In today’s world, strong English skills and good business go hand in hand. The importance of speaking correctly, clearly and with a lot of confidence in English has never been more crucial for good business. The content and clarity of speech in presentations, lectures and networking reflect the speaker’s ability to convey their message to diverse target audiences. Good articulation and effective speech are achieved when businessmen feel confident in English as this directly affects volume, clarity and variety of their speech. Consequently, throughout the years, more and more business individuals understand the necessity of improving their English to ‘stand out’ and be heard in their relevant fields of business and management.
I recently sat down with businessman Daniel Z. (Co-founder of Powtoon) and asked him about the importance of strong English skills and good business.
As a public speaker of [important] subject matters, why do you think it is important for you to have clear spoken English for seminars and networking?
As a public speaker, it is very important for me to pronounce words correctly and speak clearly so that the audience can understand what I am saying and the message I want to convey.
Do you think it is a necessity to speak proper [correct] English to convey your message and be taken seriously?
Yes. I think it is a necessity to speak correct English to any audience to be taken seriously. If the listener doesn’t understand the speaker because of poor pronunciation, it will make it difficult for them to understand the content. I think the more I invest, the better I will speak, the more I will be taken seriously. An audience can have “prejudiced ears” when listening to poor English and this directly affects whether I am taken seriously or not.
With cross-border business communication mostly conducted in English, is having good and clear English a useful tool to reach more people around the world?
Yes, definitely. Speaking clearly with correct pronunciation is a great tool to reach more people because more people understand you. As a result, you feel more confident and you can concentrate on what you want to say and how you say it, using more expressions and phrases.
As a speaker with ESL (English as Second Language), what are some of the challenges you have faced when writing a lecture/speech/ networking?
When writing e-mails and articles [and networking], there are a few challenges. The first is finding the right words to express myself in English. Secondly, I have to think about pronunciation and speaking clearly. Thirdly, I find it challenging to come up with content and how I can present the topic in English to different target audiences.
Do you think that some important messages are not conveyed because they are not communicated correctly in English? The “lost in translation” effect?
Yes, I do. This is mainly due to not knowing certain English expressions, both in British English and American English. Also, some expressions which are literally translated into English(for example from Hebrew), are not correct and the audience can misunderstand you.
Do you think that speaking it [English] helps you communicate with people from countries all over the world, not just English-speaking ones? If so, in what way?
I definitely think that knowing English helps you to communicate internationally, whether you are in a native English speaking country or not. Most business is conducted in English so rather than learning the country’s native language, it is important to have and use English to interact.
