It was January, 2009, and (of course) I had come down with my usual Winter sinus infection.  And this one was not your “run of the mill” infection.  It was the kind that made me thirsty all of the time – so much, in fact, that my throat would get so dry that I felt that I could barely speak.  Also, as luck would have it, this wonderful condition struck me the day before I was to leave on a trip to Costa Rica.  Prior to my trip, I tried everything to shake it….water, orange juice, airborne and several “home cooked” remedies I found via google and nothing worked.

With no change in my condition on the day of my trip, I headed down to O’Hare airport to start the journey.  The dryness in the back of my throat and the pounding in my forehead didn’t detour me from keeping a smile on my face as I shimmied through security and onto my plane.  The trip was long and I was miserable.  No matter how much water I drank, my throat was still on fire.
During our exchange through Guatemala (where we had to de-plane and re-board while men with machine guns stood close by),  I felt a little out of place trying to figure out what they were saying relying solely on what Spanish I had picked up listening to Ricky Martin songs but persevered.  When I got back on the plane, I fell dead asleep until we landed in San Jose.  Having been asleep and with no fluids, I could barely utter a word my throat was so dry when I awoke…I had to get something to drink!  I rushed off the airplane and started looking for the closest place to get a beverage and then, in the distance, I saw the Golden Arches!  Hooray!!  I rushed up, got in line and started gleaning the menu for something recognizable.  After what seemed like hours, it was my turn.

I looked the server behind the counter and said, “Orange drink, please”
“Que?” he responded.
I replied louder, “Orange Drink, Please!”
Looking me directly back he said, “Que!?”
Exasperated, I mustered the loudest voice I could and yelled, “ORANGE DRINK!”

Just then, a fellow passenger from my flight tapped my on the shoulder and said, “You can yell as loud as you want, sir, he won’t understand you if you’re not speaking the language.”  Try this, ” Soda de Naranja, por favor!”

The server immediately understood, got me my drink and I was able to douse the flame in the back of my throat.   As was walking away, I starting thinking about what my fellow passenger had said.  “He won’t understand if you’re not speaking the language.”
How true that had been in so many aspects my life.  Many times as a leader I had spoken louder and louder but my team hadn’t understood what I was saying because I hadn’t been speaking their language.

Has the same been true for you?  How many times have you tried to get your order understood but, because you weren’t speaking the language, you couldn’t get through?  If you want to go native, speak the language, and be understood, here are three things that you need to do.

Get a Tutor
Navigating the trails of a foreign land can be difficult if you don’t have a guide.  The same is true for learning the language of the people around you.  Find someone that is fluent in both languages to help you convert what you want to say to how you need to say it.  You won’t be disappointed in having a translator (so you don’t get one thing when something else is desperately needed).

Immerse Yourself In the Culture
Learning the language of your team can’t be done if you’re living in a different country (also known as your office or cubicle).  Get out and about and learn what is important to them, what they do, and how they do it.

Practice
Practice makes perfect.  In your journey, will you make some mistakes?  Sure you will, however, the effort you make in trying to speak the native language will be admired and respected by the people around you.  You might even find that they’ll help you translate themselves and forgive a mis-step due to your effort in appreciating who they are as people.

As leaders, it’s our responsibility to make the steps necessary to not only be understood but to first make the steps to understand our team.   Speaking their language helps us do just that.    I hope you try these three strategies for going native.  I think you’ll find that you’ll no longer have to speak loud, you’ll just have to speak up.