English is not an indication of intelligence…
A plea for equality and respect
One of my greatest joys is listening to founders and/or entrepreneurs pitch their ideas, ventures or sell their solutions.
I have great respect and passion for the ideation journey. The movement of concept in one’s mind to a physical manifestation or real-world application.
It might explain, why I enjoy spending time with researchers, especially those working on deep tech.
Ideas are such powerful features within the homosapien arsenal, to my knowledge, all other creatures on this planet, fail to have a similar ability. Ideas, allow for vision and planning, to be able to see the world as is and find the strength to remake it into what you would like and an improvement of what it currently it.
No matter the deity you recognize, there is, in my opinion – a fair distribution of ideas, intellect and abilities across races, ethnic groups, nations and genders.
Furthermore, humans are able to take inspiration from one another, to build something unique and innovative.
Or just a knock-off of something else.
So, even in the absence of such distribution, there is the ability to imitate.
From a historical perspective, the British occupation of the Cape Colony, precursor to what we understand as the Republic of South Africa commenced in 1795, after over 100 years of Dutch occupation.
In that time – race, customs and language supremacy were in effect, and we live under the fruitful result of the initial seed and colonial conquest. One of stripping power, privilege and land from the indigenous populations.
What resulted is a system that recognizes the English language as the medium of instruction at an educational level and generally accepted language for conducting commerce in society.
The Dutch descendants, were quite empowered to develop their own language, Afrikaans, which took up secondary and at a time, during the Apartheid years, primary language within South Africa.
Due to all this, there is an almost an unspoken rule, that English and to a lesser extent, Afrikaans are the languages for business, and progessiveness. If you are not proficient in them and able to articulate yourself fully, with them, you are blocked from economic opportunities of all kinds.
Due to my work, I get a chances to speak to people pitching ideas for investment purposes or themselves for employment purposes. What I have come to understand is that some of the best candidates I have encountered were initially not well versed, but when asked to speak in their home language, or as we say in South Africa, mother-tongue. They were able to articulate and show with great passion what they stand for.
What we forget or totally miss out on, is that people who speak more than one language, are already showing signs of intellect. Furthermore, they would have a base language they think in and have to interpret their thoughts to the lanugate they have to articulate in. This is a major process, made more challenging when you have to present technical issues to a panel.
So, when one comes across someone who is struggling and stuttering as they present in English, be kind. You would not be able to do the same in their home language.