Avoid these to learn to speak English

Request: If you are serious about learning to speak English confidently, read this till the end. Please do not skip any part.

Let’s talk about why your English is not improving. Most of you who are trying to speak English have one problem that has to do with psychology. The problem is that you are trying to be perfectionists. You want to perfect yourselves before you try to speak English. The problem with the perfectionism attitude is that it never happens. You always think that you can master every element of English language. You want to learn every grammar element

But you have to understand that one can never be perfect in speaking a language. It’s because language is something that keeps evolving. Even if you learn many things that people advise you to learn, there’s something that always remains. It does not end. By the time you decide to start speaking, you have wasted a lot of time.

Take the word ‘Perfectionism’ out of your mind.

How can you get rid of this perfectionism attitude? Well, start speaking right away. Immediately. Remember the fact that you can never reach that landmark of perfection. Instead, try to get better every day. You can understand how grammar works. 

This takes us to the second reason why your English is not improving.

You think that Grammar is everything. You believe that grammar is one thing that solves all your problems in terms of speaking. I am sorry to say this. Just imagine how you learnt your mother tongue. Did you try to learn the grammar rules before you started speaking? It was not so. How did it happen? It happened quite naturally.

What do I mean by ‘naturally’? You began speaking. You began uttering sounds. You began making sounds. You imitated others. Simply put: You listened to others and repeated the sounds made by them. You did not even know that the sounds other people made were the words and sentences. You did not know that they were all part of a language. You did not even know it was a language. You realized that by making certain sounds you could get something. When you were hungry, you uttered a sound which contained a few words. Your mom or dad gave you something to eat. Slowly you start understanding how the combination of certain words can help you get anything.

You treated the word sounds as a single unit and started uttering them. You naturally learnt the word order. You effortlessly learnt all the grammatically correct sentences without even knowing what grammar is. It was such easy, wasn’t it?

Then, why do you try to follow complicated methods to learn English? Why not follow the strategy that you used to learn your mother tongue?

Now, let’s talk about another problem. There are people who lack confidence. This is the psychological problem that holds them back. As a teacher, I have noticed this problem with many students. When I ask some students to speak in front of the class, they struggle, their body language changes. I understand that it is either part of their nature or the acquired body language because those students were once put to shame in front of others.

Whatever, this is the psychological problem that holds them back; that stops them from speaking their ideas.

In other words, this is called ‘Self-consciousness’. If you have that self-consciousness, you always think that others are there to judge you. Remember this. They have their own fears. They do not have time to think of you and your language.

Something that strikes me is that these people who are self-conscious are the ones who become victims of ‘Perfectionism’ attitude. This can spoil the fun in learning.

Some people who are capable of speaking do not get ready to speak. It’s because they have never tried to speak in front of others. Well, how long can they keep saying that they have never tried before. Let the first time be now.

Someone said, ‘The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago and the second best time is now.’ Wonderfully said, by the way.

What is the take away from this article.

One thing. ‘Start speaking.’

Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments.