A senior executive told me, very earnestly, that he wanted to be pregnant.

He meant “prägnant”: concise, punchy and to the point. In German, a perfectly reasonable thing for a presenter to aim for.

In English, the room went very quiet.

These moments happen more than you’d think. A client who “became a coffee” instead of ordering one. Another who emailed his team to please “control” his work. A CEO who thanked me warmly for the “curse“. (He meant the course.)

Every one of them laughed, corrected the mistake and kept speaking. (I have my own collection. It grows every year.)

Quick win: Start a collection. Every mistake you remember is one you’ve learnt from and one good story for later.

German has one word for this: “Urlaub”. English has two, and which one people use depends on the English they learnt.

British English: holiday = Urlaub. American English: vacation = Urlaub.

In Global English, the English of international business, both are understood everywhere. You don’t need to choose sides.

One thing worth knowing: in British English, ‘holiday’ can also mean a public holiday (Feiertag). “I’m on holiday” means you have time off work. “It’s a holiday” means the office is closed.

Quick win: Use whichever word feels natural. Both are correct.

Most professionals I work with carry a quiet wish: to sound less German, less foreign, more “neutral.” They apologise before they speak, lower their voice or rush to finish. (I’ve heard this in almost every first session.)

Global English has no neutral accent. Every person in the room carries their origin in their voice. The Indian colleague, the French client, the American on the call.

Your accent signals something real. You built your English on top of another language. That’s a skill most people in that room never built.

Quick win: Next time you apologise for your accent, pause. Speak clearly instead.

Clarity travels further than neutrality.

After years of coaching, I started noticing patterns. The person who freezes mid-sentence. The one who obsesses over grammar while the meeting continues. The professional who compares herself to everyone in the room and goes quiet.

There are thirteen of them. They have names, mottos and a description that will feel a little too familiar.

The quiz is short, free and ends with at least one quiet “Ah, that explains it”.

Take the quiz here

P.S. If your result resonates and you’d like to work on it, I’m happy to have a free, no-pressure conversation. Just reply to this email.

In German, “Ich habe das gestern gemacht” is correct. You use haben + past participle even when you mention a specific time.

English works differently. The moment you say “yesterday”, “last week” or “on Monday”, English switches to simple past: “I did this yesterday”.

“Have done” tells English speakers the time is open and unspecified. Add “yesterday” and the sentence breaks.

This catches almost every German speaker at some point. It’s a language trap, not a careless mistake.

Quick win: Specific time? Simple past. “I did this yesterday.” “She called last week.” “We finished on Monday.“

She was a senior executive. Experienced, sharp, respected in her field. But in English, she compared herself to everyone else in the room and always came last.

“Everyone else is so much better than I am,” she told me. (I hear this more than any other sentence.) So she waited. The meeting ended. Her ideas stayed inside.

The comparison was the problem. Her English was fine. She was measuring herself against a standard that existed only in her head.

Her perspective was exactly what the room needed. It always had been.

Quick win: Next time you hesitate, ask yourself, “Do I have something useful to say?” If yes, say it. The English will follow.