This is why you shouldn't be scared to speak English

[00:00:00] When I moved to Madrid in Spain to become an English teacher, I needed to speak Spanish. 

I was really nervous about speaking Spanish and I was always anxious about making mistakes and thinking that other people were going to think I was either stupid or an ignorant British person abroad.

[00:00:21] And let's face it, there are quite a few.

This fear of making mistakes and not being perfect when I spoke Spanish really affected my confidence in the Spanish language and it was one of the main reasons why I didn't progress very well with my Spanish level. 

I was quite good at reading, and I could understand quite a lot when people were speaking.

[00:00:46] However, when it actually came to my turn to speak, I was really bad at it. 

And as an English teacher, I've had so many students come to me with a fear of speaking English. A lot of them have really good levels. They can understand complex texts. They can listen to TED Talks. 

But when it comes to speak, they really can't do it unless they're talking about something very simple, or they're using language that they're extremely comfortable with.

[00:01:15] So in today's video, I'm going to tell you why you shouldn't be scared to make mistakes when talking English.

There are two main reasons why you shouldn't be scared. The first reason why you shouldn't be scared to make mistakes when speaking English is that native speakers make mistakes.

[00:01:31] If you watch this video, I have probably made one mistake somewhere. I have probably spoken not using perfect grammar. I may have even just made a mistake then. 

When we're writing and when we're speaking, they're two very different things, and usually people speak in a very different way than how they write.

[00:01:49] And if you listen to any conversation between two native speakers, they will speak grammatically incorrect all the time.

Often, they make mistakes. I hear people say could of instead of could have a lot. I hear mispronunciation a lot. 

One of my friends says “I borrowed him a book” instead of “I lent him a book.” I do correct that mistake, but no one really corrects anyone's mistakes unless it's a really big one. 

And people make mistakes all the time, even in their native language, and people don't really care that much. Because communication is not about not making mistakes or being perfect. It's about delivering a message. 

It's about sharing your thoughts and it's for the other person to accurately understand what you are thinking and what you are feeling.

[00:02:38] So, it's okay if you make a small mistake. It's okay if you make many mistakes. Especially if it's an informal, casual, and friendly conversation. It's not in an important work meeting. Then, what's the problem? 

If you've expressed yourself the way that you want to, even if there's a mistake in there, that's fine.

[00:02:56] And it's fine because it's normal, it's expected, and even native speakers do that as well. 

So, why would you hold yourself to a standard? That not even native speakers hold themselves to. Why would you expect to be perfect when native speakers aren't perfect?

[00:03:13] People who have lived in England for 80, 90 years will still make a mistake. Not because they're old. Because it's normal to make mistakes when we speak. And even when we write. 

So, that should give you a little bit of peace the next time that you're scared about making mistakes… is that native speakers make mistakes.

[00:03:33] The second point is that it's actually quite good to make mistakes. If someone corrects you, which they probably won't to be honest, but if they do, that's how you learn. 

If you're always perfect, you're never going to learn. If you win every chess match you play, you're never really going to learn anything.

[00:03:48] If you lose, you learn. If you make mistakes, you learn. So don't fear the mistakes, embrace them. That is part of the language learning experience. That is how you get better. 

And if you are in an environment like in a classroom or you have a one-on-one tutor, this is a place and a person who can correct you when you do make these mistakes, and you can learn from them.

[00:04:11] So to summarise. People probably won't correct your mistakes, like if you're speaking to a waiter or to a friend or someone in public in English or a language that you're learning, it's very likely that no one's going to say anything. 

They're not going to laugh at you, they're not going to say “everybody, look, Sam just made a mistake with his pronunciation,” that's probably not going to happen.

But if it does, if that small percentage, if that small chance does occur, and it happens, and they say actually hold on, it's pronounced like this, or you made a mistake with your grammar there, I've never heard anyone say that.

But if someone corrects your pronunciation, for example, it doesn't matter, it's okay, it's just one of those things, move on, get better, and hopefully, in the future, you won't make that mistake again.

But even if you do, that's fine as well, you're learning a different language, that's difficult, people make mistakes. Just go easy on yourself.

[00:05:05] The fear of making a mistake will often hold you back in conversation. You won't experiment with using new words. 

You will stay within a small comfortable range of words that you know and you're comfortable and familiar with and you'll never grow and expand. 

So, challenging yourself, making mistakes along the way is just all part of the process and they should be embraced rather than feared.