I feel fortunate to help high-calibre professionals develop their communication skills in public. Many of them have extraordinary professional and personal backgrounds and the life lessons I have learned by working with them over the years are priceless. A few years ago, while I was coaching a senior Montreal executive of Iranian origin in French, for an international presentation in English, I had an epiphany. During rehearsals of his presentation, some of the English words he was using were unrecognizable mainly due to his accent, his enthusiasm, and the speed of his delivery. I made an appropriate and gentle remark to him about this, and the candidate replied: "Mr. Sergent, I speak five languages including Persian, Azerbaijani and Turkish and I have an accent in each of these five languages!" We both laughed. His good-natured sense of self deprecating humour triggered an important thought process for me. Like him, I have an accent!
I have a French-Canadian accent when I speak to English-speaking Canadians. I have a Canadian accent when I am in front of Americans, and other Anglophones around the world. I have a Quebecois accent when I present to Francophones outside Canada and for Quebecers who live outside my beloved metropole, I even have a Montreal accent! Some find my accent charming, others not so much and there is little I can do about this at this time in my life.
Many of the professionals I coach in business presentations and public speaking have a noticeable accent when they speak another language. Some of them admit that they feel disadvantaged compared to their counterparts who present in their mother tongue as to their persuasiveness and some lose their self-confidence. This phenomenon is more often the result of a false perception of oneself.
If you are one of these professionals who thinks your accent is limiting your ability to present effectively, here are some ideas to keep in mind for your next presentation:
- Most people who are in your audience are quite envious of people who can speak more than one language. It is a safe bet that they are not judging you for this.
- Do not apologize for your accent or lack of fluidity in the language. It is a waste of time and energy.
- The fear of making a mistake is more harmful to your presentation than making a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. Don’t be so hard on yourself!
- If you cannot find the right word at the right time, your audience members will find it for you and suggest it for you. The good news is that that they are listening to you.
- Speak much more slowly than when you speak in your native language and your audience will adjust to the way you speak. They might very well be hanging to your every word.
- If you enunciate each of the syllables more slowly, you will make fewer tonic stress errors. The differences in tonic accent between French and English are a good example of this.
- Use fewer words, but words that paint a picture and you will likely be more inspiring and convincing than your unilingual counterparts.