- Scale Your Speaking by Mo Khalaf
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- I Found Myself Stuttering Lately—Here’s What I Did.
“If you didn’t mention it, I would’ve never guessed.”
I’ve heard this phrase so many times, I almost started to believe I was Shakespeare.
But guess what?
I’m not.
Most people don’t notice it right away, but if we talk long enough, you’ll catch on:
English isn’t my first language.
Does that mean I suck at it?
Absolutely not.
In fact, I consider English one of my native languages.
The problem is… I also speak Arabic and French natively. And I can save myself in Italian (barely though.)
And sometimes my brain decides to mix them all together.
Like when I mean to say “Let me know if you need anything.”
But I structure it like this instead: “If you need anything, tell me.”
It isn’t technically wrong, but it follows a more Arabic/Lebanese sentence flow.
These small shifts might not seem major, but in English, they make the sentence feel slightly off or unnatural.
It’s usually fine… but lately, my brain has been playing tricks on me and it’s been happening way more than I’d like. It’s testing my patience.
So, I decided to do something about it.
Most speakers (even native English speakers) can improve their speaking clarity and “smoothness” with this simple trick:
Slow. Down.
Take your time pronouncing your words.
For example, an Aussie might say "G’day, howyagoin’?" (which sounds like one long, mumbled word), but instead, they can simply slow down and pronounce it clearly: "Good day, how are you going?"
Or a New Yorker might rush through "Whaddaya wanna do?", but if they slow down, it becomes "What do you want to do?"
This small shift makes a huge difference in how you’re heard.
So what did I do?
I opened a voice chat with ChatGPT and asked it to have a conversation with me.
I also asked it to correct my pronunciation and give me feedback after every response.
I share a few more techniques like this in my new Speaker Within course.
If you want to refine your speaking skills, whether for presentations, sales calls, or just everyday conversations, you can check it out here: