I’ve heard my German accent in English for decades. At some point, I stopped treating it as a flaw.

A client once said something that stayed with me: “You have an accent. So does everyone I respect in this company.” Then he listed them – French, Indian, Spanish. All senior. All confident.

Your accent tells people something real. You’re doing something most people never attempt.

The discomfort comes from comparing yourself to a standard you were never meant to meet.

Quick win: Next time you catch yourself apologising for your accent – in your head or out loud – pause. The accent stays. The apology doesn’t need to.

You build the sentence in German, translate it, check if it sounds right – and by then, the moment has passed.

I hear this from clients regularly: “By the time I have the English version ready, the conversation has already moved on.”

The cause is almost always the same: word‑for‑word translation.

Phrases are faster. “As far as I know.” “That’s a good point.” “Let me check and get back to you.” These arrive as ready‑made units – before the translation process can slow you down.

Quick win: Pick one phrase you use often in German. Find its English equivalent. Learn it as a unit – and use it this week.

A client told me this once: “I lose two seconds every time I decide between I work and I am working. Two seconds doesn’t sound like much. In a meeting, two seconds is a pause.“

He was right. Both forms work. Colleagues understand either one. The form you choose matters far less than finishing the thought.

The hesitation costs more than the “wrong” form ever would.

Quick win: Next time that moment of doubt arrives, say whichever comes first and keep going. Nobody in the room is keeping score.

English has a way of making capable people feel foolish. Not because they’re wrong, but because some rules are weird.

Take “I am bored” and “I am boring.” One letter changes everything. You say the wrong one, the room shifts, and you blame your English.

Don’t. That sentence was a setup.

English is full of tiny, reasonable-looking patterns that catch almost everyone. I still hear this from professionals who’ve worked in English for years. If you miss it once, it doesn’t mean you didn’t study. It means the language didn’t post a sign.

Here’s the fix:

-ed = how you feel
-ing = what causes it
Bored is a feeling. Boring is the cause.

“I am bored. I’ve been listening to his presentation for hours. That presentation was boring.”

💬 Which one caught you first?

She has excellent English. Good grammar, clear pronunciation, the right words. In international meetings, she barely speaks.

In our first session, she was relaxed, fluent, completely herself. When I asked how she feels in meetings with colleagues from five or six countries, she paused for a long time.

So her task this week was simple: Observe the meeting. Write down anything she wanted to say – but didn’t. Just to see what’s already there.

Because the English is ready. The trust is the work.

If you recognise this, try it. One meeting, one notebook. Write down what you wanted to say.

You might surprise yourself.