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 …
