Barrie J Roberts
September 30, 2024
If you are an experienced mediator in a language other than English, you might wonder if you’ll ever be able to mediate in English at the same level. Perhaps you assume that your vocabulary, pronunciation, listening-comprehension or cross-cultural communication skills will never be strong enough for a mediation with English speakers. Even if you speak English at an advanced level, perhaps you lack the confidence to serve as a mediator for English-speaking parties or you fear they would lack confidence in you. You might be right – or you might be wrong.
This article offers a variety of ways to transform your thinking about mediating in English.
Reframing Language Challenges as Mediation Strengths
What are your biggest fears about serving as a mediator for English speakers? How could these weaknesses actually be strengths?
Fear:
How could this be a strength?
Fear:
How could this be a strength?
Fear:
How could this be a strength?
Consider these possible responses:
Fears: Your English isn’t perfect. You may not be able to find the right words when you need them. You are sure to make grammatical errors even if you know the rules. Your pronunciation isn’t always clear to native English speakers. You may not understand what the parties are saying, especially if they speak quickly, get emotional, or use idioms, so how could you ask follow-up questions that make sense? The parties may become frustrated with you because of your English.
How could you use these problems to strengthen your mediations in English?
It depends on how you look at it.
Reframing Language Challenges as Mediation Strengths
Mediation is all about “understanding,” from the meaning of words to the meaning of our deepest needs and values. When you mediate in your first language, you might assume that you understand what a party has said and why it is so important to them – but you might miss something. When you mediate in English, you will naturally pay special attention to both the words and the “music” (what the party is communicating without words through body language and tone).
You must work harder to understand the parties. And you must work harder to show them that you are sincerely trying to understand what’s important to them. As a result, you will probably use active listening more often than you would in your first language “just to be sure I’m understanding you correctly.” This is a good thing.
The Benefits of Transparency and Active Listening
Mediation is also about trust. This requires mediators to be “up front” (honest and direct). A confident mediator is a “transparent" mediator. We are so confident in our mediation skills that if we don’t understand what a party has said – for any reason - we stop and ask about it. Can you help me understand why __ is so important to you? Can you say more about what you meant when you said ______? These are common questions in mediations even when everyone is speaking the same first language.
If you are mediating with English speakers, keep in mind that perhaps they weren’t clear even if English is their first language. Perhaps any mediator, including a native English speaker, would be asking the English-speaking party if they could clarify what they meant.
But maybe the problem really is an English language problem on your side. Perhaps you missed English class the day your instructor explained a particular idiom that a party has used. If so, consider saying something like, Could you help me understand this another way? In addition to showing the parties that they can trust you to tell them when you don’t understand something, this question benefits the parties by helping them think about whether they are really saying what they want to say. Once again, this is a good thing for mediation.
If English is not your first language, it will be obvious to the parties. They may wonder if there will be a communication problem. Consider being up front about this in your opening remarks/mediator’s introduction. For example, you might say that every mediation requires the participants to work together to understand each other, even when everyone shares the same first language, and this will be especially true in this mediation. This could put everyone on the same team – at least when it comes to communication – working together to make sure everyone understands everything – even if they don’t agree with everything. This could help create a positive atmosphere and promote good working relationships that lead to good agreements.
Additionally, if you are honest about your English skills, the parties may naturally try to help you out by speaking more slowly and clearly, and they won’t be surprised if you ask them to repeat what they’ve said in other words. Again, these are all positives for mediation.
In addition to understanding and trust, a key part of mediation is identifying the parties’ interests and needs, including universal needs that all humans have in common. When people from different cultures work together to understand parties’ interests and needs, they get the benefit of new perspectives – seeing and expressing needs in new ways – and gaining the perspective that their fears, vulnerabilities and other emotions are universal and not personal to them. This can only benefit the mediation process.
There are many other ways to turn language weaknesses into mediation strengths. If you agree, your EDR colleagues would love to hear why. If you are not convinced, you’re probably not the only one, and we’d love to hear what you think. Either way, let us know how EDR can help you improve your mediating skills in English. Send your feedback, experience, questions, or requests here.
#mediation #ESL #nonnativespeakers #confidence #crossculturalcommunication #ADR