You're Not 'Bad at English' – You're Just Translating Instead of Communicating
A 4-minute read on the difference that changes everything.
The Label That Doesn't Fit
"I'm bad at English."
You've probably said these words about yourself, maybe after stumbling through a presentation, hesitating at a meeting, or feeling tongue-tied during an important phone call. You look at your colleagues who seem to speak English effortlessly and think, "They're good at English. I'm not."
But here's what research on Filipino professionals reveals: you're not bad at English. You're just doing something completely different than what you think you're doing.
You think you're speaking English. But you're actually translating—and translation is an entirely different skill that nobody taught you was different from communication.
The Hidden Difference
Communication: Expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas to connect with others
Translation: Converting words and phrases from one language system to another
When you "speak English," your brain is actually running two separate processes:
Creating thoughts in your native language
Converting those thoughts to English words
This is translation work. It's cognitive heavy lifting that exhausts you and distances you from natural expression. No wonder it feels hard—you're doing something much more complex than communication.
Meanwhile, those colleagues you admire? They're not translating. They're communicating directly in English. They're doing something fundamentally different, not necessarily something better.
What Research Shows About Your "Bad English"
Studies on Philippine English reveal something powerful: emotional authenticity is 32% more important than grammatical accuracy in professional settings.
The research followed Filipino call center workers—professionals who use English all day, every day. What did they find? The most successful agents weren't those with perfect grammar. They were those who stopped translating and started communicating with sincere intention.
One participant shared: "There are really customers who would make you feel like you do not deserve speaking that language [English]. I'm not a native speaker, sometimes I commit lapses, and sometimes it really makes you feel that you are different from them."
But here's the crucial insight: the "lapses" weren't the problem. The belief that those lapses made them "bad at English" was the problem.
The Translation Trap in Action
Here's what translation thinking looks like in your daily work:
The Setup: Your boss asks your opinion about the new project timeline.
Your Internal Process:
Perfect response forms in Tagalog/Bisaya: "Medyo mahirap yung timeline pero kaya naman kung magtutulungan tayo at mag-focus sa mga priority tasks."
Brain scrambles to translate: "The timeline is... um... quite difficult but... we can manage if... we work together and... focus on priority tasks."
You speak the translation, which sounds formal and disconnected.
You judge yourself: "I'm bad at English."
What Actually Happened: You successfully performed complex translation under pressure. That's not bad English—that's impressive multilingual processing.
What You Needed: Direct communication in English context: "This timeline's going to challenge us, but I think we can hit it if we focus on the critical tasks and support each other."
The Science Behind Why Translation Fails
Research on bilingual cognition shows that translation thinking creates three major problems:
1. Cognitive Overload Your brain is managing two language systems simultaneously, leaving fewer resources for natural expression, relationship building, and creative thinking.
2. Cultural Mismatch Filipino communication patterns don't translate directly to English professional contexts. What sounds perfect in Tagalog can sound overly formal or unclear in English.
3. Emotional Distance Translation strips away the emotional content that makes communication engaging. Your natural warmth, humor, and passion get lost in the conversion process.
Why You Think You're "Bad" When You're Actually Skilled
The translation trap makes you judge yourself unfairly because:
You compare your internal experience to others' external appearance You feel the struggle of translation while observing others' apparently effortless communication. You don't see their internal process—you just see their output.
You've been taught that hesitation means incompetence In reality, your hesitation often comes from trying to do complex translation work in real-time. That hesitation shows thoughtfulness, not inability.
You measure against an impossible standard You compare your English to "native speakers" who aren't translating at all. It's like comparing your marathon time while carrying a backpack to someone running without any gear.
The Philippine English Reality
Research on Philippine English phonology reveals something revolutionary: Filipino English isn't "broken" American English—it's its own legitimate variety with its own "self-contained system."
Your pronunciation patterns, stress placement, and intonation aren't errors to be fixed. They're natural features of Philippine English that reflect your multilingual competence. When you judge these as "bad English," you're accepting a colonised view of what English "should" sound like.
Studies show that educated Filipino speakers often "view their own English less positively than so-called native varieties," even though their English is perfectly functional and professionally appropriate.
The Communication Breakthrough
The shift from translation to communication changes everything. Here's how it looks:
Translation Mindset:
"How do I say this correctly in English?"
Focus on avoiding mistakes
Internal pressure to sound like someone else
Exhaustion after English conversations
Communication Mindset:
"How do I share this idea effectively?"
Focus on being understood
Internal drive to express authentic self
Energy from successful connection
The One-Week Challenge
Research suggests you can break the translation habit with intentional practice. Try this:
Day 1-2: Notice when you're translating. Pay attention to the mental pause between thinking and speaking. That's your translation moment.
Day 3-4: Practise direct English thinking. Describe your immediate surroundings in English without thinking in your native language first.
Day 5-7: Apply to work contexts In low-stakes situations. Practise expressing work thoughts directly in English.
The Truth About Your English
You're not bad at English. You're highly skilled at something much more complex than English—simultaneous multilingual processing. You can understand English media, navigate English websites, and follow English conversations. You have robust English comprehension and expression abilities.
What you need isn't better English. What you need is to stop translating and start communicating.
Your English is already good enough to build relationships, advance your career, and contribute meaningfully to any workplace. The only thing standing between you and confident English communication is the belief that you need to translate everything first.
Stop Translating. Start Communicating.
Your thoughts are valuable. Your ideas matter. Your perspective brings unique value to your workplace.
Don't diminish them by forcing them through a translation filter that strips away their power. Communicate them directly, authentically, and with the confidence you already possess.
You're not bad at English. You're just ready to discover that communication is so much more powerful than translation.
