Pitching in English as a non-native speaker
By Léo BarcetPublished Updated 4 min read
International demo day, a fund abroad, an accelerator panel, a client on another continent: many founders have to pitch in a language that is not their own. And many lose in English what they had in their first language: ease, humour, conviction. The good news is that this can be trained, and it does not require becoming bilingual.
The real problem is not the accent
Most non-native speakers worry about their accent. It is rarely what holds them back. International investors hear founders from every country, with every accent. What makes a panel tune out is:
- A text that is too complicated to say without effort, with words you trip over.
- A pace that is too fast, often because you want to "sound native" or get it over with.
- A voice that fades: in a foreign language, people speak lower, flatter, and the conviction disappears.
Rewrite, do not translate
A pitch translated from your own language carries its flaws into spoken English: long sentences, abstract nouns, a cascade of subordinate clauses. Rewrite it using four rules.
1. One idea per sentence
"Our platform, which leverages proprietary algorithms developed over three years of research, enables SMEs to..." becomes: "We help small businesses cut their energy bills. We use our own algorithm. It took us three years to build."
2. Action verbs
Pitch English is verb English: we help, we cut, we save, we built, we grew. Replace nouns (the optimization of, the implementation of) with the matching verb.
3. Words you can say easily
If a word makes you stumble at every rehearsal, change it. Entrepreneurship, particularly, thoroughly all have simpler equivalents. Your text should be built around your mouth, not around a dictionary.
4. Numbers said simply
"Thirty percent", "two million euros", "four thousand users". Avoid long numbers and decimals, especially for amounts.
Working on your voice in English
- Slow down a little compared with your own language. What feels slow to you will be comfortable for the room.
- Stress the key words. English is a stress-timed language: leaning on the important word carries the meaning. Underline them in your text and lean on them as you rehearse.
- End your sentences going down. A common reflex among non-native speakers is to go up at the end of a sentence in English, which turns a statement into a question. A sentence that comes down sounds sure.
- Keep your energy up. Imagine speaking to someone at the back of the room. In a foreign language, the voice tends to retreat.
Questions: the real challenge
The pitch is prepared word for word. The questions are not. That is often where your level of English shows. Three tips:
- Prepare short answers to the twenty classic questions, in English, out loud.
- Have a few safety phrases: "Let me make sure I understand your question...", "That's a great point, let me answer in two parts." They buy you time to think.
- Ask for a rephrase if you did not understand. It is far more professional than answering a different question.
What I do with founders who pitch in English
I am an actor and stage director. I wrote and performed the solo show Bulle, presented six times in three countries. With you, I do not correct your accent: together we write a text that sounds like you, at your level of English, then we rehearse it until you say it the way you speak your own language, with the same conviction. The programs are in the offers section, and the method is described on the pitch coaching page.
For the pitch itself, see how to make a pitch, step by step, and for a shorter format, the elevator pitch method.
To go further, read how to structure an investor pitch and the questions investors ask after a pitch.
