I guess I knew this all along, but, it caught me off guard
none the less.
Outside the US, language education is started very early and
English is often a requirement. I teach
a graduate level class in Supply Chain Management at Stony Brook University and
many of my students are Asian. They speak English quite fluently and understand
my lectures (in spite of my NY Accent).
That contrasts sharply, with my own language skills. My high school French leaves me woefully
unprepared to converse in anything other than my native tongue.
In business, English is understood and spoken by virtually
everyone. My lack of skills has not
prevented me from working closely with business people throughout Europe and
Asia.
I have been privileged to receive referrals to my business
from the French American Chamber of Commerce (FACC). This group is dedicated to helping French
businesses get started or expand in the US.
The referrals are always virtual in nature (via email) and initial
communications are as well.
Once some initial discussion has set the expectations, I have
scheduled a phone call. Due to the
constraints imposed by the distance between us, the calls are scheduled for the
morning here which corresponds to the late afternoon in France.
On Morning last week, at the appointed time, I called my
contact at an apparel company in Paris to follow up on the emails we had been
exchanging. When I got connected, Aubin’s
first question to me was whether I spoke French. My response “un peu” (a little) prompted him
to suggest that we wait until this week when his translator would be
available. He was communicating quite
well in English, so I suggested that we try to continue. Aubin took this to mean that I thought we
could proceed in French and began speaking much more rapidly than I had any chance
to process.
Fortunately, with my limited vocabulary and words that were
similar in both languages (“logistics” = “logistique”), I was able to get some
inkling about what he was talking about.
We agreed to a follow up conversation and I enlisted a neighbor who is
fluent in French to act as my translator.
The lesson I learned reminds me of the Boy Scout motto… “Be
Prepared”. Even though under most
circumstances a working knowledge of English will suffice, it is important to
have a plan B if it doesn’t.
