Feedback & Clarification

HEATHER: People sometimes think they have a pronunciation issue when sometimes it’s much more a cultural issue. For example, I’ve noticed that a number of students I’ve worked with don’t verify things. So when someone tells them what to do, and they don’t really verify it, the other person isn’t sure they’ve been understood. They have to assume they were understood. The listener hasn’t said, “OK, so I’d like to summarize this…” This is much more an issue with conversation and communication, not really a pronunciation issue.

MARK: I think feedback is really important as well — the willingness to give and receive feedback. Receiving feedback is one thing but it’s also important to give it. And that could mean giving people feedback who are learning from you or giving feedback to the people you are learning from — your supervisors, your managers. So feedback works in all directions.

Individualism & Self Promotion

HEATHER: I’d like to give an example of a cultural issue (I regularly notice when I go into a Chinese pronunciation class we teach.) When I come in, for example,  I sometimes say: “OK, who did their homework?” and no one puts their hand up. So to me, nobody has done their homework. And then I find out that everyone has done their homework. If they were all native-born Canadians, and they had done their homework, they would say “I did it, I did it.” because they want to show that, as an individual, they’ve done what they’re supposed to do. But Chinese often don’t want to stand out in a group so no one wants to say anything. This is just one example of a cultural difference and how people interpret the behaviour differently

MARK: Self-promotion is something that we do here. And of course, there can be too much self-promotion — everything in moderation — but we do certainly self-promote and offer ourselves as individuals in this culture. And so that is something that certainly comes up.

HEATHER: Another thing is talking too quietly and no one can hear you. And so in Canada, we just won’t listen. And a lot of people have a hard time projecting their voice or else they just don’t want to stand out — they’re not used to it. But the fact is, if you don’t project your voice in a meeting, basically people will discount you. That’s also a cultural thing.

Small Talk

MARK: And I’d like to add one more cultural thing. I had a client who once asked me about water cooler talk. Do you know what I mean by water cooler talk? That’s when you go into the kitchen, that area of your office, and you’re just getting a glass of water and you talk about the weekend, etc. — small talk. This client was saying, “I don’t always follow what I can hear happening between two native Canadian speakers.”  And I remember asking: “Well, what kinds of questions are you asking to get involved in the conversation?” And I remember the reply was: “I’m not asking questions.” And so we discovered that there was a cultural aspect of needing to put yourself into a conversation to find out more, to ask what someone means or to clarify something — just asking all those clarifying questions. This wasn’t always present for him and we discovered a slight cultural difference there. Here in Canada, hey, if you want to clarify what’s going on, ask. Open ended questions and clarifying questions are something that we find very useful, very positive and a healthy way of generating conversations.

Culture & Personality

HEATHER: We’ve gone from pronunciation into a much broader topic but it is all certainly linked, certainly related. I think it goes back to what I was saying about someone who feels Canadian to us even though they may have an accent — it’s their manner which feels Canadian and so people feel comfortable with them. As long as they’re speaking clearly — I agree, it is important to speak clearly. But I don’t think it’s a problem having an accent. And I don’t think it is necessarily a reason for discrimination. I think the bigger concern is, do people feel like you can relate? And that’s more to do with expression and exactly these examples we were talking about. If you sit quietly by the water cooler and don’t ask me anything, I’ll ignore you. So therefore you’re not integrated.

MARK: And it’s difficult sometimes to determine what’s cultural and what’s personality. For example, many people think Canadians are typically shy, and I am also a shy individual. So those things need to be discovered as well, i.e. what’s the difference between your culture and your personality… Through conversation with the individual we can find out some things and then adjust accordingly… This kind of work is so personal, everybody’s different.

For many of us, January 1^st is the first day of the year – a new beginning, a time to make resolutions (which we often don’t complete,) a reason to party… But the western New Year’s Day is not celebrated everywhere and has not been around as long as many of us imagine. Plus, the feeling of beginning a new year is not always strongest on January 1^st, even for people in the west.

Catholic tradition states that Jesus was circumcised and named on January 1^st according to the old Roman calendar, known as the Julian calendar. Due to inaccuracies which accumulated over time, the Roman Catholic Church revised the old Julian calendar in the 16^th century. This new Gregorian calendar – also known as the Western or Christian calendar – was gradually adopted by many countries in Europe and, over time, slowly become the predominant official civil calendar throughout the world.

Despite this, many countries continued and still continue to celebrate their traditional New Year at other times of the year.

MID-JANUARY – In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the civil New Year falls on January 14^th – or January 1^st in the Julian calendar. The Orthodox churches of Georgia, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine still use the Julian calendar.

MID-WINTER – Chinese New Year, celebrated in many east Asian countries, occurs on the new moon from 4 to 8 weeks before spring, falling any time between January 21^st and February 21^st.

SPRING – In other countries, New Year’s dates often coincide with the beginning of spring – for example, Iran, Bali and certain areas of India. Interestingly, until the mid 18^th century, all British domains celebrated their New Year on March 25^th.

AUTUMN – New Year in the Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches falls on September 11^th or 12^th. Jewish New Year, celebrating God’s creation of the world in seven days, falls somewhere between early September and early October.

As a Canadian, I celebrate January 1^st. But unofficially, along with many other North Americans, I feel the newest beginning is at another time of year. We grow up, ending school in June, playing all summer and heading back to school in the fall. For me, September represents a new beginning, a fresh start on life. So fall is my unofficial New Year.

Lucky us! As a multicultural country, we can celebrate New Year at almost any time! So Happy New Year!

__________________________________

Adapted from Wikipedia

Just as our concept of teamwork varies from culture to culture, so does how we offer advice and recommendations, make requests and give feedback in general. If we look around the world, we can see that some cultures are very direct and blunt (as Canadians would define it.) Others are indirect and soft in their feedback, which for Canadians, may be unclear. In Canada, we like to be clear so we try to be direct but we tend to approach giving criticism and making requests in a gentle manner, at least at the beginning. I call this method “softening.”

For example, if someone says; “This is terrible. Do it again,” a Canadian-born person may become sensitive and feel insulted. On the other hand, if we rephrase it by saying; “I can see you’ve done a lot of work but I think you could still improve this quite a bit,” it will be better accepted.

The problem here is how what we say gets interpreted. Whether you interpret the second statement as generally positive or clearly as a criticism depends upon your cultural framework. For some cultures, the first statement is clear and acceptable and, consequently, they might view the second statement as rather positive. For most Canadians, the second statement makes it is clear that the work needs to be improved and that it is not acceptable at all as is. Learning to interpret the tone and meaning of a statement takes time. But there are some techniques which I can share with you. Here are the most common:

The Sandwich Technique:

Imagine that the bread represents positive comments and the filling represents the negative feedback. If my concern is that you are arriving late often, the direct information could be stated in this manner: “Frank, you must come on time from now on or you’ll be let go.”

This is direct and clear but, in Canada, if this is the only concern and it hasn’t been mentioned previously, we might approach it in this manner:

“Frank, you’re doing a really great job in all areas related to your job responsibilities. There is one thing, THOUGH, which is of concern and that is your lack of punctuality. This is a serious issue so please make sure it doesn’t continue to happen. In general, other than this, we are happy with your performance and are very pleased to have you with us.”

Look at the structure. The first sentence is a positive statement. The next two outline the concern. The last sentence ends on a positive note. Notice the capitalized word, THOUGH, which indicates something contrasting is coming. We might also use BUT, NEVERTHELESS, UNFORTUNATELY, etc. and so it is important to listen for these types of words.

Other Softening Techniques:

Softening vocabulary – We tend to use vocabulary which softens our statement. For example, I GUESS, I THINK, A BIT, JUST, REALLY, etc. It takes some practice to keep the meaning but the main idea is to soften the negativity or, in the case of a request, to sound less demanding. For example, instead of “I don’t want to stay because I’m tired,” we could say: “I’m getting a bit tired so I think I should be leaving soon.”

Suggestions & questions – Changing a statement into a suggestion or a question helps to soften it. For example, “Lend me your stapler,” could be restated as: “Do you mind if I borrow your stapler for a minute?”

Refocusing – Stating something from a positive or more neutral perspective sounds more polite to us. For example, “This is bad,” could become: “This could be better.” And “I can’t stay late tonight,” can be said more neutrally: “Unfortunately, I’m not able to stay late tonight.”

In reality we use a combination of these techniques, as you can see from the examples above. The important thing here, though, is to not lose the message. Many people try to soften to such a degree that their message is no longer understandable. Observe how people soften in Canada and remember: people are often rude and blunt, even in Canada (and I’m sure you have observed this.) Nevertheless, offering feedback and making requests in this manner is always acceptable in the Canadian workplace and considered the correct way to speak. If you can learn this technique, no one will be offended and you will be considered both polite and professional.

Cultures vary in many dimensions. For example, Canada is largely an individualistic and egalitarian culture. This is expressed by how we value and praise individual achievement and teach our children to be independent, the fact that we use first names for most people and the emphasis put on taking initiative. Many countries are considerably more collective and hierarchical. They tend to use “we” more than “I” when discussing achievements, use titles when referring to those of higher rank, and expect to be supervised more closely on the job. There are many manifestations of these differences and, although we may prefer one approach to another, there is no intrinsic right or wrong in these approaches. They are simply an expression of values and expectations largely adopted unconsciously through life experience within particular cultural environments.

When we look at team work, we see that those from collective cultures tend to share work responsibilities more readily than people from more individualist cultures who may prefer to more clearly delineate responsibility. Collectively-oriented individuals may wait to be asked rather than speaking up in groups whereas, in more individualistic contexts, if you don’t speak up, the common assumption is that you don’t have anything to say. When something goes wrong, individual responsibility may not be highlighted much in a  collectively-oriented culture whereas individually-oriented teams focus more on individual responsibility.

Likewise, when working in mixed cultural teams including members from both hierarchical and egalitarian cultures, problems may arise. In hierarchical cultures, ideas from high-ranking team members tend to be given considerably more value than those from lower-status positions. While some deference to status is common worldwide, people from egalitarian cultures tend to emphasize both the importance of participation from all levels as well as the importance of saying what you think, despite differences in status.

When observing how people interact – including our own behaviour — we may be able to improve relations if we ask ourselves certain questions and identify our assumptions. For example:

1. When and how is it appropriate to take initiative?

2. How do we draw lines or set boundaries regarding taking responsibility?

3. Who should we share information with and what information should we share?

4. Whose opinion is more important and why?

5. What are the expectations around communication in general?

Clarifying these and other questions may illuminate our expectations and provide us with a forum to negotiate how we work together.

___________________________

For more on cultural awareness in the context of the North American workplace, please have a look at the excellent four-part video of cross-cultural consultant, Lionel Laroche, presenting at a 2008 Conference entitled “Building Canada’s Future: The Role of the Settlement Sector in Ontario.”  http://atwork.settlement.org/sys/atwork_whatshappen_detail.asp?anno_id=2007749

Every language has its own music. Without understanding it, we can often identify a language or language group by the sounds, of course, but especially by the way the voice goes up and down and where the stress falls. This musicality, even more than individual sounds, is what people attune themselves to. With a native-like musicality, the listener tends to feel more comfortable and in “familiar territory.”

This musicality is also what gives meaning to the words you use. We may hear a word expressed in a variety of ways, representing a variety of meanings. For example, the word “yes” can be said in such a way as to imply neutral acceptance, excitement, resistance, resignation or the desire for confirmation.

There are a number of linguistic aspects that influence meaning but here are five key points:

STRESS: English is a stress-based language. Stress patterns occur in individual words – called syllable stress – and in sentences – referred to as sentence stress. Stressed syllables and words tend to differ from unstressed syllables and words in four ways:

• They sound louder.
• They are usually longer.
• They have clearer vowels.
• They have a higher pitch relative to the surrounding words.

PITCH: This refers to the height of a sound. Musical pitch changes as it goes higher and lower, creating the melody. Pitch can show the importance of a particular syllable or word (when used as part of intonation.) It can also be highly influenced by emotional state.

VOLUME: Referring to how loudly we speak, volume is integral to stress and also highly influenced by emotional state. The amount of volume which is acceptable in any particular situation is generally dictated by cultural expectations.

PHRASING: English is broken into thought groups. We tend to take a pause after a thought group but not during. This allows the listener to understand the relationship between the words because we understand that those words all belong to one idea. Taking a pause in the wrong place could change the meaning.

INTONATION: This refers to a combination of stress, pitch and volume, which moves according to phrasing. In North American English we have a common intonation pattern which is wave-like, jumping up on the first stressed word in a phrase and stepping down on the following stressed words within the same phrase. This is a form of neutral intonation.

Here are some other intonation patterns:

A sentence ending with upward intonation generally expresses the desire for confirmation, such as a yes-no question. An intonation pattern we refer to as “uptalk” uses this pattern repeatedly. Please read INTONATION – Uptalk! for more about this.

Downward intonation at the end of a sentence signifies either completion of an idea or a request for information.

In general, an increased up-down movement portrays stronger emotion. Softer emotions, or neutral speech, tend to be expressed with softer waves. So the way you say “sit down” can be said as an invitation (using a soft curve) or an order (using a sharp drop in pitch.)

_____

How you use these musical influences in speech is often critical to helping others understand your feelings and intentions. At times, it may also be cause for misunderstanding.

While improving the accuracy of individual consonants and vowels is important, don’t overlook the musicality of a language. Learn to listen to pitch and volume changes, phrasing and intonation. Imitate voices that you like (CBC radio has some great ones.) Use audio recording to model stress and intonation patterns. Improving these aspects of speech may take time but think of it as a rhythm that gets into you. Allow it to take hold!

All of us have developed patterns of speech. The tongue tends to relax into one position; it tends to make contact with certain areas of the mouth and not with others; it likes to move in some ways and not others. We habitually hold our jaw in a particular manner; we move our lips in set ways; the range of volume and pitch we use is dictated largely by linguistic patterns appropriate to our native language.

When we attempt to change our accent, all this needs to be re-learned.

While, in many ways, learning an instrument is similar to learning a new accent, in this article, I’d like to focus on one aspect – transitioning between sounds.

TRANSITIONING BETWEEN SOUNDS

If you have ever studied guitar or piano, you will know that when you move from one chord to another, at first you almost crawl to the next position, slowing placing the fingers in the correct place.  It takes time at first so there is a gap between each chord. The usual approach is to practice just that particular movement until you can move between one position and the next seamlessly.

If you imagine the chord being the tongue position for a certain sound, transitioning between sounds can be practiced in the same manner. For example, moving into TH from different positions can be difficult. To pronounce the word MONTH, we need to move seamlessly from N to TH. We make the N by placing the pad of the tip of the tongue on the ridge behind the teeth. And we make the TH by placing the tongue at the tip of the upper teeth and blowing. So rather than making the N, stopping and then placing the tongue in the new position to make the TH, we need to practice that transition itself. This transition happens within words but also between them.

Once you have isolated the transition causing difficulty, practice that movement alone. In this case, it means moving between N and TH using the least effort possible. Once you feel you can do it slowly with no gap, then find words and phrases that have that transition. So some examples are ANTHEM, ENTHUSIASM, LABYRINTH, etc. Then practice the same transition between words: IN THE, ON THOSE, WIN THAT, etc. Finally, put these words into short phrases and try to maintain the same seamless transition.

• The cards are IN THE drawer.
• Put the label ON THOSE boxes
• I’d like to WIN THAT prize.

Using this methodology can help to retrain your habitual movements so that your language is smooth and, therefore, easier to understand.

People say there is no difference between COMPLETE & FINISHED. But there is.

When you marry the right one, you are COMPLETE.

And when you marry the wrong one, you are FINISHED.

And when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are… COMPLETELY  FINISHED.

Isn’t English a wonderful language?

This interaction made me understand, more clearly, how immigrants must feel when speaking English.

As native speakers, we learn from an early age the full range of the sound. This is in contrast to how we tend to speak most of the time – collapsing and blending sounds, reducing vowels, linking words, etc. But when we really emphasize something, we tend to use a lot of stress and intonation and clarity with key terms. When we speak to children, our speech tends to be like this, emphasized even more by constant repetition. So native speakers of any language have endless models and learn the full range of the sound from a young age.

In contrast, people who do not learn a language as children are often unclear about the full range of many consonants and vowels. In my pronunciation training, I emphasize two things; A – to clearly understand the full range of the sounds in a word as it sounds when we are stressing it; and B – to be able to pronounce it in context, with natural vowel reduction, linking, phrasing and intonation. Without this understanding, the speaker tends to be continuously unsure of his or her speech.

Now, I have observed one thing in the speech of people who come to Canada as teenagers. Most tend to speak English in a casual manner, with natural reduction, linking, intonation, phrasing and stress. In many ways, the speech sounds very native-like. But often, lack of clarity is a major concern. I believe the reason for this is the lack of education native-speakers all receive as children – the consistent repetition of the full range of the sounds.

Without learning and using the full range of English sounds, people who learn English after childhood run the risk of sounding like perpetual teenagers, mumbling like my daughter, but without the excuse to attend a pronunciation course!

“Weed,” he said.

“I don’t think so,” I replied with a smile. “That’s what Colombia exports to Canada.”

“No, no,” he responded. “Colombia doesn’t grow weed so we buy a lots from Canada for our bread and pasta and so on.”

“Oh,” I said, finally getting what he had meant to say. “We export wheat to Colombia and Colombia sends back weed!”

_______________________________________________________________

What was the mistake?

First – in case you don’t know – the word ‘weed’ is slang for marijuana which is a recreational drug often smuggled out of Colombia.

The pronunciation confusion was related to the length of the vowel. We lengthen vowels before voiced consonants and shorten them before voiceless consonants. If we don’t release the voiced D or voiceless T, it’s hard to hear the difference there, so we rely on the vowel. When we say ‘weed,’ we say a long ‘eeeee,’ but when we say ‘wheat,’ it is much shorter.

COME OUT vs. COME OUT WITH: Confusing phrasal verbs

The joke referred to above is an issue of confusing phrasal verbs. These two-word verbs contain a preposition (also called a particle) which changes the meaning. For example, the word RUN is different in meaning from both RUN AWAY (escape) and RUN AROUND (going from place to place or hanging out with someone a lot.) These little prepositions can completely change the intended meaning. Here are a few examples:

• COME UP means come upstairs or up north (such as to a cottage) while COME UP WITH means to invent or create something.
• COME OUT means to go outside or to publicly disclose something private, often used with regards to admitting one’s homosexuality, while COME OUT WITH means to express or publish something.
• COME INTO is often used to refer to inheriting money, but COME ON TO means to make sexual advances.
• WORK SOMETHING OFF means to get rid of negative feelings or excess food or weight via physical exercise, or to work to pay for something. WORK SOMETHING OUT refers to solving a problem.

I COULD/COULDN’T CARE LESS: Which expression is correct?

Here’s an example of two opposite structures meaning the same thing. The common expression, I COULDN’T CARE LESS is also expressed as I COULD CARE LESS. Which is right? Well, both are used these days with the second being more common in the US. The true meaning is “I don’t care at all” so, logically, the first structure is more correct. But logic is not always the determining factor in language.

ALONG THE SAME VEIN: Creating hybrid expressions

Sometime people have heard two idioms and combine them. For example, ALONG THE SAME LINE and IN THE SAME VEIN both mean “on the same subject or similar in type.” So you may hear the expression ALONG THE SAME VEIN which is a hybrid expression – technically not the correct expression.

Another one I hear often is a combination of OUT OF MY HEAD (meaning something I invented) and OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD (saying something without thinking,) resulting in OUT OF THE TOP OF MY HEAD. Since I am a visual person, I imagine something crawling out of someone’s skull!

TELL ME ABOUT IT: Opposite meanings

Irony — the deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning — is common in spoken English. Depending upon the tone of voice and intonation used, THANKS may mean “why did you do that — that was awful!” THAT’S SICK can mean “that’s disgusting,” (the older meaning) or “that’s amazing” (a commonly-used meaning among young people.) Here are a few other examples.

If you are complaining about a situation and someone says TELL ME ABOUT IT, the intended meaning is “I know all about that; I’ve gone through it myself,” implying the opposite of the words, i.e. don’t tell me about it.

Another common expression coming from Yiddish is I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY, which implies “I have no hope of being so lucky.”

NIP IT IN THE BUTT: Hearing Expressions Incorrectly

In English, linking and blending sounds can transform what we think the individual words are. Some examples are:

PLAY IT BY YEAR vs the correct phrase, PLAY IT BY EAR (meaning play music by imitating rather than reading.)

FOR ALL INTENSIVE PURPOSES vs the correct phrase FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES (meaning in every practical sense.)

MINUS WELL vs the correct phrase MIGHT AS WELL (meaning that it is probably better to do something than not.)

And my favourite, NIP IT IN THE BUTT (which sounds to me like someone needs to be spanked) vs the correct phrase NIP IT IN THE BUD (literally cut the bud off, referring to stopping a problem when it is new rather than leaving it until it grows.)

We all make these mistakes. All of us need to pay attention to these little words, intended meanings and ironic expressions. It’s a good practice to look up the expression in the dictionary to make sure you have the right words. If you are a native speaker, be aware of the expressions and vocabulary you are using when conversing with someone who comes from another culture. And if your first language is not English, don’t be afraid to ask questions; clarify so you don’t miss the meaning.