Terrified about the British accent when conducting the first international training assignment in London in 2011.
Inspire of hectic preparations, upto three weeks before my first international training assignment in London, not even a single participant had confirmed. And in the frenzy of the preparatory conference calls leading up-to the workshop, I struggled to understand the fast speaking British accent of the organizers. I had sleepless nights wondering how to conduct a workshop if I had to ask everyone to repeat themselves slowly, for me to understand them?
Finally on the big day of the London training, I got my required number of confirmationa and started with a frank confession. I said I am from India with my English having an Indian accent, while they all had an obviously strong British accent. I requested to be stopped freely by them if they couldn’t understand me, while I too asked for the same liberty.
Now that my English speaking fears were laid to rest, I proceeded with smiles at the training and surprisingly we all understood each other’s English accents very easily without a single need for any repeatation.
So do notice what makes you smile in your professional life. Have a smiling year!
Recent Comments