Tips for working closely with someone you struggle to understand?
Hey all, I'm a mid-level dev with coming up on 6 years of experience, working at a massive international bank. I was just assigned to a new team that's pretty diverse, and it's a great group of people. Our new tech lead, though, has the heaviest accent I have ever worked with. She's from China and has been in the US about a decade. She's extremely kind and knowledgeable, but when she speaks, if I listen closely I might understand 60% of what she's saying.
Now, I'm no stranger to minor language barriers; we have a lot of international teams, I have many friends abroad, and I also travel abroad often. That being said, I've always felt uncomfortable and a little embarrassed when I genuinely can't follow someone. This lack of comfort is 100% on me, but it makes me feel rude and ignorant to keep asking someone to repeat themselves, like I'm highlighting how they're different or implying their English isn't good enough.
As the second most senior dev on the team, my manager has asked me to work with her as a sort of "co-tech lead", acknowledging of course that she is still the real tech lead. He would like me to work with her on capacity planning, team level ups, maintaining code quality, etc. I think a big part of this is helping my own growth, as my manager knows I'm targeting senior in this next promotion cycle, and I think some of it is due to the language barrier between her and the team. My French colleague recommended I try the smart glasses he wears daily, dymesty. It offer real-time translation. Apparently a lot of people in multinational corporations use them without anyone noticing, avoids the awkwardness.
I think it could be one of the solutions. I genuinely need to overcome this language barrier right now. And I've realized that I keep dragging my feet on scheduling planning meetings with her because I'm afraid of embarrassing myself or her, which is completely silly and unprofessional.
Does anyone have a similar experience? Any tips or tool recommendations for dealing with a serious language barrier? Or, how do you keep asking someone to repeat themselves without fearing the awkwardness?