Ask HN: How to communicate better with people whose first language isn't English

[bloopernova]

I've recently experienced several situations where upper management thought that they had clearly communicated their requirements for a task, but the person who completed the task didn't understand what was expected of them.

With that in mind, do you have any experiences or advice for improving clear communication with and between people who speak English as a second language? What policies and standards worked best, and what failed?

How do you encourage people to ask for clarification if they don't understand? Too often I've seen ESL people very reluctant to ask questions, whether it's in person, chat, or email.

[codingdave]

Written communication is better for specs on work to be done. It can be enhanced with diagrams, images, mockups, etc. Bulleted lists are effective for listing out acceptance criteria and details they need to be aware of.

But there is also a human side to it. When I led offshore teams (from India and Mexico), I worked hard to get to know them, which included open discussion of our communication. Sometimes it was just talking to them often enough that we knew each other's accents. Especially for coworkers in India, we all knew English well, but spoke it quite differently. They had a hard time understanding my American accent, so I'd deliberately slow down when talking. I also would stop the conversation and make sure that if words were not understood, we had a culture of just saying so and trying again.

We still had times when we struggled to understand each other, but they trusted that I didn't let that get in the way of how we worked together. They knew that communication problems were something we could work at, and laugh at, and was not going to be looked at as a failure.

It isn't all that different than any other communication concerns within a team - the more you build trust, the better communication gets.

[bloopernova → codingdave]

That's good advice, thank you!

Did you find people receptive to slowing down and repeating things, or were people embarrassed and wanted to ignore difficulties?

If you have time, may I ask for specific situations where communication was poor, and what happened to improve it? (Sorry to sound like an interview!)

[codingdave → bloopernova]

It did take time to build enough trust with new team members for them to be comfortable cutting me off to ask me to repeat things. I had to take the lead for new team members, stopping them and politely asking them to repeat something, and I tended to apologize for not understanding. I'd let them know early on that I knew there would be times that we didn't hear each other well, that it is completely OK for that to happen, and I wanted them to stop me and ask me to try again. And I'd do the same when I did not understand them.

I don't have specific situations, because it was never a big thing. We'd just be talking, and someone would say, "Hang on, I didn't get that, try again?" Not any different than remote calls when someone's audio goes out and you just let them know that you didn't hear them.

[notRobot]

From what I've been told by foreign contractors, verbal communication should be avoided when it comes to important details because it can be harder to parse different accents and vocabularies. Email is probably best. Can be referred to as many times as required, and can easily be put into an online translator.

[gus_massa → notRobot]

[Hi from Argentina!]

I agree. Try to send the requirements in a written form like email.

[I don't discard the possibility that the language barrier is used as an excuse by the contractor or by the manager.]

[cborenstein]

I think encouraging people to ask for clarification is super important.

One thing that's helped me receive more clarifying questions is adding pauses while talking. This gives an opportunity for someone to ask questions without interrupting.

[verdverm]

As others have said, write it down

When talking, speak slowly with clear enunciation