A Quick Guide To Presenting To A Multinational Audience

A Quick Guide to Presenting to
aMultinational Audience
Sally Fagan HonFCIL, CLP, FBILD, BSc (Hons)
Illustrations by Kevin Becken
Abstract: This article is for anyone who works for a

multinational company or in the international field.
Here are some thought-provoking ideas, which will not
only improve your presentations but also your ability to
communicate your message clearly in daily one-on-one
conversations with overseas clients. This article will explain
how and why much of your message may be lost even
when your audience appears to speak brilliant English.
Crucially, you will find out what to do about it!
Keywords: audience, body language, clarity, countries,

culture, delivery, grammar, humor, idioms, international,
languages, message, multinational, Offshore English, Plain
English, PowerPoint slides, presentation, selling, signpost-
ing, speaking, speech, talking, tips, understanding, voice
Introduction
Youll be fine! They all speak brilliant English! Were just
so bad at languages, arent we? If I were given a d ollar
for each time I have heard this, then I would indeed be
Sally Fagan is a linguist who very rich by now!
started out in export sales, travelling
The context is a familiar one: English-speaking busi-
extensively in Europe, South America
and Africa. A change of direction ness man or woman going on an overseas trip, and
brought her into training, which she expected to converse or present to a wide variety of
has been doing for the last 20 years. overseas colleagues whilst abroad.
She spent nearly 4 years in Singapore, The notion that we English-speakers are bad at lan-
during which time she was elected
to the world board of the voluntary
guages is amusing. Its almost suggesting that we are
organization Junior Chamber a race apart from most of the rest of the world, that
International. She was assigned to the maybe we have a language gene missing that some-
Australasian/South Pacific region and how everyone else in e very other country was blessed
was required to make motivational
with. We are, of course, born with the same linguistic
presentations and speeches to
international audiences on a regular capability as everyone else in the world. What is dif-
basis. A particular highlight was ferent are the social and environmental attitudes that
training a client to win a World Public shape our beliefs and motivations from an early age.
Speaking competition. Our ability to learn and speak English fluently has
never been in question. However, for most of us the
motivation and encouragement to learn a second or
Expert Insights 1
A Quick Guide to Presenting to aMultinational Audience
third language is often missing from our Since few of us make real efforts to become
family and school environment. conversant in another language, we remain
A good analogy here is learning to drive. oblivious to the challenges of the language
For those of you who have mastered this learner from abroad. We dont under-
skill, especially a manual transmission, stand the need to adapt our speech for the
cast your minds back to the first time you non-native speakers of English, because in
sat behind a steering wheel. The ability our eyes they speak excellent English.
with which others are able to put their foot As a result, I frequently hear non-native
on the gas pedal, check the mirror, flick the speakers of English say that they much
indicator, and turn the steering wheel vir- prefer dealing with other non-native speak-
tually all at the same time seems to be an ers of English, because the communication
impossible feat. So what is it that drives the is much easier. They find it very difficult
majority of us to stick with it and practice to understand native English speakers with
it until it becomes second nature? Purely our variety of accents, wealth of idioms,
and simplyneed. Quite apart from the and speed of talking, letalone the garbled
thought that sooner or later we will not be nature of our slang-filled speech. However,
able to live our lives to the full if we do not as an excellent English speaker, or because
have this required piece of paper, we have of facets of their culture, they may not ad-
the very real social pressure that says that mit to not understanding you fully.
the driving license is a rite of passage to Tip 1: Remember that a non-native
adulthood and we will be left behind if we speaker of English may find you very
dont get one. difficult to understand unless you
So we practice and practice until that fine adapt your style of speaking.
day comes when we pass the test. For most
of us, the skill becomes so second nature What the Audience Wants from You
that it passes into our subconscious. Most Let us think first of all about a presentation
of us probably now cant even remember in English to an English-speaking audience.
that drive into work in the morning. What does the audience expect or desire
What is missing for us as English speak- from the speaker?
ers learning a foreign language is the per- That he/she speaks loudly enough to be
ceived need and motivation to learn. Less heard
than 1 percent of American adults today That he/she speaks clearly enough to be
are proficient in a foreign language that understood
they studied in a US classroom. In many That he/she keeps to the allotted time
cases, as Richard Brecht, who oversees That he/she doesnt have any distract-
the University of Marylands Center for ing habits
Advanced Study of Language, said: It isnt That he/she will not induce what we call
that people dont think language educa- death by PowerPoint
tion important. Its that they dont think its That the imparted information is useful/
possible.1 interesting
This does us a disservice in two ways. That the delivery of the presentation is
First, there is the more obvious conse- engaging
quence that it leaves us unable to converse For those of you not familiar with the term
with confidence in another language. The death by PowerPoint, it refers to the speaker
second consequence is, however, arguably presenting far too many boring text-filled
more serious in these days of a global econ- PowerPoint slides in far too short a time!
omy, where a significant amount of the None of these requirements disappears
worlds business is conducted in English. when we are faced with a multinational
2 Expert Insights
A Quick Guide to Presenting to aMultinational Audience
About 6 percent speak the same language

as us but they may have a very different dia-
lect or accent to us. We also need to com-
municate with the remaining 19 percent
and we can do so, provided we remember
that they are not as conversant with the
language as we are.
Tip 2: Hone your standard presenta-
tion skills. They will be needed!
The Progression of Language

Learning
To understand the standpoint of the Off-
shore English speaker, Id like to take
you back to your school days. Most peo-
ple started to learn a foreign language at
school. In the U.S. that is likely to have
been Spanish, and in the UK, it was likely
to have been French. So Im going to use
these languages as my examples.
audience. Whilst we may through charisma Think about the first sentences that
or with a forgiving audience get away with you learnt. They were probably along the
a poor presentation style in one or more of linesof:
these aspects to an English-speaking audi- Elle a un chat.
ence, our success rate with a multinational Vous jouez du piano.
audience is far less likely. In fact the list Il crit une lettre.
of expectations becomes longer. For good l tiene un perro.
comprehension, your audience will also Veo televisin.
desire: Mara abri la ventana.
An easy-to-understand accent/dialect What can we say about these sentences?
Non-offensive gestures They are all short. They all express just
Understandable contexts one idea. They all use simple vocabulary.
Non-offensive humor They are all in the present tense. And they
Accessible language structures are all active sentences.
Simple vocabulary
In short, your international audience Active versus Passive
wants you to speak Offshore English. Off- An active sentence consists of a subject, a
shore English is the name given to the type verb (the doing word), and usually an ob-
of English spoken by those who have learnt ject, and in English they are in that order.
it as a foreign language. It is called active because the subject of
Its worth noting at this point that actually the sentence is actively performing the
only about 6 percent of the worlds popula- action. The opposite is a passive sentence
tion speaks English as their first language. where the subject receives the action. For
If we include those who have learned Eng- example, I hit him (active) as opposed to
lish as a foreign language, then this figure He was hit by me (passive). Not all sen-
goes up to 25 percent.2 That means theres tences can be made passive, such as the
already 75 percent of the worlds popula- first French sentence and first Spanish sen-
tion that we cant converse with in English. tence above (She has a cat and He has
Expert Insights 3

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Abstract: This article is for anyone who works for a

Keywords: audience, body language, clarity, countries,

About 6 percent speak the same language

The Progression of Language

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