hi everyone I just want to do a really
quick survey before I start my talk so
just please raise your hands
if the question actually applies to you
so the first question is how many of you
understand English so everyone okay how
many of you believe that be successful
in life you have to be good at speaking
English okay now I’m going to present to
you three different kinds of English
speakers so just sit back and kind of
think about it for a minute and think
about which sort of category you fall in
so first we have speakers as a foreign
language speakers of English as a
foreign language
so you didn’t grow up speaking English
your everyday life wasn’t conducted in
English when you go to school and speak
with your teachers they don’t speak
English
you don’t speak English with your
friends maybe you learn English formally
in a school setting but it’s not the
language of your everyday interactions
so if this is what you identify with
that means you’re a speaker of English
as a foreign language
now the second category is if you’re a
speaker of English as a second language
so that means for big portions of your
life you speak English
maybe at school maybe at work but you
don’t really speak English at home or at
least you don’t speak English with your
grandparents
you don’t speak English to the taxi
driver that drops you off at the
shopping loss so this is what sounds
more familiar to you then you would be
English a speaker of English at the
second language now let’s go to speakers
of English as a first language this is
quite simple you speak English at home
you speak English in school you speak
English when you order your McDonald’s
you speak English to the bus driver that
drops you off in school and the chances
are you speak no other language okay so
how many of you identify as a speaker of
English as a foreign language okay some
all right yeah surprising some actually
I would say how many of you identify as
a speaker of English as a second
language okay more people okay and this
is the question how many of you identify
as a speaker of English as a first
language nice okay we’re still seeing
fewer and fewer hands go up as we move
from speakers of English as a foreign a
second language to speakers of English
as a first language so I want to just
briefly unpack the title of my talk
today which is language as a barrier to
creativity and for the audience here
today what I mean by language really
it’s the English language so think about
it English as the medium that is
preventing creativity preventing you and
me from being creative now some of you
must be thinking how can this possibly
be we spend most of our lives being told
that english is the language of science
is the language of higher education it’s
the language of business it’s a language
of diplomacy some may argue that french
it’s a language of diplomacy but really
it’s english it’s also the language of
Iron Man and surprisingly Jon Snow so
how is this international language
preventing me from being creative so
this afternoon’s theme is about daring
truth and what we’re doing here is we’re
taking ideas and concepts that all of us
believe to be the truth all of us have
accepted are the truth and it’s about
peeling these ideas away peeling the
layers of these ideas away and testing
whether they’re really true or they’re
really correct there are things that we
accept and we haven’t really studied or
analyzed so my challenge is or I
challenge you to think about it if
you’re good at English does this
translate into more creativity and
ultimately success and I would say that
actually being good at English might be
a barrier to your creativity and to your
success and why do I say this
and unpack this as my token volts so all
of us have heard it’s very common
language can be a barrier to
communication even between
to people who actually speak a common
language but how is language a barrier
to creativity now I have to carry arts 1
this works when we’re operating in a
diverse multilingual multi-directional
environment an environment where English
is used as a common language but where
most of us speak it as a second or a
foreign language so this is very much
like the international student body your
everyday environment now – this is an
environment of speakers that speak
English at varying levels so you have
people who speak it o is like a first
language many people who speak it as a
Second Language many people who speak it
as a foreign language and even within
these two second two categories second
language foreign language you also have
varying levels of fluency often English
is prestigious in this environment so
we’re talking about multilingual
environment and with speakers of varying
proficiencies so how does English
prevent you from being creative and
ultimately successful first of all a lot
of us agree that in order to be
successful we first have to be good at
English and there’s a view put your
hands up earlier I can’t see you now but
you know you know who you are so we work
on our English we get better and better
we improve and that’s great for us that
means that we’re becoming more
successful and that’s wonderful right
but what about the other person who’s
English isn’t at the same level of
fluency as yours whose English frankly
isn’t very good and so if you think
about them we think to ourselves well
that’s not our problem is it it’s their
problem you know if they’re not
successful what does that got to do with
us but really the argument that I want
to make is that really they are not
being very good at English is also your
problem and because often we create the
ability to speak good English with a
person’s ability to succeed we think
that when people speak to us in perfect
English
it must mean that the things that
they’re communicating to us are true and
are more valid this is especially so in
a multilingual environment where you
find that a lot of people don’t speak
English as a first language how many of
us have been believers that you know in
this environment when we hear someone
speaking to us in really fluent English
in great English were more likely to
take this person seriously so now
they’re too dangerous reasons why you
know it’s in you know being a good
English speaker and thinking that in
order to succeed in life we must be good
in English and one is it really prevents
us from being critical thinkers and this
is because if you more easily accept the
ideas that are given to you in great
English good English sophisticated
English it means that you more easily
accept these ideas you’re less likely to
test the ideas you’re less likely to
peel away the layers of these ideas and
see if they’re really true now this is
dangerous because it makes us lazy in
terms of being critical thinkers and
really when you’re a lazy critical
thinker this actually inhibits your
creativity now according to Linda naman
creativity is the act of turning new and
imaginative ideas into reality it is
characterized by being able to perceive
the world in different ways making
connections between things are not
really related to each other and to
generate solutions so really being
creative is not only about the creative
industries it’s not about art it’s not
about dance and sculpture and literature
and you know film it’s also about the
way we apply creativity to our everyday
lives very often it’s about problem
solving
very often it’s about using new and
novel ways of coming up with a new
product a new service a new process a
new way of doing things so you can see
that this idea of creativity isn’t just
limited to the creative industries
but it impacts all parts of our lives so
when we’re not critical thinkers we find
it more difficult to perceive the world
using different perspectives different
lenses we find it difficult to make
connections between things that don’t
seem to be related and we it’s difficult
for us to problem-solve and when that
happens and our creativity is inhibited
that also inhibits our success right now
let’s think about the second reason that
this is actually dangerous to us so we
agree or most of us think that when
someone speaks you in good English
perfect English articulate in English
you accept their ideas more easily but
this OSA means that you dismiss the
people ideas of people when they don’t
speak very good English think about the
last time you were in a lecture probably
not so long ago maybe last week or in a
presentation where one of your
classmates were speaking and frankly the
person’s English wasn’t great stiff
maybe a bit not difficult to understand
but it wasn’t very good it wasn’t
particularly fluent or worse it was
heavily accented in an action that
you’re not familiar with so think about
it ask yourself did I tune out after a
while did I flip my phone up and start
looking at it and start you know watch
it looking at someone’s Instagram feed
or start looking at pieces for lunch
did I dismiss the ideas of this person
did I dismiss the information that this
person was giving me simply because this
person’s English wasn’t great ah
and so here we come again to the second
reason it’s dangerous for us to perceive
other people based on how good their
English’s and ironically it is your
creativity that is being blocked here
and not the creativity of the speaker
now if we go back to the quote if
creativity is about new and imaginative
ideas and you block yourself off from
the
years of speakers who don’t speak
English well then you’re really blocking
yourself off from a lot of creative
ideas out there we all know that you do
not have the monopoly on new and
interesting ideas if you look at science
you look at history you look at politics
you realize that not many of us are
original thinkers we all stand on the
shoulders of giants so if we dismiss
people when they don’t speak good
English then we’re also cutting
ourselves off from a lot of new ideas a
lot of creative ideas and that impacts
our own creativity as well so let’s do
some numbers for a minute okay some of
you may have seen that already but if
you haven’t can you take a guess as to
how many English speakers there are out
there in the world well you probably
already saw my pie chart I’ll give you
the answer since you’ve already seen it
it’s 1.5 billion out of a total of seven
billion people in the world but the
number of people who speak English as a
second or foreign language vastly
outnumber first language speakers it’s
about 24% first language speakers and
the remainder would be speakers of
English as a second or foreign language
and that comes up to about slightly over
1.1 billion people within this 1 point 1
billion bracket not everyone speaks
English well not everyone speaks English
with a very neutral accent and so if you
think about it
you’re missing out on a lot of really
really good ideas you’re missing out on
a lot of information and knowledge that
you can get from these people 1.1
billion people so if we absorb the ideas
of these people as well then this adds
to our creativity when we become more
creative we come up with more new ideas
we put our ideas out there and this
carries on the cycle of creativity so
it’s a little bit like Karma but the
good kind of karma and not the bad kind
of Karma
I think it’s important that we put this
into practice in our everyday lives not
just in a lecture or a talk like this
but in our everyday in
reactions with people because there’s a
lot of information that you can get from
these people if you put aside the idea
that you can’t communicate with them
simply because your English is good or
your English is better than theirs and
really you benefit in two ways right
you become a more critical thinker
because even with people who speak
really good English
if you come with the mindset that you
know I’m not going to just accept what
you say because you speak really really
well that makes you a better critical
thinker and that over gives you more
openness to more ideas so it’s a
two-fold benefit for you rather than for
them because they both impact our
creativity our personal creativity and
ultimately our personal success now
remember I did say that this works in a
multilingual martí dialectal environment
that’s really diverse where English is
used as a common language where there
many speakers of English as a second or
a foreign language and this is your
reality today
it’s what the international student body
looks like but I argue that this is also
your environment at the future
especially for your generation you’ll be
going out into the world of work where
you’ll be working with lots of people
from all around the world speaking many
different languages but the common
language that they use is English so if
you capitalize on thinking critically
and being open to others you will gain a
great deal from whatever the ecosystem
that you live in is regardless of
whether it’s today’s student body or
your work of tomorrow now let’s go back
to this idea of people who don’t speak
English very well now they are not
exempted from this I’m not saying that
these people can happily sail through
life expecting you to understand what
they’re trying to say of course they
should improve themselves they should
get better as time goes by but you and I
your listeners it is also our duty to
improve ourselves
in terms of our listening capabilities
with these people we should strive to
open ourselves to them regardless of
their language through
and to kind of allow these creative
ideas to move through the ecosystem to
impact us to make us more creative so
that we can no longer use language as
the excuse or as the barrier to our
creativity and ultimately to our success
thank you [Applause]
quick survey before I start my talk so
just please raise your hands
if the question actually applies to you
so the first question is how many of you
understand English so everyone okay how
many of you believe that be successful
in life you have to be good at speaking
English okay now I’m going to present to
you three different kinds of English
speakers so just sit back and kind of
think about it for a minute and think
about which sort of category you fall in
so first we have speakers as a foreign
language speakers of English as a
foreign language
so you didn’t grow up speaking English
your everyday life wasn’t conducted in
English when you go to school and speak
with your teachers they don’t speak
English
you don’t speak English with your
friends maybe you learn English formally
in a school setting but it’s not the
language of your everyday interactions
so if this is what you identify with
that means you’re a speaker of English
as a foreign language
now the second category is if you’re a
speaker of English as a second language
so that means for big portions of your
life you speak English
maybe at school maybe at work but you
don’t really speak English at home or at
least you don’t speak English with your
grandparents
you don’t speak English to the taxi
driver that drops you off at the
shopping loss so this is what sounds
more familiar to you then you would be
English a speaker of English at the
second language now let’s go to speakers
of English as a first language this is
quite simple you speak English at home
you speak English in school you speak
English when you order your McDonald’s
you speak English to the bus driver that
drops you off in school and the chances
are you speak no other language okay so
how many of you identify as a speaker of
English as a foreign language okay some
all right yeah surprising some actually
I would say how many of you identify as
a speaker of English as a second
language okay more people okay and this
is the question how many of you identify
as a speaker of English as a first
language nice okay we’re still seeing
fewer and fewer hands go up as we move
from speakers of English as a foreign a
second language to speakers of English
as a first language so I want to just
briefly unpack the title of my talk
today which is language as a barrier to
creativity and for the audience here
today what I mean by language really
it’s the English language so think about
it English as the medium that is
preventing creativity preventing you and
me from being creative now some of you
must be thinking how can this possibly
be we spend most of our lives being told
that english is the language of science
is the language of higher education it’s
the language of business it’s a language
of diplomacy some may argue that french
it’s a language of diplomacy but really
it’s english it’s also the language of
Iron Man and surprisingly Jon Snow so
how is this international language
preventing me from being creative so
this afternoon’s theme is about daring
truth and what we’re doing here is we’re
taking ideas and concepts that all of us
believe to be the truth all of us have
accepted are the truth and it’s about
peeling these ideas away peeling the
layers of these ideas away and testing
whether they’re really true or they’re
really correct there are things that we
accept and we haven’t really studied or
analyzed so my challenge is or I
challenge you to think about it if
you’re good at English does this
translate into more creativity and
ultimately success and I would say that
actually being good at English might be
a barrier to your creativity and to your
success and why do I say this
and unpack this as my token volts so all
of us have heard it’s very common
language can be a barrier to
communication even between
to people who actually speak a common
language but how is language a barrier
to creativity now I have to carry arts 1
this works when we’re operating in a
diverse multilingual multi-directional
environment an environment where English
is used as a common language but where
most of us speak it as a second or a
foreign language so this is very much
like the international student body your
everyday environment now – this is an
environment of speakers that speak
English at varying levels so you have
people who speak it o is like a first
language many people who speak it as a
Second Language many people who speak it
as a foreign language and even within
these two second two categories second
language foreign language you also have
varying levels of fluency often English
is prestigious in this environment so
we’re talking about multilingual
environment and with speakers of varying
proficiencies so how does English
prevent you from being creative and
ultimately successful first of all a lot
of us agree that in order to be
successful we first have to be good at
English and there’s a view put your
hands up earlier I can’t see you now but
you know you know who you are so we work
on our English we get better and better
we improve and that’s great for us that
means that we’re becoming more
successful and that’s wonderful right
but what about the other person who’s
English isn’t at the same level of
fluency as yours whose English frankly
isn’t very good and so if you think
about them we think to ourselves well
that’s not our problem is it it’s their
problem you know if they’re not
successful what does that got to do with
us but really the argument that I want
to make is that really they are not
being very good at English is also your
problem and because often we create the
ability to speak good English with a
person’s ability to succeed we think
that when people speak to us in perfect
English
it must mean that the things that
they’re communicating to us are true and
are more valid this is especially so in
a multilingual environment where you
find that a lot of people don’t speak
English as a first language how many of
us have been believers that you know in
this environment when we hear someone
speaking to us in really fluent English
in great English were more likely to
take this person seriously so now
they’re too dangerous reasons why you
know it’s in you know being a good
English speaker and thinking that in
order to succeed in life we must be good
in English and one is it really prevents
us from being critical thinkers and this
is because if you more easily accept the
ideas that are given to you in great
English good English sophisticated
English it means that you more easily
accept these ideas you’re less likely to
test the ideas you’re less likely to
peel away the layers of these ideas and
see if they’re really true now this is
dangerous because it makes us lazy in
terms of being critical thinkers and
really when you’re a lazy critical
thinker this actually inhibits your
creativity now according to Linda naman
creativity is the act of turning new and
imaginative ideas into reality it is
characterized by being able to perceive
the world in different ways making
connections between things are not
really related to each other and to
generate solutions so really being
creative is not only about the creative
industries it’s not about art it’s not
about dance and sculpture and literature
and you know film it’s also about the
way we apply creativity to our everyday
lives very often it’s about problem
solving
very often it’s about using new and
novel ways of coming up with a new
product a new service a new process a
new way of doing things so you can see
that this idea of creativity isn’t just
limited to the creative industries
but it impacts all parts of our lives so
when we’re not critical thinkers we find
it more difficult to perceive the world
using different perspectives different
lenses we find it difficult to make
connections between things that don’t
seem to be related and we it’s difficult
for us to problem-solve and when that
happens and our creativity is inhibited
that also inhibits our success right now
let’s think about the second reason that
this is actually dangerous to us so we
agree or most of us think that when
someone speaks you in good English
perfect English articulate in English
you accept their ideas more easily but
this OSA means that you dismiss the
people ideas of people when they don’t
speak very good English think about the
last time you were in a lecture probably
not so long ago maybe last week or in a
presentation where one of your
classmates were speaking and frankly the
person’s English wasn’t great stiff
maybe a bit not difficult to understand
but it wasn’t very good it wasn’t
particularly fluent or worse it was
heavily accented in an action that
you’re not familiar with so think about
it ask yourself did I tune out after a
while did I flip my phone up and start
looking at it and start you know watch
it looking at someone’s Instagram feed
or start looking at pieces for lunch
did I dismiss the ideas of this person
did I dismiss the information that this
person was giving me simply because this
person’s English wasn’t great ah
and so here we come again to the second
reason it’s dangerous for us to perceive
other people based on how good their
English’s and ironically it is your
creativity that is being blocked here
and not the creativity of the speaker
now if we go back to the quote if
creativity is about new and imaginative
ideas and you block yourself off from
the
years of speakers who don’t speak
English well then you’re really blocking
yourself off from a lot of creative
ideas out there we all know that you do
not have the monopoly on new and
interesting ideas if you look at science
you look at history you look at politics
you realize that not many of us are
original thinkers we all stand on the
shoulders of giants so if we dismiss
people when they don’t speak good
English then we’re also cutting
ourselves off from a lot of new ideas a
lot of creative ideas and that impacts
our own creativity as well so let’s do
some numbers for a minute okay some of
you may have seen that already but if
you haven’t can you take a guess as to
how many English speakers there are out
there in the world well you probably
already saw my pie chart I’ll give you
the answer since you’ve already seen it
it’s 1.5 billion out of a total of seven
billion people in the world but the
number of people who speak English as a
second or foreign language vastly
outnumber first language speakers it’s
about 24% first language speakers and
the remainder would be speakers of
English as a second or foreign language
and that comes up to about slightly over
1.1 billion people within this 1 point 1
billion bracket not everyone speaks
English well not everyone speaks English
with a very neutral accent and so if you
think about it
you’re missing out on a lot of really
really good ideas you’re missing out on
a lot of information and knowledge that
you can get from these people 1.1
billion people so if we absorb the ideas
of these people as well then this adds
to our creativity when we become more
creative we come up with more new ideas
we put our ideas out there and this
carries on the cycle of creativity so
it’s a little bit like Karma but the
good kind of karma and not the bad kind
of Karma
I think it’s important that we put this
into practice in our everyday lives not
just in a lecture or a talk like this
but in our everyday in
reactions with people because there’s a
lot of information that you can get from
these people if you put aside the idea
that you can’t communicate with them
simply because your English is good or
your English is better than theirs and
really you benefit in two ways right
you become a more critical thinker
because even with people who speak
really good English
if you come with the mindset that you
know I’m not going to just accept what
you say because you speak really really
well that makes you a better critical
thinker and that over gives you more
openness to more ideas so it’s a
two-fold benefit for you rather than for
them because they both impact our
creativity our personal creativity and
ultimately our personal success now
remember I did say that this works in a
multilingual martí dialectal environment
that’s really diverse where English is
used as a common language where there
many speakers of English as a second or
a foreign language and this is your
reality today
it’s what the international student body
looks like but I argue that this is also
your environment at the future
especially for your generation you’ll be
going out into the world of work where
you’ll be working with lots of people
from all around the world speaking many
different languages but the common
language that they use is English so if
you capitalize on thinking critically
and being open to others you will gain a
great deal from whatever the ecosystem
that you live in is regardless of
whether it’s today’s student body or
your work of tomorrow now let’s go back
to this idea of people who don’t speak
English very well now they are not
exempted from this I’m not saying that
these people can happily sail through
life expecting you to understand what
they’re trying to say of course they
should improve themselves they should
get better as time goes by but you and I
your listeners it is also our duty to
improve ourselves
in terms of our listening capabilities
with these people we should strive to
open ourselves to them regardless of
their language through
and to kind of allow these creative
ideas to move through the ecosystem to
impact us to make us more creative so
that we can no longer use language as
the excuse or as the barrier to our
creativity and ultimately to our success
thank you [Applause]
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