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English is the favorite language of businesses worldwide. From offshoring to consulting, English rules the roost when it comes to client-facing profiles. As an ESL (English as Secondary Language) speaker, I’ve seen that when it comes to business, broken English with improper Grammar is preferred to chaste communication in native languages. This brings us to an interesting catch-22 situation.

A Russian coder with stellar skills will be unable to make it in the sales and marketing domains because his/her English is subpar.

Since his/her English is subpar, he/she will have to rely on the British, the Americans, or on any of the erstwhile colonies of the British.

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Even in ESL countries, the vast majority of people who profess to speak English can speak only haltingly, or worse, with obviously bad grammar. What is it then, which prevents people from communicating in native languages and mother-tongues?

What is it that makes a prospective salesperson pick bad language (and ergo, bad sales pitch) over vernaculars?

The problem can be divided into three categories:

Psycho-social — when the speaker knows that his/her English is not good but continues to speak it, without making an effort to improve it, while hoping that it will improve by continued usage. The flaw in this thinking is that the majority of bad speakers fall in this category and have no learning mechanism to improve their skill. Over time, their numbers swell and suddenly, “I didn’t did that.” becomes a commonly used phrase because it sounds acceptable to a lot of people and the rest get branded as Grammar Nazis.

— when the speaker knows that his/her English is not good but continues to speak it, without making an effort to improve it, while hoping that it will improve by continued usage. The flaw in this thinking is that the majority of bad speakers fall in this category and have no learning mechanism to improve their skill. Over time, their numbers swell and suddenly, “I didn’t did that.” becomes a commonly used phrase because it sounds acceptable to a lot of people and the rest get branded as Grammar Nazis. Mandated — In a typical offshoring company, the client is an American company, while the resources are local people. These resources will take up fake personas, accents, and even names that are easier to pronounce by the Anglicized tongue. So, Janardanswamy becomes Joe, speaks like a Joe, and horrifyingly, wants to become a Joe. The problem with mandated communication in English is similar to that of those who speak for Psycho-social reasons. These people memorize chunks of words which are most commonly used in their trade and develop thick accents to blend in.

— In a typical offshoring company, the client is an American company, while the resources are local people. These resources will take up fake personas, accents, and even names that are easier to pronounce by the Anglicized tongue. So, Janardanswamy becomes Joe, speaks like a Joe, and horrifyingly, wants to become a Joe. The problem with mandated communication in English is similar to that of those who speak for Psycho-social reasons. These people memorize chunks of words which are most commonly used in their trade and develop thick accents to blend in. True Barrier — This is the only acceptable situation where a Japanese person communicates with a Spanish person, where halting English is an enabler for communication instead of an impediment.

The effects of such language barriers can be commonly seen in arenas that are at the cutting edge of technology where the polish and finesse of opulent English have not reached. One such industry is the crypto-services industry.

The Crypto-services industry include services such as community management, growth hacking, publication management, and social platform engagement among others. The people who offer these services fall in the 18–25 year bracket and peddle these services on Telegram groups. Their modus operandi is that they scour ICO listing sites such as icoalert and coinschedule, visit the website, and then join their telegram groups.

On these Telegram groups, they find out the admin and then send them the following canned messages.

Canned#1

Canned#2

Canned#3

The problems with such solicitation does not lie in their technical expertise but rather their delivery.

Everybody knows that spam messages and phishing emails have bad grammar

These crypto-services providers could be the best in the business and have to resort to Telegram due to legal reasons or not having the time to set up a website; but will be taken as scamsters and frauds based on the pre-conceptions people have regarding online communication.

Thus, these alleged geniuses miss out on business opportunities and sales based solely on their English which is a thickly accented by Russian and other similar Caucasian languages. The lost business moves to American and similar shores based solely on their English skills, without shedding a doubt on their technical skills. Now, how ironic is that?

So what can be done to rectify these impediments to proper and expressive communication that is devoid of memorized canned responses?

Provide your suggestions in the comments section below.