I was born not speaking English, nor incentivised to speak it as I grow older as a kid, even as an adult. The only time I am pressured to speak English consistently is when I work in multinational or cross-cultural, international companies, which, to feel fortunate enough, have been my opportunities the majority of my working career.
I enjoy using English, primarily as a way to write. I also enjoy using my native language, Indonesian. But sometimes, they just don’t come to your advantage.
Especially in the workplace.
You see, I am not trying to justify my lack of communication skill, but often time, speaking in a non-native language gives you disadvantage. As someone who traditionally and naturally thinks in Indonesian, communicating in English the whole day at work can be exhausting.
As people would say it, to communicate in English, I need to think about what I am saying in Indonesian, then mentally (and quickly) translating it to English, before I actually say it. This applies to both written and verbal form.
In written form, it’s somehow easier for me because I can edit. Nobody is going to cut me from saying anything mid-way.
In verbal form, it’s where things are worse. Mentally saying it and translating it at the same time, and then saying it — all are three different things that need to go at the same time.
People will still hold you accountable of what you say. More so when you’re in the position of power.
I’d say, it’s a delicate balance. In most career path, to be able to go up, you need a combination of hard and soft skills. Communication is a major part of it, and even though you are so good at your domain, without communicating it well, you’ll never go through past certain level.
To build an alliance, you also need good communication. If nobody can tolerate or understand you, then you’ll have a hard time building it. Alliance is equally important in going up the ladder.
To build visibility, which is very important in getting promoted (more so than any other factors!), you will need communication skill as well.
It all trickle down to this: communication.
Language is a greater part of communication, take it or leave it.
There’s always a group of people with advantages, primarily those who speak the same language, share the same culture, and can quickly empathise and understand each others. This is why some companies prefer to hire “certain group of people” in the leadership.
I am not saying that we should give it all up to situations.
Of course, there are ways for us to learn and adapt. Why not try to write and speak better, you might say?
The thing is, as we go about trying, learning and adapting, there are people who are natural at it already. It’s also a matter of whether the company culture is accommodating to equality: giving the benefit of the doubts to the disadvantaged.
Most often, this takes courage, risk and understanding — a luxury that not all teams can afford.