So for the past 20 years, I’ve been helping Malaysian and other Southeast Asians to speak better English. And through training thousands of Southeast Asians, I’ve discovered a very surprising truth.

I’ve discovered that how well somebody communicates in English actually has very little to do with their English level. It has a lot to do with their attitude towards English.

There are people out there who have a very, very low level of English, and they can communicate very very well. One of them that I remember was a student, a participant of mine, named Faizal. He was a factory supervisor—English level very very low—but this guy could just sit and listen to anybody, very calmly, clearly, and then he could respond, absolutely express his thoughts beautifully, at a very low level of English.

So, today I want to share with you what is so different about people like Faizal? How do they do it?

And second of all, why is this so important not only to you, but to your children, to your community, and to the future of Malaysia?

And third of all, what’s one thing you can do, starting today, if you want to speak with that calm, clear confidence that people like Faizal have.

So first of all, what is so different? How do people like Faizal do it?

So to answer that question, I’m going to take you back about 10 years, okay? I was training staff at that time, and my daughter, at that time, was taking piano lessons. And I started to notice two really strong similarities between my daughter’s attitude or thinking towards playing the piano and a lot of Malaysians’ thinking or attitude towards English.