U2, Steve Jobs to Arianna Huffington: My Journey to Public Speaking as a non-native English speaker
A GUEST PIECE BY:
FURKAN KARAYEL
Learning English was my conscious decision to invest into my future self.
Growing up in a small town called Giresun on the Northern coast of Turkey, studying at disadvantaged schools, my journey started with English at about the age of 12 in a classroom with 50+ other students. On the other hand, I used to carry BIG dreams in my small body. I was dreaming of working as a software engineer in multinational tech companies. I clearly remember asking this question to myself. “What can I do today to be the 12 years old version of that strong woman?”. I cannot go to college yet, I have no role models, I have no idea how to get into global companies. But I thought I could do ONE thing: Improve my English - making it fun to learn so that I can communicate with people globally, I can reach out to different resources to learn new skills and make a step towards my future self.
Things were different then…
Let’s keep in mind that it was the 90s and we didn’t have today’s Youtube tutorials, online dictionaries or googling features. I only had a little yellow English-Turkish, Turkish-English dictionary with a large blue “L” letter on the front cover and a few textbooks from school.
First of all, it had to be fun !
There was no other way! For this, I had a fantastic idea. After long consideration, I decided to publish a magazine in English about my favourite topics all in my own words ! I called it “North West Wind”, it comes from my surname “Karayel” in English. In this magazine, I wrote about tech news, self-help books, interesting news from all over the world, music, movies, traveling and more.
It always started in seriousness with the “editor’s welcome” with my profile photo. There I talked about what I covered in the issue, personal reflections and notes like ‘subscribe’. When I look back to them now, I find really remarkable news in them including Steve Job’s first introduction of today’s Macbook laptops (it was called Ibook back then), Ericsson’s first mobile phone announcement, the launch of Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, lyrics from U2, Spice Girls and leadership book recommendations.
Back then, NO images of Female Leaders: The Importance of Representation
I want to go back in time and hug that girl so tightly when I see the word “leaderness”and knowing that she spent ages trying to attach an image of a woman leader, while Microsoft Word had only images of men for the topic. Yes, I built my own queendom in a quiet and authentic way. I was having so much fun with it !
Years later… Full circle!
Years later, all of this hard work paid off. In college, I was selected for the Erasmus exchange program to continue studying software engineering at Athlone Institute of Technology, in the middle of Ireland. And fortunately, 2 weeks after my graduation, I landed into my dream job as a software engineer at… Ericsson Athlone.
Introversion & Fear as a Non-native Speaker
As an introvert, I was always comfortable creating my own quiet spaces where I could go wild and not be afraid of anything. However the outside world is different. People judge. People laugh when you make mistakes and especially when you mispronounce words or have an accent. That’s one of the biggest obstacles, I believe, that stops people from continuing learning a new language and communicating. Even though my journey with English helped me to find my authentic self, to be honest it prevented me from sharing my ideas in big meetings with native speakers for a very long time.
The Internal Dialogue of a Non-native Speaker
Yes, I am an introverted person. Yes, I think a lot before I actually speak. Yes, I am also a slow speaker. Sometimes, I am the only woman in the room, the only non-native speaker too. “Oh my God ! They are speaking so fast. Where do I join the conversation? Oh, no, they changed the topic already. Now, there is a gap, should I jump in and share my opinion? Would that be disrespectful to change the topic back. At least move or open your mouth Furkan, someone might catch that you have something to say. Only a few minutes left then the meeting is over. One person already left the room. It’s too late now, Furkan. Oh no, maybe send an email afterwards.”
A Female non-native speaker, in a male-dominated industry
Did you know that 62 percent of women say that their ideas are ignored until repeated by men. (Source: Dice) Can you imagine this for non-native speaker women working in male dominated industries? I was still very hesitant in verbal communication at work.
Then, what led me to break this cycle ?
Let me tell you the story. Once I was invited to speak at an International Women’s Day event about my story into the tech world. I got super excited and happy with this invite. On the other hand, I was so afraid as they say public speaking is one of the scariest things in the world ! Then I told myself. Furkan, your story is unique like anyone else’s story and it’s worth sharing it. Do your duty and just share it. Remember you didn’t have role models growing up, maybe seeing you on the stage will inspire other girls into tech, no matter what your accent is. Aren't there great women speakers with authentic accents? Look at Arianne Huffington, her accent makes her so authentic and you love it ! Don’t self-sabotage yourself ! Just go for it !
And now?
Years later, in 2021, today that girl has become an international public speaker, lecturer and author of the book : Inclusive Intelligence: How to be a Role Model for Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. Recipient of the awards, Speaker of the Year, Trailblazer in Women in Tech and Diversity and Inclusion Role Model in Business. Also, contributor at Arianna Huffington’s workplace wellbeing platform Thrive Global.
Inclusive Intelligence Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ZGxlbS
Website: https://furkankarayel.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furkankarayel
Business: https://www.diversein.com
ABOUT OUR GUEST CONTRIBUTOR:
FURKAN KARAYEL
Furkan Karayel is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of the book ‘Inclusive Intelligence’, multi-award-winning diversity and inclusion keynote speaker, and founder at Diversein.com. She lectures for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Master’s programme at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design + Technology in Dublin, Ireland.