Once a foreign student now an English coach | My story | Confidence in English

Hey guys, it's Hadar. So you all know me as a pronunciation coach here on YouTube

but I've never told you my story and how I get to do what I do and why I do it.

Now as some of you already know, I'm not a native English speaker.

I'm an Israel born Hebrew speaker and English is a second language to me.

When I was twenty I moved to New York.

I wanted to become an actress

and I wanted to start a new life away from my home.

I was in love with New York City and I really wanted to be a part of it

and didn't want to be different, I didn't want to be perceived as the other, as the foreigner.

In fact, in the first year, I even changed my name to Julia,

so I wouldn't have to face questions like "Oh, Heydar? Hadaar?

Oh, what an interesting name? Where're you from?"

You see I didn't want my neighbors start a conversation about the fact that I'm a foreigner

but not that it helped

because you know the moment I would open my mouth, people would hear my voice and say:

"Oh, what a cute accent!" or "What an exotic accent you have?", "Where are you from?"

but you know what it wasn't just that that made me feel self-conscious

about myself or about my English I felt that when I speak my English is like a baby

that constantly had to be tended or cared for

you know by me or by others

like when people have to complete my sentences, you know that, when people have

when people complete your sentences because it was too difficult for me to

express a complex thought or idea or when I get stuck or say something but

get those blank expressions because I was pronouncing it all wrong

now luckily

I had really-really good friends that made me feel super appreciated and gave

me tons of confidence and I realized that they were interested in what I have

to say and you know even if it was broken or slower than what they were

used to hearing and obviously that gave me more confidence and I became

more forgiving and less judgmental of myself and that really helped me.

And then when I was 23 I started my training at Circle in the Square Theatre school.

So I finally went to an acting school. Now this really has been a life-changing

experience for me because I've learned so much about life and hard work and

about being genuine and honest. I've discovered my passion for the written

word and for the spoken word but mostly I loved my speech classes where I felt

and where I fell in love with the sounds of English and the ability to modify my

accent because we also work on different dialects of English like Scottish and

Irish and British and to do all that just by learning the phonology and

phonetics of English and really listening to the language and I was

inspired and in awe by the change in my confidence and self-worth thanks to the

new understanding of English something that it is really simple

just understanding something and what impact it had on me.

So, yes, I ended up not becoming a famous actress

although it had been my dream since I remember myself

but I know that every choice I'd made got me to where I am now and

looking back that was the journey I had to take and everything I've learned from

my teachers and fellow students and friends is here with me

as I've been teaching others as I'm a friend to others as and as I am as a mother.

So, yeah and when I moved back to Israel in 2006, that was ten years ago,

I felt that I have to share those things that I've learned with everyone

like I remembered what impact it had on my life and my English.

So I started giving private accent lessons.

Now, of course, everyone around me started saying "Oh, accent training?

That sounds really interesting but we're not actors, that's not important we don't need to change your accents.

I mean we should learn grammar and vocabulary."

But you know what I knew that it can help people because accent is not just sounds and melody.

It's about having a deeper understanding of the language and when you know

something and you're specific obviously it boosts your confidence, you're less

judgmental and you know what to do in order to change it's not big and overwhelming

So I started teaching but at first, I was really embarrassed to admit

that and not a native English speaker. I would even try to hide it.

Because after all there are so many amazing speech coaches out there who are

native speakers. And what do I have to contribute?

How can I possibly reach their level?

But as I got better at what I do and I saw the results in you know

my students, I realized that what I believed to be my disadvantage turned out

to be my biggest strength because of my background and training and history

I know the way non-native speakers think while trying to process the sounds and

intonational patterns of English. I know that because I'm one of them and because

I've been there myself I know what to say and how to explain it to make it

specific and clear.

So I realized that this is something that is unique to me

and only I can deliver it that way and my otherness something that I wanted to hide

in the past has become the thing I'm proud of the most.

Now to say that I'm perfect, that I don't make mistakes? No. Because you know what just the other day

I had a student texting me saying: "Hey, Hadar, you know 'persistency' is not a word."

No, yes I know that. But at 3 a.m. when I was sending my newsletter to thousands of subscribers

of people, it sounded pretty darn good to me.

So, yes I still make mistakes but I don't beat myself up over it. I learned from it and

I know that I'll be a little better next time and this is something that I've learned

from you guys because I see the journey people make, struggling through the

tedious grammar rules and pronunciation challenges and irregular everything.

I see so much courage and passion in my students and my YouTube followers

you guys struggle to get your voices out there, to express yourself even when it

feels unnatural and uncomfortable you do it while and despite hearing those voices

of "shut up, you sound stupid" or "you sound terrible".

I know these voices.

I feel like I invented them but thanks to you I realized

that the need to be heard and to communicate is stronger than self-criticism or outward criticism

and pursuing change and improvement comes from learning from mistakes

and not silencing yourself because of them.

This is what gives me inspiration and drive to share my knowledge with everyone

because our strengths and uniqueness come from being different

and you know what especially these days it's important to stand for who we are

and what we have the contribute to the world and say to the world as others.

So this is my story

and now I'd love to hear from you, about your story. Tell me what is your story?

Tell us your story. What are your struggles and what makes you stronger and better?

Share it with all of us in the comments below so we can learn from your experience

and feel less lonely in our journey because we are all a part of a bigger community

that is connected by words and sounds that allow us to overcome cultural, social and political barriers.

And this is also a great opportunity to say thank you for following me and trusting me.

Alright, that's it. Please share this video with whom everything may benefit from it and

subscribe to my channel so I can keep on sharing everything I know.

Thank you so much for watching. Have a great day and I'll see you in the next video.

Bye!