Maybe you don’t eat at a dinner table at home or drink tea from a teacup. Maybe you don’t even drink tea, much more using a fork and knife to eat? Who has time for that anyway, when you’re always rushing off to work.
Tea pot
Photo by Loverna Journey on Unsplash
Let’s come to your speech. Is it really necessary to sound ‘English’? Plus, you’ve been able to communicate with everyone fairly well without any hassles. You’re not even working in any of those organizations where a trip overseas is possible, or you feel you’re not likely to rise to a position that will require excellent communication skills and etiquette.
Then, one day, something happens, and all of a sudden, you are thrust into a situation that puts you in front of a dinner table and requires your spoken English to be of a certain standard. What to do? Crawl under the table and hide, or make an excuse and sit in the restroom until dinner is over?
Just because you feel you have no need for something, doesn’t mean you should not prepare for a situation that may call for it.
Improving your communication skills, your standard of spoken and written English, as well as being etiquette savvy raise your market value. Regard them as an investment in yourself. You don’t have to wait till the ‘time’ you think it will be needed. Why not be prepared before that time comes?
Just like Benjamin Franklin said: “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
