My broken English still works: speaking at global OSS events
- Time
- 2026-08-08 10:00 ~ 10:30
- Speaker
- Naruhiko Ogasawara
- Room
- TR410
- Co-write
Abstract
To my surprise, giving talks made international conversations easier for me.
I am not good at English, but I keep speaking at global OSS events. My first international talk was a failure. I just read my script, and I could not follow the Q&A at all. Even after living in the United States for a year, my English did not improve much. But I learned something important: imperfect English can still work.
After joining the LibreOffice community, I began speaking at international conferences. I often felt my English was not good enough. What changed me was a message from the community: sharing your perspective is valuable, even in broken English.
In this talk, I will share my journey, along with practical ideas you can use right away: keeping your English simple, reducing the text on your slides, focusing on one core message, and handling Q&A even when you don't understand everything.
You don't need perfect English to join the global OSS community. If you have something to share, your voice already has value.
Speaker
Naruhiko Ogasawara
Naruhiko Ogasawara is a Japanese open source enthusiast with a strong interest in desktop computing, particularly Ubuntu and LibreOffice. A former member of The Document Foundation, he also served as the Japanese translation lead for LibreOffice.
By day, he works as a security engineer, focusing on vulnerability assessment and DevSecOps. Within the open source community, he has contributed to various events and initiatives across Japan and Asia.
He has spoken at international conferences such as the FOSSASIA Summit, sharing his experiences as a non-native English speaker. He is particularly interested in making open source participation more accessible and sustainable through "yuru" (casual, low-pressure) engagement.