Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova - Case Study
I was inspired to do some case studies again to highlight specific individuals communicating in English effectively. It can feel beyond our grasp when contrasting our own accented speech to a native English communicator, so recognizing and listening to communicators who share our native language is an effective means to observe and implement similar strategies for ourselves.
As Vinh Giang rightly states, “Accents are never the problem”.
“Bad” articulation is the culprit. In my perspective though, “bad” isn’t the greatest or most accurate word choice as it’s more so an issue that the articulation isn’t consistent with English sounds, rather than an absolute scale of good and bad.
Similar to how a screwdriver is a “inappropriate” tool when you need a wrench, using non-English sounds and speech patterns when you are speaking to English speakers, is not effective.
Recognizing and showcasing effective communicators is important so people have at least a benchmark to aim towards.
Now, the clip shown is a snippet of Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova, a Russian-born American physicist speaking to a group of children and demonstrating the effects of pouring liquid nitrogen into a container of boiling water.
Vinh Giang highlights several effective communication tools implemented by Dr. Erukhimova to make her communication engaging, effective, and clear.
Yes, her speech is foreign-accented. That is very clear to hear.
And yet, she does amazing things to communicate clearly despite this difference - a point that English language learners do not necessarily grasp easily.
Effective communication is not dependent on eliminating your foreign accent.
Enunciation/Articulation - The backbone for English
Vinh highlights the notion of clear articulation. Now, a person’s accent is the cumulative effect of a person’s speech patterns.
A person’s speech patterns can be broken down into several parts:
Consonant production (for example, some languages don’t have a TH-sound),
Vowel production (for example, some languages don’t differentiate between the vowel in beat and bit),
Comfort with English sound patterns (for example, 3 consonant sounds in a row like in ‘strength’).
Dr. Erukhimova has very accurate vowels for English communication - the backbone for clear English communication.
Her consonants are not always accurate for English; however, remain extremely clearly understood.
This is because English does not have a contrasting interpretation for her sounds.
For example, the voiced ‘H-sound’ in ‘hot’ or the ‘trilled R-sound’ in ‘Are you ready?’.
English doesn’t have a voiced H-sound to get confused with so we know it’s an H sound.
English doesn’t have a trilled R-sound so we know she’s saying the R-sound.
It would be more confusing if English had a different word for the trilled R and regular R.
This is the case for bit vs. beat because those two vowel sounds are meaningfully contrastive in English, but in other languages they may not
be meaningfully contrastive. This is why when asking a non-native English speaker, they may interchange bit and beat. They are not distinct sounds in their native language.
Energy level - A Feeling that Transcends language
Dr. Erukhimova has an infectious energy to her communication. Her voice gets loud and soft, her movements are big and dynamic, and her pitch goes up and down. She uses her energy to create a dynamic interaction. She isn’t always yelling. She isn’t always high pitch. It is the variation in those qualities that gives her dynamic energy.
Dr. Erukhimova also understands how to engage the audience with requests for feedback, and audience participation. She counts down 3-2-1 before pouring liquid.
The anticipation is palpable from the children and the resulting screams of joy and excitement that ensue confirm that.
Her energy level is something that she can communicate with. It visualizes her passion, excitement, and joy in teaching the students,
regardless of whether her speech sounds are accurate.
Body Language - Exaggerated Expression To Draw You In
Dr. Erukhimova also uses her body language to be expressive. She uses big movements of her body to communicate energy, focus her listeners’ attention, and create an engaging interaction.
Putting her finger towards the boiling water to check the temperature wasn’t necessary. But to children, it is an effective story-telling behavior to communicate how hot.
Tossing the liquid nitrogen into the pot of boiling water from afar creates a more dynamic and excited interaction. She could have calmly poured it closely or in a more controlled manner but it doesn’t create a visually-exciting scene.
Many of her movements like her pacing back and forth, her looks towards the audience to get a response, and the termination of movement to communicate something builds a back-and-forth conversation with the children. The pace of the interaction is a call-and-response that makes the interact more organic, rather than a contrived and artificial interaction.
Props - The Setup For the Punchline
Why not have all the materials set up already?
Why move across the room to collect the hot water? Or to collect the liquid nitrogen? The run up for the act of pouring?
All of these props are effective at focusing the audience’s attention.
They aren’t distracted by each other.
Their attention isn’t shifting towards other things in the room.
Everyone’s eyes are glued on the professor.
The use of props, just like in a magic show, are used to command the attention of the audience. To show them where to look. To engage them into the show.
Now Think Back On Your Own Presentation - Have you implemented these techniques into your own presentations?
When was the last time you presented something to an audience?
What did you use to focus their attention?
What props did you use?
How did you create a dynamic interaction?
How did you make your presentation engaging?
What did you modulate in your voice, your pitch, and your loudness to engage people?
These are all effective tools at your disposal. And none of these are specifically related to your accentedness.
Again, accents are not the problem.
And the faster you recognize and adjust to these communication tactics, the faster you can communicate your ideas to people more effectively. Furthermore, the more engaged your audience, the more they retain about your communicated ideas.
Communication effectively is more than being understood. It involves being memorable, being engaging, being motivating, being thought-provoking, and having call to action. You want people to take something away from your presentation and implement it.
What are you doing today that can help you accomplish that?
