Your Voice is Your Brand

Find and Use Your Authentic English Voice, Even If English Isn’t Your First Language

If you ever hang out on the Internet these days, you may already be tired of the word ‘authenticity’. I mean, it’s everywhere.

There’s been so much talk about authenticity lately that some people roll their eyes when they hear the expression and say it’s just another empty and annoying buzzword.

Well, I’m not one of them.

I sincerely believe that being yourself online is the only way to go for creative entrepreneurs, whether it’s on social media, blogs, videos, emails, or client calls.

And I can’t think of any other word that could describe the concept better.

Find and use your authentic English voice

Think about the last time you felt that immediate chemistry with someone online: like you needed to follow (stalk!) the person everywhere possible, read everything they’ve ever posted, share it with your tribe, and then go and buy everything in their online shop.

Remember that feeling? It’s like meeting a new friend; no, a soulmate. Someone who really gets you and everything they say is what you would say if you were as super awesome as them.

And it doesn’t even have to be that big — you don’t have to have an epic blog or a YouTube channel to hit it off with someone online. Even small things, like product descriptions or direct messages can make a difference, when they make people feel welcomed, understood, and appreciated, as opposed to just “sold to”.

We are all sick and tired of being sold to. We all strive for being treated like human beings.

Now, you could never feel that chemistry around someone who speaks in marketing clichés, sleazy sales speech, and overused business phrases; even if there was a great person behind those words. Well, under some circumstances it may work, but it’s never like your heart’s doing flip-flops when you hear the person speaking.

I mean, even in real life, you don’t fall in love with a guy who uses the same cheesy pick-up lines you’ve heard a million times before. It doesn’t work this way. (And if it does, I bet this isn’t THE guy you can’t wait to introduce to your mom, marry, and have kids with.)

Non-native speaking entrepreneurs suffer from marketing speech, not because they all have a second-hand car seller mentality, but because they don’t know how to be more authentic. What we learn from Business English textbooks is how to write in a formal, professional, and neutral voice.

But while being buttoned-up is a standard in corporate business, it’s the opposite of what people are looking for when they hire or buy from creatives online. People want to buy from people.

So how do you produce this chemistry online, so that other people can see how awesome you are?

By showing up as yourself.

You are awesome just the way you are, and you should let others know. Every time you do, you help your clients connect with you and understand your message. And as a side effect, you help other people give themselves permission to do the same.

Now, people can only see your authentic self if you let them; and you usually only let them when you feel safe and comfortable. That’s why it’s so hard to be authentic online, and that’s why it’s so super hard to be authentic in a foreign language.

When you’re putting yourself out there online, not under a nickname and an avatar, and not even behind someone else’s brand, but as yourself, with your real name, face, voice, fears, vulnerability, and so on, you aren’t safe and comfortable. You’re in the arena; trying to create an impression of someone who is sitting in a bar with a glass of wine in your hand and totally casually chatting with your best friend isn’t easy.

And if English isn’t your first language (and you aren’t used to chatting with your friends in English), all the fears/insecurities associated with being in the arena multiply.

That’s why we non-native speakers need different strategies to feel safe and comfortable enough to be able to use our authentic voice.

But first things first:

What is an authentic voice?

In your first language, your authentic voice is the voice you use around the people you feel the most comfortable with; so comfortable that you don’t watch your manners or your language, and you don’t censor yourself, because you aren’t afraid of judgement or some other negative consequence.

Your authentic voice is your specific communication style with its unique features, like mild sarcasm, occasional swearing, bad jokes no one else finds funny, geeky jokes no one else understands, old movies references, outdated expressions learnt from nineteenth century novels, weird expressions that should make you sound smart, but they don’t, and so on.

Now, in the foreign language that you’ve learnt at school and from textbooks, you don’t have your own voice, unless you consciously work on developing it.

You may be completely fluent and own a C2 certificate, but still lack your authentic voice — there’s no connection between your knowledge and your spirit.

You do need to be on a certain level, fluency wise, but you also need something more: willingness to be publicly imperfect; and that needs a lot of courage.

In fact, using your voice in whatever language has a lot more to do with courage, self-confidence and self-awareness than with the language itself.

So, what’s an authentic voice in a foreign language?

It’s the voice you would be using — in your inner monologue, in your dreams, with your family and closest friends, in writing personal stuff, and so on — if the foreign language was your first language.

But it isn’t, and it will never be. Yet, if you work on it, you can get close.

It’s not the goal (speaking English like a native) that’s important, but the journey. When you set yourself on the path and take one step at a time, while being present and appreciating what you’re learning along the way (instead of rushing towards the goal) your voice will emerge naturally.

Maybe not as rich, unlimited, and natural as it is in your first language, but that’s fine.

It’s a beta version. It’s enough. It’s you.

How the heck do you do it?

Let’s face it: using your authentic voice is not just uncomfortable, it’s also demanding from a linguistic point of view.

You may think you can be more relaxed, not having to pay attention to grammar and pronunciation and all that jazz and just be yourself, like in your first language.

But that’s not the case. You have to care about all the obvious language learning stuff, like learning grammar and pronunciation, developing your vocabulary, and making it all work together, but apart from that, you have to get and stay in touch with the real language, as it works in real life, among your kind of people (if you’re a twenty-something vegan blogger/yoga instructor, you want to speak like other healthy-lifestyle oriented millennials, not like a retired Harvard literature professor).

Speaking in phrases you’ve learnt in textbooks and always being linguistically “correct” is safer, sure thing; but it will never bring you closer to the hearts of your listeners, and to the heart of the language itself.

And if you want to create meaningful and genuine online connections, you also want to get closer to people, although it’s uncomfortable and tough. Getting closer to some people certainly means being prepared to lose other people who don’t agree, or don’t get it, or don’t care at all.

But it’s so very worth it: when you go a little beyond your textbook-y English and allow yourself to experiment with letting your personality shine through your writing, you can find amazing creative freedom and confidence!

And when you do it on a regular basis, you will see the effect it has on everything you do, not just writing/speaking in English.

Developing your voice in a second language stretches the same muscles that you use in business, in your creative process, and in your private life. That’s how it helps you go beyond your limits in all aspects of your life:

Because fear hates words, sharing, and being authentic.

The process of finding & using your English voice as a non-native speaker

1. Discover your authentic voice in your first language

To become aware of the specifics of your authentic voice in your first language, you need to listen to it more carefully. Because you use it unconsciously, you probably can’t describe it right here and now.

You need to dive deeper into who you are and what makes you unique, and only then you can think about how would these things feel and sound in English.

2. Dive in authentic resources

People in textbooks are the opposite of authentic, so you can’t learn only from them. In fact, I believe once you learn the basics, you don’t need textbooks at all. (By textbooks, I mean those expensive and ugly international course books. Grammar exercise books are fine.)

So you need to listen to podcasts, read blogs, nonfiction, novels, watch TV shows, and spend a lot of time surrounded by real, contemporary English.

What you’re looking for is not what’s easy to understand (you don’t need to understand 100% of the time), but what resonates with you on a deeper level.

If you fall in love with someone online, in the way that we discussed above, it’s a sign that your personalities are somehow compatible. Pay close attention to the way the person you admire speaks. It may be similar to what you would sound if you were a native speaker, because you probably share a similar view of the world.

Don’t consume everything, be intentional. Have a list of people who speak/write about things that set you on fire, and listen to them carefully. Take notes.

Have a swipe file — a notebook or a digital document where you put everything that you like and may actually use: expressions, idioms, new words, phrases, everything. Organize it by topics of your interest — if you’re a graphic designer, look for different ways other designers describe their work, how they talk about their process and their clients, and how they talk about all the tools and such they use all day.

3. Create: write & speak like crazy

Practice is the most important part of the process of developing your authentic English voice. Take all the time you spend listening, reading, learning, and researching, and spend at least the same amount of time really using the language — speaking and writing.

I know, I know, you don’t have anyone to talk to, and you don’t have so much time.

But I will stop you right here. Your practice doesn’t have to always be public, and it doesn’t even have to involve other people all the time. Speak to yourself, write a journal. Don’t let the lack of feedback and not living in an English speaking country be your excuse.

The more you create, the more creative you will become with English, the more self-confident, and the more comfortable.

4. Put yourself out there

Finally, you have to give yourself permission to be yourself, even when you’re not completely comfortable. The best way to do this is to find your tribe so that you feel less alone, and start putting yourself out there, little by little, until that OMG I can’t do this feeling fades.

It hasn’t faded for me yet, but it’s weaker and weaker every time I join a discussion in online communities, speak to my mentors or other creatives, or hit “publish” on my blog.

The story originally appeared on doyouspeakfreedom.com.