Speaking Up in Global Teams When English Is Not Your First Language

Accent is rarely the real barrier

Students across Europe, the Gulf and the US tell me their accent holds them back. In almost every case the recording shows something else: they enter conversations late, build long sentences and never signal that they are about to speak.

Learn the entry line

Multicultural meetings move fast. You need a short, reliable entry phrase — 'Can I add one thing here?' — used early rather than a perfect point delivered too late.

Practise entering in the first five minutes of every meeting, even with a small contribution. Early presence makes later contributions easier to place.

Front-load the conclusion

When English is your second language, listeners give you a shorter window. Put the conclusion first and the reasoning after. It protects you if you are interrupted and it makes you sound decisive.

Control pace, not pronunciation

Slowing by ten percent does more for intelligibility than months of accent work. Pace, pause and clear sentence endings make any accent easy to follow — and accents, handled with confidence, read as international experience rather than weakness.