This week, I’m leaving you in the capable hands of Andrijana from Justlearn. Hope you enjoy this post on beating your fear of speaking English, and I’ll catch up with you next week.
Hi, I am Andrijana and I am a content writer and a marketing manager at Justlearn.
I speak English, French and Serbian and I enjoy sharing unique tips and tricks related to language learning.
In my spare time, I love to binge-watch TV shows, then read about fan theories online. I am very passionate about self-improvement and teaching.
Some people have the ability to get into a conversation in a foreign language with such ease and confidence. Even if they don’t have a rich vocabulary, chatting casually is no problem for them.
You, on the other hand, think that there is a higher chance of an asteroid hitting the Earth before you overcome your fear of speaking English, right?
If you think that you are the only one who feels that way, trust me, you are not!
In fact, the fear of speaking a foreign language is far more common than you might think. There is a name for this fear or so-called phobia: xenoglossophobia, the fear of learning and speaking foreign languages.
We all know that feeling of not being able to put our thoughts into words.
Let’s find a way to beat this one together, shall we?
What exactly are you afraid of?
The fear of failure, being misunderstood and grammar mistakes are the three most common reasons why people are afraid to speak English. Making mistakes feels like failure. And that seems like ‘the end of the world’ for us.
Then there is the inevitable anxiety.
Anxiety reduces your brain’s ability to do its job the way it is supposed to. It means that when you are anxious about speaking English with others, your brain can’t process the language properly.
The fear of being judged is usually present as well. Most of us are afraid of being judged. It is the same thing with foreign languages because we often think that others judge us for our grammar or pronunciation mistakes.
Ways to overcome your fear of speaking English
No need to despair. There is always a way to succeed. Here’s what you need to do:
Identify your exact fears
Before you start a conversation, why don’t you try talking to yourself first? Try to explain to yourself that there is no real reason to be scared. Start the conversation without fear. Remind yourself that fear is not rational and that it will only hold you back from your goal, which is to speak English fluently.
Practice
Preparation and practice can help you with your confidence as well. As much as you think that other people are natural talents, believe me, they surely prepare themselves and practise a lot. However, it takes time, and it won’t happen overnight. Invest your time and energy into practice. Over time, you will see improvement.
Speak
If you feel afraid, one-on-one conversation is a good start. Group conversations can be more complex, and people usually speak faster. To overcome your fear, try talking to one person. This way, you can concentrate on their speed, style, the way they are speaking, etc., especially if you talk to a stranger. One more tip: don’t overthink your way of speaking, words you are going to use, etc. Just relax and let the talk flow.
Ask questions
One of the best tips to have meaningful conversations is to ask questions. This way you won’t be the center of attention, but you will still practise your language skills. Asking questions allows you to participate but at the same time doesn’t force you to be overly included.
Slow down
In the beginning, speak slowly, so if your speaking partner doesn’t realize that, feel free to ask them to slow down a little bit. It is interesting to know that if you begin talking clearly and slowly, your partner will speak that way, too.
Repeat
There are various topics, but they are pretty much repeating themselves. No matter how many different people you meet, topics are mainly about everyday life. It benefits you because you will simply use the same or similar words and phrases, and over time, you can master and expand them. After all, that’s the point of vocabulary growth.
Smile
With an honest smile, you can also speak the language in some way. Perhaps you are familiar with this fact, but it is good to mention that a smile can really help sometimes. When you start talking, don’t think about your fears or about words or phrases you might use wrongly. Instead, put a smile on your face and just speak.
How to speak English with confidence?
If you, after all these tips, feel nervous and shy about speaking English with other people, then you surely need to work on your confidence. In order to be more confident with English, try the following tips. You will soon realize that everybody makes mistakes and that it isn’t the end of the world.
- First of all, don’t worry. Even native speakers make mistakes. Nobody will laugh at you.
- Read a lot. For starters, find a text up to 300 words and something that isn’t too hard for you.
- If you aren’t sure, ask someone who is fluent or native English to read it for you and record it. You can hire a native English tutor online and practice your skills regularly.
- Listen to recorded audio and practise along with it. Practise until you become more confident.
- Try reading the text without any help. After several repetitions, record your voice. You can record it any time you want, not just once. This way, you will not only listen and compare yours with your tutor’s recording, but you can also see your improvement and learn from it.
- Stand in front of the mirror. If you are a shy person, this will be excellent practice for you. After practicing in front of the mirror, you will definitely have more confidence.
Native English speakers are very good friends
Hanging out with native speakers is always the best way to improve your speaking abilities. At least in today’s world, this is more than easy. Make friends with native English speakers. That way, you will be ‘forced’ to speak with them only in English.
How to make friends with English speakers? Some ideas you can try:
- Find conversational networking groups and forums that use English on the internet. You can offer to teach your native language in exchange.
- Find places, clubs or bars near you with events held by English speakers. There, you will have the opportunity to meet many native speakers and also make friends with them. They can help you with English, and you can help them with, for example, finding nice restaurants in the neighborhood or perhaps good clubs for partying.
- Join conversational classes. There are plenty of these types of courses that you can join and make some new foreign friends.
- Travel to English speaking countries. Meet native speakers, start a conversation with them. Ask for directions or some tips for having fun and invite them to go out with you. Friendships made this way are one of the strongest and most honest ones.
What if none of these tips for confidence work for me?
If you can’t find a way to overcome your fear, that only means that you are way too afraid and anxious about it. But not to worry. For every problem, there is a solution. Take a look at our recommendations:
Take time off
Take a break a little bit, for example, a week without English. Perhaps your anxiety makes things seem worse than they really are. So, a short break should be right for you. Do something else: cook, go for a walk, try some new coffee or tea flavors, etc.
Relax
Every time you feel worried about speaking, remind yourself to relax. Keep in mind that being nervous won’t help you. It will only make things worse.
Be positive
Your attitude is the first step to success. If you are positive about your English skills, you will be more confident, and, therefore, you will not be afraid to start speaking.
Motivate yourself
Whenever you feel blue, remember, your goal is to speak English confidently. Remind yourself of why you started learning English in the first place. If you are doing it for a promotion at work, that’s more than okay. If you, maybe, want to learn to impress your partner, keep that in mind every time you get discouraged.
Believe in yourself
No matter that this tip is at the bottom of our list, it doesn’t mean it is less valuable, quite the contrary. It is the most important thing: you need to believe in yourself in order to overcome any fear.
Are you afraid to speak English? How do you cope with it? Do you have some additional tips that we could include?
23 thoughts on “Afraid of speaking English? Read this!”
Thanks a lot It is really helpful I appreciate your tips.
Hi Sameh,
Thanks for your comment, it means a lot! Hope the tips will help to get rid of that fear 😉
Good luck!
Andrijana
Hi Andrijana,
Your tips are fantastic…. they are really helpful. By the way, had a quick question.
Do you have materials that can be used to improve English Speaking Skills?? Or materials on building confidence?
I’d really appreciate if you could share in case you have them @: chrisreji@gmail.com
Thanks
Mam are you any online classes for spoken english.If so please let me know I would like to learn English from you
I think speaking a foreign language is a totally mind-opening experience. You need to stretch yourself in so different ways, wich is amazing and enriching.
Very useful to increase my stamina and productivity.
Wooow really helpfull
Thanks alot it will help me alot
thanks a lot your extraordinary tips. its really helpful. can you suggest me online speaking practice app.it will be your great favor.
speak native app
I’m so happy for you guys! This is really helpful. I hope it will help a lot
I love this
Andrijana
Thank you for this tips it really helped me a lot on overcoming this fear of failure of mine and even if this is just a small advice it is a really big thing for me cause im having a hard time searching for effective tips like this one. Thank you!
I am very thankful for your recommendations. You show me a path of success and happiness.
thanks, it really helpful to me to overcome my fear in speaking english
I will thanks for the wonderful quote,I will like to keep up these platform.
Thank you much for these extraordinary advices! It will definitely help me to overcome my fear of speaking foreign language in public. My main problem when speaking english is that I can’t even make a sentence but I’m working on it as often as possible and like I said before your advices will definitely help me.
Hello Adrijana,
I’m Emily and i want to thank you for your advice..I am a Filipino, and i want to learn more on how to be good in speaking in English and practice my spelling..
Hi, my fear is feeling ashamed , after 10 years living in foreign country but not native English I cannot speak well.
Well, I guess maybe the trick here is to ask yourself “Am I trying to sound like an English person or am I trying to sound like a competent English speaker from [insert your country here]?”
If you focus on the second thing, then you might even discover some things to be proud of that “native” speakers don’t have.
And remember – you’re not comparing yourself to other people — you’re comparing yourself to your past self. 🙂
Andrijana. I love this article. It makes me feel comfortable. Some of the resolution tips will be useful for me. Thanks for the article.
Andrijana Thank you so much for this article and advice it’s helped me alot
Hey,
That’s is a wonderful article i ever seen in my life I am a fresher and struggling with English for convey our thoughts with our clients but your article makes my day❤️ appreciate it!