We all face the problem of not being able to put our thoughts into words while we are trying to speak any foreign language. There is a common phobia which is called xenoglossophobia means the fear of speaking and learning a new language.
Most of us think that I am not able to speak English, but trust me if you can read and write English and have the basic knowledge of English, no one can stop you to speak English if you try it by yourself. It is you who can change everything.
Let me describe the best ways to overcome the fear of speaking English and speak fluently in English.
1. Why am I afraid of speaking English?
The main reasons for our fear to speak English are very common and clear. We all have basic knowledge of English but most of us cannot apply it when we try to speak. The barrier is our education system where we only learn about the grammar rules and only learned how to just solve some problems and obtain some good results. As a consequence, we just memorize the answers which never helped us to write or speak English freely. To learn a language, there should be no boundaries similar to the process of learning our mother tongue. Moreover, we didn’t know the rules and grammar of it when we were children but yet we tried to speak and we made mistakes. We didn’t care what others think that means we learned it with our subconscious minds. Now, we can speak our mother tongue fluently. That is the true nature of learning a language. We have to apply this theory to English also. First, try to know what your problem is. If you have limited vocabulary, don’t worry. You can do it. Just read English newspapers daily and watch and listen to English movies, News, etc. Note down new words and learn their meaning and synonyms, and antonyms.
One of the main reasons is anxiety which holds our brain to process the language properly. Second of all, we fear that everyone will laugh if we make any grammar or pronunciation mistakes. Just trust in yourself, it doesn’t matter when you’re trying for the first time. If you try again and again, one day you will see you are able to speak fluently.
2. How to overcome my anxiety and fear?
If you can’t overcome the anxiety, the best way is to talk to yourself. Just relax by confronting that there is nothing to be scared of. keep in my mind that it only holds you back to speak English fluently and reach your goal. Start the conversation instantly without fear. Talk to yourself while looking in the mirror.
Daily Practice
Practice a lot and have patience because fluency doesn’t come overnight. To gain confidence, practice, and get prepared before any presentation or interview. Don’t think whoever speaks English fluently is gifted with that. Obviously, he/she has invested their time and energy to gain that fluency. You have to do the same. Trust me, over time you will see how you have improved and you will be praised by others.
Conversation with others
If you still think that you have fear, start talking to one of your friends or family members who can understand English. Sometimes one to one conversation gives you confidence. The best way is to speak with someone who can already speak English and this helps you to find their ways of speaking, body language, pronunciation, and talking speed.
Remember! Don’t overthink what you are saying, how you are speaking etc. Let your talk flow and relax.
Asking questions
Next, if you think you want to move everyone’s attention from you, then ask questions that will not only drive the other’s attention from you but also helps you to participate in the conversation.
Work on your speed
If you think you can’t understand fast speaking then ask your partner to slow down otherwise you may too. It will help you both to understand each other’s speech.
Similar topics
Try to find out easy and daily topics around you. Most of the time we ask each other about our daily life which makes it easier to use similar words and phrases. Besides, you can talk about what happened yesterday, what the plan is for the next day, or whatever topics you have, try to use past, present, and future tenses which will help you to boost your language capability and expand your vocabulary.
Happy face
While talking your honest smile will ease all the situations. Don’t fear the mistakes. Even if you make any mistakes, you can say sorry and correct yourself or you can clear yourself by saying that you are practicing English but don’t use any mother tongue. Using your mother tongue while practicing will only drag you behind as you might take it as an advantage. If you cant describe a word or situation use other similar situations or words that can visualize your answer. Practicing this you will gain the confidence that you can answer any questions with a smiling face. Your smile will make the environment friendly.
3. What if I still don't gain the confidence, what should I do?
After following all the steps if you think you still don’t have enough courage to speak English with others then you may follow the following tips.
- Everyone makes mistakes even native speakers. So, don’t worry.
- You can take an English Spoken course from a native or whoever is the best instructor in your country with good fluency and make sure that he doesn’t only give you some notes and exercises. The best instructor is one who knows what are the lackings and motivate you to speak without any fear.
- You must read as much as possible. Start from short stories, newspapers or magazines, etc.
- Listen to English music, and news debates whenever you get the time and start watching movies or news with subtitles.
- Record yourself and listen and find out your faults and do this repeatedly. Soon you will see the improvements.
- Read out loud while reading and avoid taking the help. You can search online for free text with audio. You can read out loud and next you can listen to the author’s audio and compare them.
- Practice more in front of the mirror which will remove your shyness and you will learn how to use body language and facial expression while speaking.
Last but not least tip for you, if you are still afraid just take a little break. Maybe you are too much worried and anxious about it. Just relax and remove all the negativity. Remember, if you are negative you will lose your race to improve in the first place. Motivate yourself every day so that you will achieve your goal of speaking English fluently and keep a firm belief in yourself. There is no one if you do not help yourself.
Thank you so much, Sir, for sharing such a beautiful and informative article with us. Sir, the problems you mentioned exist in me. I also understand where my mistakes are going. And I will definitely follow your advice and guidelines. And I’m hopeful that following these guidelines will benefit me a lot.
You give us time from outside the country
You try to help us enough
You are very patient, humble, helpful, and informative
Thank you again sir for all this
It’s an immense pleasure & profound honour of mine. To be honest, the comment that you have expressed towards me always stimulates me. May you be blessed, too, my dear💖
Very helpful article. Specially asking question strategy is a effective way to improve speaking skill. Thanks to author for this nice article.
Your worthy appreciation stimulates me vigorously. Thank you once again for being with us. Happy Learning ♥️