© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. Revelation 7:9

Know your world. Too many educated people don't. Their ignorance about the world—even about their own country—is shocking. Basic geography. Basic history. Everyone should have a basic knowledge of where the different countries are and how they came to be there. Once again, a magazine like The Economist provides an excellent world view every week. There's nothing cute about Americans not knowing the difference between Tanzania and Argentina. This pervasive kind of ignorance is a national disgrace.

This book was originally written in English. It's a rich, flexible international language. Perhaps there are a greater number of native Chinese or Spanish speakers in the world, but if you add all the people who speak English as a second language, it becomes the most widely spoken language. The number of people in China who study and speak at least a little English is greater than the entire population of the United States. When people from many different countries have to communicate—from airlines to multinational corporations—English is the language of choice.

But if you're a native English speaker, don't fall into the trap of leaning on your English—expecting everyone else in the world to use your language. The greatest thing you can do to expand your international view of the world is to learn another language. You also learn another culture that way. You open doors to your mind. Forget the awful language classes you had in school. This time you're going to learn at your own pace for your own needs. And when you start to have real conversations in another language you feel on top of the world.

The key to learning a language is slow but steady work. Take an undemanding course or private lessons with a little bit of homework—but do it every week as a hobby over the years. You're not in a hurry to learn how to buy train tickets or make hotel reservations in another country (you can do that in English). You're introducing yourself to another culture over the long term. If you combine steady language learning with travel you build yourself tremendously. But, remember, it took you many years to learn your English. There's no quick fix in learning a language.

It really doesn't matter what language you study, as long as it motivates you. Spanish is an obvious choice for Americans. More than ten percent of our own population speak it, as well millions of our southern neighbors. Asian languages are more difficult for English speakers but important for business. French, Italian, German and Russian open up rich storehouses of European culture.

I am a writer. I consider a full command of the English language my most valuable treasure. But speaking German and French are also important to me. And not knowing my way around a map of the world? That's inconceivable. It's the only world you and I have.