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Public Speaking in Another Language

Petrified to speak in front of a group? Join the club. The fear is common enough. But after ten years in the Toastmasters Club, I'd seen enough non-English speakers get up and try it to jolt me out of my own trepidations. If they could do it, I thought . . . then it shouldn't be any problem for me to fly to France (on my honeymoon no less), and give a carefully-memorized seven-minute speech in French to the Toastmasters club there about the humorous habits of New Yorkers.

What I didn't count on (after being warmly greeted by my French hosts at a wonderful auberge on the outskirts of Orleans) was a small procedural difference between the French way of running a Toastmasters club and the typical American way. My club in New York, you see, conducted its meetings without wine.

The speech was a success, whether despite the wine or because of it I cannot say. But if you find yourself having to speak in a foreign language, you might not have the benefit of such a welcoming crowd, or a seven-minute cut-off, or a bottle of wine to loosen your inhibitions. Here are a few guidelines that can make your speech a success even under less than ideal conditions:

1. Keep it simple. You're speaking in a foreign language. Don't try to cover too many points. Repeat and recapitulate. Manage your speaking time to factor in pauses, so you won't be rushed. Less is almost always more.

2. Practice and memorize as much as you can with the aid of a native speaker of the target language. You might not be able to memorize a complete speech, but if you can master the hard parts, and the key points, you'll approach the task with confidence.

3. Know your audience. Sometimes a joke or story doesn't translate well, even if it translates literally. Make sure the item works with the culture you are addressing. Try it out first on a native speaker, and if it doesn't work, have the courage to drop it, even if it may seem funny/touching/effective to you.

4. Make it a learning experience. Use your speech preparation time to pick up vocabulary, improve your pronunciation, learn idiomatic expressions.

5. Finally, tell your fears to take a walk around the block during your speech. Just remember, in any language, your audience is there to hear what you have to say, and you will be doing them a disservice if you indulge yourself in your fears while you are in front of them. Your responsibility is to pay attention to your audience, not to your fears.

There it is. Public speaking in another language is a truly worthwhile goal. After all, you always wanted to be able to do more than ask directions or order a hamburger. This is the chance you've been waiting for! Elliot Essman