This is the ‘win with stories’ newsletter. Every other week, I send an email with a message wrapped in a super short story and three actionable communication tips.
I think Tinder is the best language learning app. I really do. Are you surprised?
Let me tell you a story…
Why is Tinder the best language learning app?
Back in 2015, I found myself in Brazil. It was my one year travel sabbatical(which actually went on for 18 months).
But there was a problem.
I had underestimated the language problem. Very few Brazilians speak English.
So here I was, surrounded by pretty women(it was Brazil, after all). They were friendly too, but I could not chat with any of them. And learning an alien language in a few weeks seemed next to impossible.
That’s when I downloaded Tinder for the first time on a friend’s recommendation. I wasn’t very hopeful though. I assumed the app won’t let me get over the language barrier.
But I kept swiping right.
Surprise. Quite a few women matched with me and I’d have conversations with them on Tinder using google translator. Slowly conversations would move to whatsapp.
Now I had the chance to communicate even without actually knowing the language. And that helped me go out on a few dates.
But the bigger benefit was the constant translation from English to Portuguese and vice-versa. This meant I started understanding common Portuguese words and phrases. In a way, the promise of meeting Brazilian women motivated me to learn their language.
People take efforts when the reward is desirable. Without the promise of potential romance I would not have worked so hard on learning Portuguese.
What do you think? By promising a reward, you could motivate your audience or even yourself to take the desired action.
Since we are talking about Brazil, let me share three communication tips I learnt while traveling through the land of Samba.
- Smile: Brazilians have an infectious smile. Even if you meet them on the street, conversations lead to easy smiles. That’s why I think of Brazilians as special people.
I see a lot of people in business, who seem so serious. Okay, what we do is serious
business, but nothing stops us from enjoying ourselves and making others comfortable.
Smiling can help you build stronger connections. Try it 🙂
- Rhythmic words and taglines: another thing Brazilians are good at is rhythm. While their music and dance has it, so do their language, brands and campaigns.
I remember this guy who played a clown on some TV show and who ran the election as a
joke. And he actually ended up winning. His character’s name is pronounced as
Chi-ri-rica. Despite being an alien name and country, I still remember the name after so
many years. That’s because of the rhythm. Come up with campaigns, taglines and
program names that are easy to remember and bounce off people’s tongues. It helps.
- Authenticity: Brazilians come in all shapes, sizes and colours. And though the country has its own problems with race and inclusion, I found most Brazilians to be authentic. People embrace their heritage, sexuality and where they come from while being warm and hospitable.
That’s it for today. I encourage you to visit the South American powerhouse, whenever travel makes a comeback. Hope you enjoyed this edition of ‘win with stories’ newsletter. If you have a question about business or personal communication, feel free to reply here or connect with me on Linkedin or Twitter.
One last request – forward this to friends and colleagues who’d find this story and the tips useful. If you received this email from someone and liked it, you can subscribe here.
Cheers.
Sachin.
