

Think about it. Simplify your thoughts before writing out a ‘thick’ resume or letter. Organize your words using common language before you speak.

Simple is best.

Isn’t that good news?

A Sandwich Needs Bread Too!

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I am surprised by the number of emails I get where a new contact i.e. a stranger is emailing me for the first time and they just send me a one-liner, with no polite introduction or sign-off. For example:

Hi,

I need to improve my English – what should I do?

Or

Hello,

How can coaching help me? Please explain.

Now I can appreciate that, as the old idiom states, Time is Money. And I realize that in some busy offices or cultures there is little time for ‘fluff’ and people speak directly to each other. HOWEVER in international business communications, it is vital to learn how the other party expects to be communicated with and on what level of formality or politeness to use, especially for the first contact.

Don’t get me wrong – I am not angry or personally offended by these short emails. I can read between the lines and realize that these are people who genuinely are asking for my help, so that they can achieve greater success in their personal and professional lives. I appreciate that and am happy to respond. But my job is to teach communication skills, so today the message is this: Don’t forget the bread when making your sandwich!

When we eat a delicious sandwich we savour the meat or cheese or whatever garnishes are inside, but we need the bread to hold it together from top to bottom, right?

The same is true in polite, professional, positive communications, even emails.

The bread is the polite intro and ending. For example, let’s improve the above emails:

Hi Ric,

I am happy to receive your newsletters, and have learned some interesting communication tips from you. However as English is not my first language, I need to improve it. What should I do?

Any suggestions or resources would be appreciated.

Best regards,

XXXXXXX

Or

Hello Sir,

I am intrigued by your website and broadcasts, and am interested to improve my personal communications, however I am not really sure how coaching can really help me personally. I wonder, could you explain the coaching process in a bit more detail to me, or send me a resource to read?

Thank you very much,

XXXXXXXX

By using the sandwich analogy it serves as a quick reminder to be polite in the beginning and end of your communications, whether speaking or writing, especially when you are communicating with a new person. You want to set the right tone and make a winning first impression.

Thank you and have a good lunch!