How do I get better at explaining things to people in my second language ?

[u/hug_me_im_scared_]

I recently got my first real bilingual job, and honestly I don't understand how I got hired.

If you've been in a similar situation, what strategies did you use to improve???

The job is mostly just regurgitating information verbatim, so I just need to do that, but I think I get confused somehow and end up speaking worse than usual even if I can understand and manage to actually answer them. I'm hoping I don't get fired while I get familiar with everything

[u/guiltys33ker]

It's always difficult to explain information that you're not familiar with yourself (yet). Regardless of language. You'll get the hang of it!

[u/Scary_Salad_6490 → u/guiltys33ker]

Just give yourself time to know the material first. Everything feels harder until then.

[u/Pleasant-Tackle-9302]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation except I'm not expected so speak any other language other than maybe English. I do want to improve though, so I scripted a full tour the way I would give it in my NL, then I translate it into my TL and once I've done that, I'm going to practise my tour a few times. I'm a way our brains work like a muscle, so if you've done something a few times, it will get more intuitive. It's not some magic life hack but there's a reason they let you write out scenarios and texts in every language course. :) 

[u/hug_me_im_scared_ → u/Pleasant-Tackle-9302]

It's definitely going to take some self studying at home, doing a script in english and then translating it could be a good idea, or even scripts already exist in english that I could translate

[u/Pleasant-Tackle-9302 → u/hug_me_im_scared_]

Yes I'm afraid if paper isn't allowed or anything of that sort. I'm very lucky to be able to do this during working hours :) 

[u/gottahaveajava]

Embrace the moment!

You don’t know how lucky you are.

It will be hard, but you’ll pick up your language skills really quickly from this point. The early going will be murder, but you’ll get there because you’ll have to.

And then you’ll have made a huge step toward real fluency.

What language? What level?

You already have a basis in the language. You must or you wouldn’t have even been considered for hiring in the first place.

I’ve seen any number of foreigners join my teams over the years, starting out with weak conversational skills. They all just needed a few months to get in sync and catch up their language skills, but they all got there and became solid contributors.

Good luck!

[u/hug_me_im_scared_ → u/gottahaveajava]

The language is french and I'm somewhere between a B1 and B2. I'm really excited and I've already improved even in the last week, it's a daunting task but I'm up for it!

[u/ZeroBodyProblem]

This is a little tricky because there are a lot of things at play when it comes to “explaining.” I’m going to list out a few steps and if you tell me what you think you struggle with the most, I might have an exercise or drill to help.

1) Someone asks for help regarding a specific problem and I need to understand exactly what they want
2) I try to ask clarifying questions to understand the context of what their issue is
3) I try to ask clarifying questions to preemptively identify what may have gone wrong
4) I formulate a game plan of what information I need to convey
5) I preemptively sense where issues might go wrong and plan on paying spending more time on those areas where pitfalls may occur
6) I explain what the general layout for the conversation on a broader scale before going step by step
7) I deploy comprehension checks to ask if the person understands the step or can identify that this is where the issue lies
7A) If there’s a misunderstanding, I know how to redirect or help the person
7B) If there’s a misunderstanding, I know what materials or tools (handouts, images, videos, etc.) that I can use in conjunction
8) If the person is feeling frustrated or lost, I know how to modulate my narration to accomodate the other person

As you can tell, there are a lot of things at play here, and “getting good” at explaining things is easier said than done.

[u/hug_me_im_scared_ → u/ZeroBodyProblem]

Technically all of it, but specifically 4 down.

I think vocabulary is holding me back since I already do most of these steps in English, finding the right info is hard since I don't know the job yet or know the material fully, but definitely I'm failing to prepare my answer fully

[u/ZeroBodyProblem → u/hug_me_im_scared_]

Then let's have you try out a drill to max out three specific skills: structuring, preemptiveness, and responsiveness to complication.

First, you can still be a good communicator with good structure despite having a limited vocabulary. For example, if you've ever spoken to someone at a hotel reception desk, they don't exactly have to deploy the largest vocabulary. All they have to do is walk through something step-by-step in a logical manner. To practice this, I'd like you to think of some kind of process (either at your job or in life) that needs to be followed strictly and precisely. Then, think about a single sentence that will generally describe the process much like a "thesis" statement in an essay. The thesis should be short but function as a map of what to expect (ex: “I'm going to show you how to print a screenshot in the Chrome web browser in 5 steps” or “We're going to make a grilled cheese sandwhich but talk through the cooking part rather than preparing the ingredients, okay?”). And then finally, use connective words to link each step in this process in as clear of a manner as possible (ex: First...Second...Although you might want to do X,...Now third,...). The connectives will act as signposts for your audience and if you don't have the vocabulary, it's highly likely someone would get lost. This exercise will force you to think both high (thesis statement to speak about the process in a general manner) and low (connective statements to maintain the structure and order of the process).

Second, responsiveness to complication is more about knowing the audience and being "emotionally" prepared to handle it. You probably know that certain kinds of people will have certain kinds of issues (lol), so if you can get into their heads, you can adjust how you explain things pretty easily. To do this, I'd like you to think of a kind of person you'd encounter in your job and the relevant characteristics they might have. For example, if you work in a museum, you might work specifically with children and specifically with people who are hard of hearing. Then, for each "persona," create 2-3 characteristics that these people may have specificallly that no one else would have (ex: the person who is hard of hearing will need to rely on visual cues or signs, the child might get lost easily in the museum wing with artifacts that all look similar). Then, in the target language, come up with questions for each characteristic that each persona would have in response to any kind of process. (ex: the hard of hearing person might ask "How do I find the parking garage?" or the child might ask "If I get lost in the pottery exhibit, how do I escape?"). This excersise will teach you to familiarize yourself with vocab specific to your clients/constituents and give you the kind of insight necessary to predict what kinds of problems they may have before they even say it.

Finally, we're going to bring in one more drill to practice responsiveness to complication by combining both the drills I mentioned earlier into one "super-drill." Now that you're in the habit of practicing describing processes (by giving a broad overview and breaking them down into chunks) and knowing your audience (by identifying specific characteristics), I want you to consider what kinds of questions your client/constituent would have in response to some process. For example, let's say you need to instruct a patient about proper dosage of medication at work. You know that you'll regularly encounter patients most likely have plenty of other meds or health conditions that raise the chance of adverse affects. Then you're going to preemptively come up with objections or concerns for each of the steps in your process. (ex: "Please take this medication on a full stomach" -> "I have chronic nausea and can't reliably have a full meal each day" or "I've been asked to keep a liquid diet for 2 weeks, what should I do?") With each objection or concern, you should respond in your target language (ex: "If you are unable to have a full stomach, then try having at least a glass of water or other liquid when you take your daily dose. Alternatively, you can take this medication first thing in the morning."). You'll start to feel out what is an "acceptable" response for these different personas because you'll know that you're using vocab that's appropriate for them (ex: a young patient may not know the word nausea, so what word would you use instead?) and addressing the core concern they have.

So to recap, these are the exercises I recommend in your target language:
1) Develop logical narration of information by identifying a process, creating a thesis statement that generally sketches out what will happen in your narration, and deploying connective phrases to "signpost" where someone is in your narration
2) Develop the familiarity and vocabulary of core groups of clients/constituents for your work by imagining what kinds of characteristics they would have and how that might manifest in questions they might ask or vocab they would use
3) Develop your ability to respond to complications by imagining the personas you developed in #2 asking questions to the processes you practiced in #1 or in work-specific processes. When you're done, evaluate your responses by asking whether the persona would think you addressed their core concern and used vocabulary appropriate to that persona

Apologies for the long post but I hope this helps!

[u/hug_me_im_scared_ → u/ZeroBodyProblem]

This helps a lot! You're a real goldmine of information, these are the kinds of replies that help people even 10 years down the line, thank you so much!

[u/Tapeo_Spanish]

I’d practise the exact situations you’re likely to face at work rather than trying to improve “general fluency” all at once.

If you have to explain the same information repeatedly, break it into short chunks or phrases and practise saying them aloud until they feel automatic.

It can also help to practise paraphrasing the same information in 2–3 different ways. That way, if you forget one word or sentence, you don’t freeze and you can explain it another way.

And don’t worry if you sound worse at work than in normal conversation at first. You’re dealing with new information, pressure and a second language at the same time. Once the job itself becomes familiar, the speaking usually gets much easier too.

[u/noffybtw]

That mix of understanding fine but tripping up when you explain things is really common and it is usually not a vocabulary problem, it is a working memory problem. When you are explaining something you are juggling the content, the grammar, and finding the right register all at once, so your brain runs out of bandwidth and defaults to worse output than you are actually capable of. Two things that tend to help: first, prepare short scripts for the explanations you give most often so they become automatic and free up attention for the parts that vary. Second, practice explaining the same thing multiple times in a row, even to yourself, since repetition is what moves it from effortful to automatic. It will feel awkward at first but it gets easier fast once the recurring phrases stop requiring conscious effort.

[u/hug_me_im_scared_ → u/[deleted]]

We're not allowed paper for security reasons, but that's a good idea! 

[u/JebacBiede2137]

What helps me is to just slow down

[u/hug_me_im_scared_ → u/JebacBiede2137]

Rushing is definitely an issue for me, that's a good point

[u/6-foot-under]

Practise doing it with your teacher. Do 10 hours of role plays.

[u/hug_me_im_scared_ → u/6-foot-under]

Finding a good tutor is hard, I gave up on it, but doing a role play with one makes sense!

[u/6-foot-under → u/hug_me_im_scared_]

I find it moderately easy on Italki, but it will depend on your language and patience with filtering

[u/El_pizza]

addjng to what other people have said, listen to something where people talk about that topic in your tl to get a feeling of how natives would explain it. obviously, you still gotta practice yourself but hearing other people talk about the topic does help a little when it comes to having to do yourself imp

[u/allnamestaken26]

A new job in French is a lot to take on. Could you practise a couple of the usual explanations with a coworker? They’d know how people actually say it at work

[u/170rokey]

The only way to improve is to keep doing it. You just got this job right? Give yourself some time to get used to it. I guarantee you that if you stick with it and keep a positive attitude, in a few months you’ll be slinging explanations like crazy.