Are You an English Worrier or a Communication Gladiator?

Are You an English Worrier or a Communication Gladiator?

Find out by taking this quiz
What would your first thought be if you were faced with these 12 situations? You have 4 options. Don’t overthink your answer.
Question 1: You’re in a meeting where you’ve presented your business proposal to management. You prepared well for it and feel you put forward a convincing case.Then the first person asks you the following question: “So you’re suggesting we do YYYY?” Your proposal was all about XXXX!*

A: Oh no! They didn’t follow my proposal. That’s because I didn’t speak clearly. My English is terrible. I need more lessons.B: I knew they wouldn’t understand me. I kept pausing when I couldn’t find the right words. I so need to improve my vocabulary.C: This person might not have been paying attention. In fact, I noticed he was looking at his phone during my presentation. I will go over the key points again.D: It’s fine. Certain aspects of this proposal are complex and need to be repeated. I’d rather people ask me questions so they’re absolutely clear.
Question 2: You’re on the phone with your supplier in the UK. He’s speaking too fast for you to follow the conversation.*

A: My English listening skills are atrocious. I need to ask him to repeat what he’s said. That’s so embarrassing, even humiliating.B: I knew I wouldn’t understand him. I should avoid all phone calls in English. Nobody understands me and I don’t understand them. I need to improve my English, but where do I start?C: I find these calls too difficult. I know I should ask him to slow down, but I feel silly asking him. I think I’ll ask him to send me an email summarising this call.D: Some people are fast talkers and need to slow down. I am going to force him to slow down by telling him I am making a note of the key points he’s making. That way he has to pause while I write. I will then read out my notes and he can confirm if the details are correct. That way we’re both clear on what needs doing.
Question 3: You’re in a meeting with your company’s lawyers. One of the lawyers has explained the details of the merger deal. Unfortunately, he’s used a lot of buzzwords and legalese leaving you more confused than before.*

A: Panic. I’m in the wrong job. My English is clearly not good enough.B: (While pretending to make notes during the meeting) I need to get some English lessons, but when?C: I need to ask the lawyer to clarify some of the points he’s made. But I don’t want to look foolish. Everyone else seems to have understood him. I’ll ask Sue to explain things to me after the meeting.D: Why is it some lawyers cannot speak plain English? I now have to ask him to clarify what he said because if I am to do my job properly I need to understand the points he raised.
Question 4: You’re in a conference call with your team. One of them has explained why there’s been a delay in completing the latest phase in the project. You don’t understand some of the crucial points she’s made.*

A: I am too embarrassed to ask her to repeat that point in front of everyone , especially my team leader. It’ll only make my ‘bad’ English even more obvious. I’ll ask someone after the meeting.B: I think I’ll speak to HR about getting some English lessons.C: I should really ask her to clarify those points because they’re important. But what if I still don’t understand her explanation?D: OK, I need to understand those points. What I’m going to do is paraphrase what I heard and ask her to confirm my understanding.
Question 5: You call your regional manager for Southern Europe on Wednesday 10 July asking her when she’ll be able to submit her budget report to you. She replies: “next Tuesday”. Tuesday arrives and no report. When asked, she replies: “Yes I said I’d get it to you next Tuesday, not this Tuesday.”*

A: It’s my fault. I obviously didn’t make it clear enough by when I needed the report. It’s because of my English. I always get my words muddled up.B: I’m always getting time expressions in English confused. I need to review my grammar or have some lessons.C: Next time, I’ll drop her an email to confirm our phone call. But what if it’s still not clear?D: These things can happen because ‘next’ and ‘this’ Tuesday can be interpreted differently. From now on, I’ll double-check with a simple clarification question: “By ‘next Tuesday’, do you mean Tuesday the 16 of July?
Question 6: You’re in London for a series of client meetings. You’ve just finished a meeting with a client at their offices. You now have another appointment a few minutes’ walk from where you are. You’d like to ask the receptionist for directions.*

A: I’d like to ask for directions, but what if they don’t understand me? I’ll have to repeat myself and it’ll get so embarrassing and frustrating.B: I’d like to ask for directions, but what if I don’t understand their answer? I find the British accent hard to understand.C: I’m going to ask for directions. If I don’t understand them, I’ll simply smile and walk away. At least, I tried.D: I’m going to ask for directions and make a note of them or ask the receptionist to draw me a map. I will then go over the directions with them to make sure I’ve understood.
Question 7: You’re at a conference. During the coffee break, you get chatting with someone. They ask you what you do. You answer with your job title. Your answer leaves them looking confused and they ask you what exactly does a .. (your job title).. do?*

A: Oh help! I don’t know how to explain this in English! I don’t have the vocabulary. If I knew more words it would be much easier.B: My job is complicated to explain in my first language, let alone in English. I can’t think of the words. I knew attending this conference was a bad idea!C: Mmm, I can explain what I do but only using technical words. What if they still don’t understand?D: My job title is difficult to understand. The best thing I can do is to give an example of one of my tasks in plain English.
Question 8: You have to give a presentation to a small group of investors. You have a lot of information to share with your audience and you only have 10 minutes for your talk. Unfortunately, you haven’t prepared your presentation slides. They’ve been done for you and there’s too much detail on each slide. It’s going to be a real challenge to get through each and every slide in the limited time you have.*

A: I’ll tell my audience I’ll speak first, then take questions. It means I’ll have to speak fast, but that’s fine. That way the speaking part is over quicker. I prefer it.B: I’ll give them a handout of the slides. That way, if I run out of time, they have all the information. I hope my English is clear enough.C: I’ll apologise first about the ‘busy’ slides and then talk through each one as quickly as I can. The important thing is I give them all the information on each slide.D: I am going to inform my audience they have 30 seconds to read each slide (during which time I’ll stay silent) before proceeding to pick out the salient/important points and explaining them in more detail. I won’t rush through my talk, but equally I won’t read every detail in my slides. My audience only needs to know the salient points in each slide. I’ll make sure they hear them from me.
Question 9: You’ve written to your new international project team to meet online every Friday at 3pm for the team’s weekly meeting. After a few months, you realise that some of your team are regularly late or absent for these meetings. You’re annoyed.*

A: My email was obviously not clear enough. It must be my English. Why hasn’t anyone said something?B: I didn’t stress strongly enough the importance of these weekly meetings. I find it hard to express myself clearly and authoritatively in English. I need to work on my English written skills.C: I need to make it clear that I expect everyone to attend the meetings AND to be punctual. But what if they still don’t attend or continue to arrive late? How do I make myself understood?D: I need to put aside some time to talk to my team and discuss the issues they’re having with the meeting. There could be a problem with the time or day or something else. We have to find a working solution together.
Question 10: It’s your day off. You’ve been to the mall with your family. You’re back in your car. Your two young children are, in the back, singing very loudly. You’re reversing out of the parking space when your mobile rings. It’s a client calling you from Paris. He wants to know what’s happened to the contract you promised him two days ago. He needs it urgently.*

A: Oh no, this is serious. What do I say? Oh I can’t think ...oh my English is useless.B: Panic! On no, what? He hasn’t received it? Quick - say something to calm him down. Say what? My mind’s gone blank.C: Let me repark and call him back in a few moments. But what shall I say? He’s going to want me to deal with the problem now and give him an immediate answer. I don’t have one and I don’t know how to say this.D: Think. How would I deal with this in my first language? Ok, I’m going to call him back - explain it’s my day off and that I’ll call the office immediately and get my colleague to arrange for the contract to be re-sent. I will then call him back to confirm the despatch. No need to panic just because this conversation is in English. The important thing is to have a plan.
Question 11: You’re in an interview for a promotion to senior management. You’re fully prepared and quietly confident of your chances. You’re being interviewed by a panel of 3. One of them asks you a question. It sounds complex. One that requires a careful answer. The trouble is you’re not sure you’ve understood the question correctly.*

A: Oh, it was all going so well and now this. I don’t understand the question, but I’ll try and answer with something. But what? I can’t think AND find the right words at the same time. I thought my English was good, but clearly, it’s not good enough.B: I don’t understand the question, but I’m not going to ask for clarification. My English is supposed to be good and I don’t dare ask them to repeat. I’ll just say what I think they want to hear. That’s better than nothing.C: Ok. The question is a bit strange. Not too sure I understand it. Trouble is, won’t it look bad if I ask them to repeat it? What if I still don’t understand it? Then I will be in trouble especially as I have to give an answer.D: Things have been going so well up to now. I want to keep it that way. I can’t answer the question if I’m not sure what they want to know. I am going to pause and then I am going to paraphrase the question back at them and ask them to confirm my understanding.
Question 12: You’ve been trying to arrange a meeting with a potential key client for a while. You’ve finally been able to get through to him on the telephone. He’s a busy man and you don’t want to waste his time. You start by introducing yourself and your company and after a while he cuts you short saying he doesn’t understand what you’re saying or why you’re calling him.*

A: Oh no. it’s because of my English. That’s why he doesn’t understand what I’m saying. I need to learn to speak more fluently.B: I told him why I was calling. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. I need to improve my English.C: Maybe I need to slow down and repeat what I’ve just said. Oh this is so embarrassing. I hope it works.D: He’s right. I am talking too fast ( I’m nervous) AND I haven’t given him the context or background to my call (I didn’t refer to the email I sent him a few days ago). Without context, it’s impossible for him to follow our conversation. No wonder he’s lost.
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