Learning English while doing scientific research

Presenting: learning by doing it often

In the lab and in many classes, people took turns presenting their projects. Because I had to do it again and again, my presentation skills improved step by step.

The first time is always hard. But every time in front of an audience is practice in speaking, answering questions and staying calm.

Using visuals to tell a story

What helped me most while my spoken English was still limited was using visuals. Each slide is one step in the story: what the question is, what I did, what I found, and what it means.

When the pictures guide the audience, I do not need long, complicated sentences. People can follow the story even if my pronunciation is not perfect.

Writing papers: read a lot, write a lot, get corrected

I read and wrote scientific papers regularly. My supervisor corrected my drafts, and with every correction I learned how people in the field express an idea.

Writing a paper is, at heart, storytelling too: a logical thread from the question to the results and what they mean. When the story is clear, the sentences are much easier to write.

That is also why my reading and writing improved faster than my speaking: I did them every day.

Advice for PhD students and researchers

• Take every chance to present, even in small groups. Skill comes from repetition.
• Build each talk as a story with pictures, one idea per slide.
• Read papers in your field and notice how authors open, move between ideas and conclude.
• Ask your supervisor or colleagues to correct your writing, and study every correction.
• Do not forget pronunciation: a clear talk needs both a good story and speech the audience can follow. See what I wish I had known before moving to the US.