5 Tips to Become a FLUENT and CONFIDENT English Speaker - How to Speak English Fluently, Confidently

456,450 views ・ 2017-07-15

Learn English Lab


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi there, do you want to speak English fluently and confidently?
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Do you often hesitate when you speak, searching for the right words?
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Do you get nervous when you talk to native English speakers and struggle to express your
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thoughts naturally?
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Well, if your answer is yes to any of these questions, then you’re watching the right
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video because in this lesson, I will give you five tips to become a fluent and confident
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English speaker.
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The problems that I just showed you are faced by English learners everywhere.
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And if you follow the tips that I give you in this video, you will be able to overcome
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all of these problems, and speak English fluently without hesitation.
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Tip number one is relax and speak slower.
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Many people think that fluency means speaking fast.
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But that’s not true.
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Real fluency is speaking without hesitation – it has nothing to do with just speed.
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When you try to speak fast, you create two problems for yourself: the first is that you
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make it difficult to speak by forcing yourself to find words faster and faster, so that makes
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your brain go in ten different directions.
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That can make you hesitate and use lots of fillers like ‘uh’, ‘um’ etc.
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The second problem is that all of this will make you nervous and overexcited, making you
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hesitate even more.
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Instead, whenever you are in an English-speaking situation, the first thing you should do is
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relax: take a full, deep breath, drop your shoulders and relax your face – by doing
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this, you will remove stress and tension from your body and mind.
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After you do this, when you speak, I want you to speak slowly (not very slowly) but
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at a natural pace.
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This way, you will have more time to find the right words, and you’ll speak with less
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hesitation.
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Also, your relaxed voice will make the other person in the conversation to relax.
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By seeing that you are not nervous or stressed, they will get a positive impression of your
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speaking ability.
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So remember the three steps: take a deep breath, relax your shoulders and your face, and speak
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slowly.
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Tip number two is speak English every day.
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If you’re serious about improving your fluency, then you need to make English speaking a daily
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habit.
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A fantastic way of doing this is to make sentences in your head regularly.
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For example, if you’re sitting on the bus, you can describe what you see and how you
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feel about it.
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You can say, “OK I have the window seat.
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I love having the window seat because I can look outside.
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I see the park now.
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I remember that as a kid, my dad used to take me to this park and I used to love playing
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on the see-saw”.
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You can do this in any situation (not just on the bus) and it really helps to improve
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your ability to make sentences spontaneously in English.
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If you’re at home, I also recommend that you have conversations with yourself out loud.
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Pretty soon, this will become a habit and you will start to really enjoy the process,
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and the real benefit of this is that it will train your brain to think directly in English
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without translating from your native language.
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You can also watch my lesson called one simple trick to become fluent in English where I
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show you a great technique that you can use to improve your fluency by yourself.
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Now, even though you can practice by yourself, the best way to improve your fluency is to
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find a conversation partner so that you can practice speaking in real-life situations.
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You should get together with people like yourself who are learning English – this could be
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your classmates, your coworkers, your friends or even your family members - and start a
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speaking club.
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Try to meet at least one or two times a week (if you can do this every day, then that’s
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great!)
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and just speak English.
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You can practice speaking freely or you can bring discussion topics and have conversations
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on these topics.
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Tip number three is to learn fixed phrases and expressions.
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If you pay attention to the English of native speakers, you will notice that a lot of the
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time, they use the same fixed phrases and expressions.
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These could be basic greetings like “How are you?”, “How’s it going?”, “How
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are things?”
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“Good thanks.
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How are things with you?”, “What about you?”
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etc.
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It could be phrases for making requests – “Could you help me with this?”, “Can you lend
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me a hand?” or making offers – “Would you like a cup of coffee?”, “Do you want
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me to open the window?”
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or phrases for giving a compliment (that is for praising someone) like “You’re a fantastic
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singer.”
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or “You look amazing in that dress.”
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These are just a few examples but if you learn and memorize these types of fixed expressions,
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then you will have them available in your head, and you can use them in any conversation.
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Whenever you have to speak, you spend less time searching for the right language and
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instead, you can just pick the right phrase and throw it in.
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That will give a huge boost to your fluency.
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Tip number four is be ready to make mistakes.
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For most people, mistakes are the reason they’re so nervous when they speak English, especially
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when they speak with native speakers.
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Because of our fear of being judged by the other person, we make conversation a high-pressure
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situation for ourselves.
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But you have to realize first of all, that native speakers are not talking to you to
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judge you.
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If you are relaxed, enthusiastic, friendly and appear confident, then people will care
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less about your mistakes.
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If they see that you are a friendly person, they might even want to help you to improve
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your English.
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Also don’t forget that in order to improve your English, you must make mistakes.
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In fact, think about the best language learners in the world – who are they?
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Well, it’s children.
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How do they learn their mother tongue?
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By making lots and lots of mistakes.
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Children are never afraid to try and fail, they are never worried about other people
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judging them for their mistakes, and what happens?
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Through their experimentation and their enthusiastic attitude to learning, they pick up languages
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much quicker than us adults.
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As far as your learning English goes, you need to have the attitude of a child.
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Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
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Instead, see your mistakes as opportunities to learn and to improve yourself.
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The less you worry about your mistakes, the faster you will become a fluent English speaker.
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And the last tip is enjoy learning English.
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To me, this is the most important of all the tips in this lesson because the real secret
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to improving your fluency is to enjoy the learning process.
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If you see reading, listening, writing, speaking or learning in general as something difficult,
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something you must do, then it will be hard for you to stay motivated to learn and improve.
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Many people spend hours every day reading the newspaper or watching boring English language
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TV shows hoping that their English will improve.
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And then they get disappointed because their speaking ability just doesn’t seem to get
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better.
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Well, if this is your experience, let me tell you that it’s because you simply aren’t
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enjoying what you’re doing.
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So instead of doing all these boring things, do things in English that you enjoy.
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What kinds of stories do you like reading?
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Do you like adventures?
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Do you like superheroes?
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Action?
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Or do you like historical fiction?
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Or drama?
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Well, whatever it is you like, find that kind of book in English and read it.
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The same goes for watching TV or movies – watch what you enjoy.
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Don’t read or watch something thinking that you have to learn vocabulary.
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Read or watch it because you enjoy it and you will automatically learn new words, phrases
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and ways of expressing yourself that will boost your fluency.
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This is also true for speaking practice – you have to enjoy it.
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Try to make friends with other people who are happy to practice speaking in English.
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Enjoying the learning process in this way is the key to improving your fluency and being
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able to think and speak English naturally.
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So those are the five top tips to become a fluent and confident English speaker: number
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one – relax and speak slower.
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Number two: speak English every day, both with yourself by making sentences in your
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head, and with conversation partners.
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Number three: Learn fixed phrases and expressions in English.
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Number four: be ready to make mistakes.
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And number five: enjoy learning English.
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Alright, if you liked this lesson, give it a thumbs up by hitting the like button.
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Also remember to subscribe to this channel by clicking the subscribe button to get my
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latest lessons right here on YouTube.
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Happy learning and I will see you in another lesson soon.
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