SPEAKING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Feb. 4, 2021
By Mark David
Let’s talk about foreign languages. When I ask if you speak a foreign language, most people would think of speaking the language of another country, such as Italian, Russian, German, etc. But that’s not what I’m talking about.
What I want to bring to your attention is how the average person is speaking a very unique and foreign language to another person and it’s English. Even though it’s English, you should listen as if it’s another language. I base this on the fact that when we speak, we’re speaking our ‘language’ not theirs.
When speaking our language it consists of talking to others about our vision, goals, objectives, challenges, features, benefits, wants, desires, experiences, past history, things that relate to you.
So, rethink how you communicate with others. I suggest you put them FIRST. By putting their goals, realities, world events, life events, job functions, friends, hobbies, family, education, sports, background, etc. first, they will HEAR you.
By communicating to them in their language, they will comprehend what you’re saying. This will help them execute the correct actions and activities you might request.
Speak to them in their language, relate what needs to be done to what’s important to them. Once you’re able to tie their wants and needs to what needs to be done, they will naturally get excited to do what you ask, because as we know, people do things for their reasons, not yours.
Take your time to think through what you need others to do, then create a strategy to tie their language to what needs to be done. Once you start thinking this way, it’ll become second nature vs. speaking a foreign language. It’s as easy as accepting the responsibility to own learning their language.
In today’s world of so many people working from home, this is a way to communicate more effectively. We must be better at influencing and collaborating with others.
In conclusion, to learn others languages you have to put time aside to study what their languages are. The easiest way to start this is to build out a file on each person. Fill it with their goals, wants, desires, challenges, issues, etc. Put time aside every week to update your files. Add to this file by collecting small data points throughout the days. Make it easy on yourself. Just be conscious of casting a mental net and capturing the data as it appears. Before you know it, their language file will be filled with a goldmine of opportunity for you​to be a great communicator.
Appreciate the Day,
Mark David
