At the end of the day, it’s a matter of being acknowledged.

At the end of the day, people wish to be seen and heard.

When learning a new language or improving one’s pronunciation, learners aren’t expecting to be perfect.

Whenever I chat with clients about expectations for growth and improvement, learners rarely hold themselves to this perfect standard of pronunciation and articulation.

When it’s boiled down, all people want is to be heard and seen.

And that honestly transcends speech.

That’s respect.

That’s the courtesy of attention and patience.

That’s something that transcends even verbal communication.

It’s validation of one’s existence and one’s own autonomy.

Because even among English communicators, there’s bad communication. There are people who don’t listen, who talk over you, who think they know what you’re saying without letting you express your opinion yourself.

There’s people who disregarded your body language, your facial expression, who are oblivious to your glazed over gaze. And they all speak English as a first language.

And there are communicators guilty of these behaviours in any language you speak.

The things you do can be so simple.

Look someone in the eyes when they speak.

Be patient with them while they find their words.

Reiterate or repeat back to them what you understood to confirm you got their message correctly.

Ask questions out of genuine interest. Don’t ask questions just for the sake of making yourself appear smart or to put them down.

Don’t use big words unnecessarily. There’s no reason to. It increases the chance that your listener won’t understand. And if your goal is to be understood and succeed in transferring the idea in your head into other people’s heads, what good does fancy words do for that intent - if your intention is to connect with them.

At the end of the day, if you can make someone feel seen and heard, you made that communcation interaction a little bit better.