Defogging your thoughts: learning to communicate clearly

A few weeks ago I shared some reflections on how thinking in a second language often results in ‘vague thoughts’ and produces difficulties with articulating oneself precisely. This lack of clarity in thoughts and speech can last for quite a while. It's inconvenient to say the least if English is your second language and you use it at work.?

So I want to suggest a few activities that might help you become more articulate. And also do an overview of some frequent fears and barriers to fluency that non-native English speakers often face.?

For starters, I’d like to clarify what I mean by ‘thinking’ in a second language. I usually emphasize thinking in rather than speaking English because sometimes people would compose their thoughts in their native language and then translate them into English. Which is a lot of extra effort with not very satisfying results. One thing to keep in mind though is that thinking in English doesn’t mean just thinking - it’s thinking and speaking or thinking and writing.?

There is this idea that it's impossible to really think if there are no listeners (or, at the very least, readers). Unarticulated thoughts can only go that far, they rarely form coherent sentences from the first attempt. It is especially noticeable in a non-native language - everyone who has tried knows this painful moment. Even contemplating some abstract concepts in your head works better when put in writing, and better still when shared with someone. So that someone can react, reflect what they hear, tell you whether it makes sense to them or not.

So what do you do when you’re mastering a second language but struggle with finding someone to talk to?

It can happen for a variety of reasons, but fear is one of the most common barriers. Fear of not being understood, of not understanding, of awkwardness, of not being good enough at small talk, not being able to develop a conversation beyond small talk, etc. English learners from Russia often feel reluctant to attempt talking to native speakers - there is this whole umbrella of anxiety triggers around it.?

As a result, even if a person is in a situation that allows or compels them to communicate in English (e.g., relocation to another country / a job in an international team), they feel insecure about their speaking skills and minimize their participation in conversations.?

Here are a few challenges my clients often report struggling with:

• Finding the right word - either the right word in English - if they have a Russian word in mind already, or just trying to remember a word which slipped their mind;
• Picking the right word - when there is a set of associations and not all of them are relevant;

• Paraphrasing - the skill we need to summarize and recap and check understanding;
• Finding synonyms - it’s a part of the paraphrasing skill, but we also need synonyms to add to variety in our speech, to express shades of meaning;
• Picking appropriate grammar structures - figuring out the relationships between words so that the phrase makes sense.?

Then, for people in leadership roles (or just people with high verbal intelligence, used to being well articulate in their mother tongue) there often emerges the next level of needs: to be as charismatic in English. To think as fast in English. To use idioms and be clever and funny.?

And of course, we want to do things perfectly from the first attempt, to avoid humiliation. The more educated and intelligent a person is and the more sensitive to social hierarchy, the more dreadful becomes the prospect of failing. What is perceived as a failure varies from person to person. It can be not being able to speak fluently enough, saying something the wrong way, failing to deliver a message precisely, not delivering it elegantly enough, stumbling in search for words, having a wrong accent, not understanding a native speaker - the list goes on.?

I recently shared a post with the 3 criteria for successful communication . In short, the biggest challenge for English learners is often not even about vocabulary or grammar. It’s their struggle to get comfortable enough and confident enough when having a conversation in English - which results in a lack of fluency and tension reflected by the other person.?

Unfortunately, we all know that ‘take it easy on yourself’ is advice as good as it is useless. It’s like ‘take better care of yourself’ or ‘love yourself more’. There is always a ‘but…’?

• But I keep forgetting same words / making same grammar mistakes?

• But I don’t have enough active vocabulary?
• But I speak slowly and feel very limited compared to my Russian-speaking self
• But I get confused in grammar in the middle of the sentence and can’t finish it
• But I need be fluent and sound competent to work in this position
• …

To be fair, those are legitimate concerns. There are situations when advanced speaking skills are required (e.g., to apply for senior IC or lead positions). So here are a few things that, in my experience, help become more articulate:

1?? Talk to a friend

With speaking being the end goal, it’s hard to master it without enough practice in a safe space. So here is one thing you can try. If you have close English-speaking friends (who might be Russians / any other non-native speakers) - try recording voice messages to your friend in English. It has to be someone who is ready to listen and pay attention, though.?

Record whatever you want to share with this person - it might be something about your personal life, thoughts on your current situation, on their current situation, professional insights, your impression of something you’ve read / heard. If this activity is new to you, you’ll probably stumble a lot, even if your level is already advanced. One thing to keep in mind here: if you’re struggling with finding the right word in English - don’t look for a translation from your native language. Try to draw words from your pool of associations and related concepts in English. If you are not sure about the meaning of some word - you can look it up later. You may also find your thoughts transforming, and that’s OK.?

Practice formulating a problem out loud, with possible reasons behind it, ways to go about solving it. Practice explaining cause-effect relationships, shaping your ideas in a coherent manner. This is a great exercise for activating linkers and transitioning constructions, as well as figuring out which grammar structures you want to use.?

And then ask your friend if any of that makes sense to them. Ask them to summarize what they’ve grasped out of your message. Practice paraphrasing your message and removing all the unnecessary information until you realize you’re understood. As a bonus, perhaps in the process you’ll understand what you really wanted to say and why it was bothering you in the first place. This exercise is quite therapeutic ??

2?? Write a journal?

This is quite a time-consuming task, and not all people like to write. However, if you don’t completely despise the activity, you might benefit from it a lot. The greatest thing about writing is that it’s stress free - you can take as much time as you need. You can write your reflections on some work processes, improvement suggestions, feedback, daily updates, plans, strategic ideas. It can also be something personal - like creative writing, a journal or any self-reflection writing.?

3?? Share a post??

The next logical step is posting what you’ve written publicly. There is a big difference between writing whatever comes to mind and writing for others to read. I love the first exercise; it’s creative and censorship free. But when writing something to be shared with others, you have to focus on clarity. So you practice writing concisely, making your text readable, using appropriate grammar structures.?

It’s better to write whatever comes to mind first, and do the editing after some break. Look at your text from the perspective of your reader - would you keep reading it? It helps to keep the marketing approach in mind: Who is your audience? What are their pain points? What do you want to say? Why do you want to say it - what is your end goal? How does your text help your readers solve their problem? Is it clear from the start why this text is relevant? - the same rules apply in oral communication.

So I suggest posting something here on LinkedIn, or Reddit / Quora once in a week or two. It’s a time-consuming task, but serves more than one purpose. If you’re posting on LinkedIn, it’s a great networking boost. Alternatively, you can start with commenting on other people’s posts. Reddit and Quora allow doing that anonymously, creating a safe space :)?

Now, a quick note about using AI. Nowadays AI tools are there to help and have the potential to save a significant amount of time. There are some undeniable perks of using them - with properly set requirements GPT can create an engaging and fun-to-read text full of idioms and vivid expressions. The downside is that usually people can tell the text is AI generated and are less likely to keep reading it. And you don’t get to practice expressing your thoughts by yourself.?

What GPT can help with is giving you feedback on a text that you’ve written. To highlight room for improvement, comment on readability, suggest adding some linkers, and outline some logical gaps. Just make sure that when asking for feedback, you formulate your request along the lines of ‘Can you outline room for improvement here?’, and not ‘Is this a good text?’ - the answer to the latter will probably be affirmative in any case??

4?? Learn something new in English

I can’t think of a better activity to practice thinking and structuring your thoughts in a second language than acquiring and processing knowledge in it. Here are a couple of examples from my personal experience.??

I first found myself in an English-speaking academic environment when I did an exchange semester in Brazil. I was taking a course in geopolitics - which I knew nothing about. Feeling relaxed and on the same page with our young and approachable professor I was eager to ask questions and engage in discussions, certain I knew exactly what I wanted to say. But then I started speaking, and by puzzled expressions on the faces of everyone around, including the professor, I realized I wasn’t making much sense. It shocked me how difficult it was to explain myself. I struggled through the whole course - mainly because I wasn’t used to thinking in precise concepts. But it did help me become better at it in 2 months.?

At the moment, I’m also listening to some lectures and taking notes. What I’m noticing is that it’s still difficult to paraphrase some of what I hear in my own words. I think I understand what I hear. But then I struggle to retell it, which means I haven’t really processed, critically evaluated, and assimilated that information.?

So I believe it’s a great exercise to register what you hear, find your own words to express this thought, see if it’s still the same idea (or maybe your experience has added something more to it). Observe where and whether it fits in your current understanding of the topic. How it relates to your previous experience (try to think about it in English, even if that experience was processed in another language). Then write whatever reflections / insights this new idea has generated. Or share them in a conversation with a friend ???

Finally, ask questions / post comments. Whether it’s an offline or online education, there is usually some space for discussion. Participating in it might feel a bit like my experience in Brazil at first. But with your 10th comment / question you’ll definitely get better at it! And get some feedback from others.?

I hope these tips gave you some ideas on how to organize your self-learning routines and practice expressing your thoughts clearly!?