To speak English fluently, you first need the confidence to speak.
If you aren’t confident, it’s more difficult to speak regularly or try new words and phrases. (These are really important if you want to make progress in your English speaking!)
The way to become more confident is to change your mindset (= beliefs). Here are three ways you can do this.
1. Your beliefs about yourself
Do you believe that you’re “no good with languages”? Perhaps your English teacher at school always gave you low marks, which made you feel less confident.
Unfortunately, our previous experiences can stay with us for a long time. But there are a couple of mindset “fixes” that can help:
1. Remember that you’re good with languages
I asked my subscribers on YouTube how many languages they spoke. Here are the results:
People don’t just speak one language. Often they speak two, and some speak three or more. That’s amazing!
My point is this: If you can already speak one other language (= your own) you CAN speak another!
2. School is different to “real life”
At school, when you learn English as a subject, the focus is often on grammar and reading comprehension. Tests and exams are often about how much you can remember. This is not real life! In real life, we want to remember things permanently – not just for a 30-minute test.
What’s more, although grammar is important, it’s only one part of speaking. In real life conversations, other things are equally important!
2. You’re worried about mistakes
Fear of making mistakes can stop us speaking. We focus on how we’ll feel embarrassed about the mistakes, and maybe that other people will judge us or laugh at us. But here’s a way to think about mistakes that can change our mindset:
1. Nobody remembers mistakes after the conversation
It’s difficult to remember every word of a conversation afterwards. We can remember the general ideas, but not specific words or mistakes.
So what about vocabulary? You might be worried that you won’t remember the right word. Here’s the fix for that – and it’s more a long-term fix:
2. Learn phrases, not single words
English is full of “set phrases”, such as collocations (words that go together) or standard phrases. You can use these set phrases again and again, in millions of conversations! All that you need to do is to change the specific details, while the phrases remain the same.
I call these “fluency phrases” because they help you become fluent, without a lot of effort. I teach them in my two fluency programs, which you get when you’re a member of the English Fluency Club – see below for more details.
3. You never use English
If you never speak English, it can be really difficult to start again. But like everything that you practise, it will get easier. The mindset fix for this is simple:
1. Regular speaking is the most important thing for confidence
You don’t need to speak for hours, and you don’t need to speak about complicated things. Short, regular conversations will increase your confidence so that speaking English feels more natural.
This is probably obvious to you! After all, it took you a few times to become a confident cyclist or a confident driver. We all start slow and nervous, but as we do it more often, we become more confident. English speaking is no different!
Get confident through regular speaking
The only way to become more fluent and confident in English is through speaking regularly.
In the English Fluency Club, you can expect a real transformation of your English. Go from shy to confident!
* Small groups mean you have a lot of “speaking time”
* International students mean you improve your listening and understanding
* A supportive atmosphere give you the confidence to speak
Join us TODAY and start your journey to English fluency!