Life is full of surprises @Language

“My country built and raised me to live in the current standard. Later, the business world destroyed me for paramount expansion. Eventually I managed to rebuild to live up the high standard.”

I would not understand German language if British Council had approved my English speaking proficiency. If I had not benefited from language learning, I could not have understood how speaking and language skills affect the success of a nation and the people at large.

It was a right move approaching the British Council Language Centre for English learning. That was inspired by how the Western scholars present their ideas and opinions through speaking and writing, and how their skilfully wrote articles convince us the way they think and transform the world. When I saw a prominent speaker moved up the corporate ladder quickly, and latter plays a prominent leadership role though he does not have an excellent technical or management skill, I saw the value of speaking and language skills and their connection with smart leadership.

That raised a question where was my stand among my peers. I am living in the environment where people are so accustomed to the way they speak and express themselves that they are largely unaware that something is wrong. We learned by heart and in our own terms. Peter, the young Australian teacher, has observed few problems concerning my speaking proficiency. He revealed that the greatest deficiency was the pronunciation part which plays a crucial role in effective communication. The ways I speak have significantly affected the way I interact with people. I had trouble using words to describe processes, events and experiences before learning German language. My mind was full of picture of things that I wish to say; I just could not connect them all together as a sentence. I always felt tongue-tied and often paused in the middle of conversation, and then I just dropped the conversation. It took me quite a while to use right words to describe things, and decide which type of tenses I must use in a sentence.

Although English has been widely used for official communication in business today, there was no call to stress on proper use of the language in the workplace. Despite the costly and prolonged efforts by multinational corporate to enhance the employee’s communication skill, the standard of English here has remained the same. Over years, my former employer has drawn several plans to success its long term business growth before sending the workers to attend a 3-days workshop organized by local toastmaster club. Ironically, more attention would be given to produce a public speaker who can attract audiences with his rhetoric statement than produce a proper English user. To what extent this workshop worked to promote public speaking among the employees did not matter me, what has concerned me the most was, the course was simply designed to promote the strength of the club and to attract more talented individuals into its social networking.

It was a terrify and horrify training experience for someone who has not yet overcome a speech problem but be put on the stage to talk to the crowd. Any speaker who has gone through all stages of language development should have understood that learning to speak is a long process, but the trainers simply ignored the basic principle of speech, and failed to reach out and help. This had added up to the frustration and embarrassment I have had all these years. For more than a year, I had lost confidence to communicate in public, and quite often I stuttered because I felt anxious whenever I have eye contact with people.

That led me to hiring a private tutor – an American writer and distinguished speaker. John has surprised me by the statement – “You must be destroyed and rebuilt, but I cannot do it.” Underlying issue was many things must occur in order for a person to speak and understand spoken language in a meaningful way. My speaking and language problems could be traced back to as far as my childhood. The Malaysia formal and preschool education did not give appropriate attention to the child’s speech, language and listening skills. Those who have demonstrated exceptional speech and language skills had received proper training at home during their childhood. Apparently, there were only two viable options available on hand. I could either jump start from any point that come into the picture, or learn a new language. Both options showed a seemingly potential to achieve the performance level that I wanted to reach.

With John, I have healed and repaired from grammatical errors and learned how to become an accomplished speaker and writer. With Felicia, we formed a business communication group in which I had chances to interact with people using proper English. On the other hand, I attended a German freshman class for a fresh, new start in language development. The first few sessions were extremely stressed; probably there had something to do with the poor coordination involved the mouth, the vocal cords, and the brain. To make an accurate sound, I must exert entire energy in order for every part of my body worked well coordinated. As we learned how to pronounce common words and phrases of German, we came across several unusual sounds and intonation which rarely found in Malaysian daily spoken languages. Frank, the German instructor, understood our problems, he decided to redesign the syllabus to give us more time to practise the pronunciation and build up our vocabulary. The best part was he facilitated a favourable learning environment in which we did not feel reluctant to take part and nervous to use the language.

I was able to recognize boarder range of sounds, able to produce them from mouth, able to pronounce a complete sentence with appropriate stress and tone. As I went on practising every day, I gradually took control of the speaking situation after the third lesson. At the end of course, I found that not only did I finally learn how to speak German, but also I learned how to speak English fluently. I noticed that my listening skill too improved significantly, and more effective in oral communication now than years ago. That initial effort has an unintended, yet significant, positive impact on the way I manage my life and interact with people. It has also changed the way I deal with people and pay attention to detail. It was a painstaking makeover! My country built and raised me to live in the current standard. Later, the business world destroyed me for paramount expansion. Eventually I managed to rebuild to live up the high standard.

What’s “Build. Destroy. Rebuild”?

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is – full of surprises. – Isaac Bashevis Singer

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