Ooh, La, La!

“No, thank you. I’m full.” Uh oh. I could tell from the quick glances sideways and the grins quickly suppressed that I had said something wrong yet again. It turns out, when my hostess had offered me more salad, I had said in French, “No, thank you. I’m pregnant.” A word to the wise. If you are speaking a foreign language, do not directly translate from English into that foreign language. It will get you in trouble every time. This is the voice of experience talking. (And always listen to your mother when she tells you it’s impolite to say you’re full.)rnI speak two foreign languages – French and Danish. It took me 17½ years to become fluent in French. It took me one year to become fluent in Danish. Why the difference? Because I spent most of my time learning French in an American classroom where I was so self conscious about not speaking “perfect” French that I hardly ever opened my mouth. Lucky for me, I eventually ended up living in a French-speaking country and was forced to use my “good enough” French that – lo and behold – eventually became fluent. And, no, it never became perfect because perfect isn’t possible. Not even the Parisians speak French perfectly. Ooh la la! I’m going to get some grief for that one! When I moved to Denmark and it was time to learn Danish, I had learned my lesson with the French. So I spoke my really awful Danish from the first day I arrived in the country. Only the kids understood me, and they did a lot of laughing. But guess what? My Danish quickly progressed to “good enough,” and I was fluent within a year. What the heck does this have to do with writing and coaching? Just this. When you’re learning a foreign language (like Coaching Business Writing), good enough is just that – good enough. It sure as heck beats not writing at all. You can’t communicate with your target market if you don’t write. You can’t connect with your prospective clients if you don’t write. And, just like everything else you do as a coach and a business owner, with practice your writing goes from good enough to fluent. But nobody speaks French, Danish, or Coaching Business Writing perfectly. So don’t even bother trying. Here are my five tips for becoming fluent in Coaching Business Writing: 1. Get clear on who you’re writing to, why you’re writing to them, and what you’re writing to them about. 2. Coach yourself. Reframe all those self-limiting beliefs and negative mindsets you have about writing and your ability to write. 3. Let go of your self-consciousness, get out your pen or computer, and write. 4. Be content with good enough (for right now). Your audience will appreciate that you are making the effort to connect with them and speak their language. 5. Remember, practice doesn’t make perfect but it does make fluent. If you want to become fluent in Coaching Business Writing, you’ve got to write. Okay. I’ve got to go now. I’m off to my Italian class. I’m still at the awful stage but plan to be fluent any day now. While I’m busy butchering the Italian language, share the biggest faux pas you ever made in a language – foreign or otherwise.(Keep it clean, please!)