Ten Tips for Speaking English with Confidence When Talking to Native English Speakers

Hi. Bob the Canadian here.

Welcome to this English lesson

where I'm going to give you some tips,

10 tips actually on how to be less nervous,

how to have less anxiety and how to be less afraid

when you know you are going to have an English conversation.

I know that when you learn another language,

it can be really easy to read in that language.

It can be really easy to listen to things in that language.

Writings a little more difficult.

But speaking, having an actual conversation

can be a little intimidating.

It can cause some fear.

I know this because I learned to speak French

during my lifetime.

And I do remember still my very first French conversation.

My friends and I were in the city of Quebec.

We were in Quebec City.

I was about 17-years old.

We were on a school trip.

And we went out at night and one of my friends said,

"you take French classes, ask that person if

there's a store close to here."

I had never had a conversation with a native speaker before

and I still remember walking up to this gentleman

and saying (speaks French).

And he told me exactly how to get to the closest store.

So but I do remember I was a little scared.

I was a little bit intimidated.

I was a little bit worried

that he wouldn't understand me

and so I do understand what it's like for you

as you continue to learn English.

That for some of you it can a little worrisome,

you can have some anxiety and a little bit

of fear when you know you're going

to have an English conversation.

Well in this video I hope that the 10 tips

that I give you will help you a lot.

(soft, upbeat music)

Well hey, welcome to this English lesson where

I'm going to give you some tips on how to prepare

for English conversations.

Before we get started though,

if this is your first time here

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So the very first thing that I recommend

to everyone who is preparing for an English conversation,

is to be prepared.

It is important that you don't think

of an English conversation as something casual.

Especially if you are a beginner or intermediate learner.

You need to take it seriously.

Let's say that you have a conversation once a week

with an English tutor, with a native English speaker,

you need to prepare for that conversation.

I highly recommend that you review all of your greetings.

I did a great video on that,

I think it was a great video, earlier in this month.

You should review how to do small talk.

You should review how to talk a little bit

about what you did yesterday or last week.

What you did today and what you are going to do tomorrow

so you can practice the past, present and future tenses.

So the very first thing that I highly recommend

that you do is that you prepare for the conversation.

The second thing that I recommend that you do

is to think about how you are going to use recently

learned words and phrases in the upcoming conversation.

Hopefully as you learn English you are reading

and writing and listening and along the way,

you hopefully are learning new vocabulary

and you are learning new phrases.

When you know you are going to have an English conversation,

it can be exciting to think about how are you going

to use that vocabulary that you've just learned

and how are you going to use those phrases

you have just learned in the upcoming conversation.

So number two is a little bit like number one,

but it's very specific.

Get ready to use new vocabulary and new phrases

in the conversation that you know you're going to be having.

Tip number three, use your imagination

to practice the conversation in advance.

So what I'm recommending here is that you,

in your mind, imagine what the conversation might be like.

Imagine what you think the person might ask you.

Imagine how you might respond.

Try to have a pretend conversation in your head

a number of times so that when you are

in the actual conversation, it should go a little smoother.

Oftentimes if you imagine something,

if you act it out in your mind it can really help prepare

you for the real thing.

So, use your brain.

Use your imagination.

Tip number three, try to imagine what the conversation

will be like.

It might look a little bit like you talking to yourself,

but that's okay.

So imagine what you think the conversation might be like.

Tip number four, when you are in an English conversation,

try to take control of the conversation.

This can be really hard to do,

but when you are having a conversation with a native

English speaker, if you let the other person take most

of the control of the conversation,

you might end up talking about things where you don't

know the right words or phrases to be able to talk about it.

So as much as you can when you are having a conversation,

ask questions.

Ask questions so that the native English speaker,

or the person you are talking to in English

kind of stays on the topic that you are choosing.

If you want to talk about animals,

ask if they have a pet.

If you want to talk about vacations,

ask about the last vacation that they went on.

So it sounds a little bit,

how would I describe it, a little bit controlling,

but try to control the conversation as much as you can.

As you get better at having English conversations though,

you can let them flow a little more naturally.

But, tip number four, try to control the conversation

just a little bit.

Tip number five, know a little bit about your conversation

partner in advance, if possible.

If you meet with someone once a week to practice your

English, as you get to know them,

make sure that you try to remember what they like

to do for fun.

Try to remember what their hobbies are.

Try to remember who is in their immediate family.

Try to know a little bit about the person

because that just makes it easier in general

to start a conversation.

If you know you're going to be talking to maybe

your wife's relatives or your husband's relatives,

who recently immigrated to the United States

or Canada, make sure you know a little bit

about where they now live.

Knowing a little bit about your conversation partner

can really be helpful when

you're having an English conversation.

If you meet with an English native speaker once a week

to practice your English, start to get to know them.

Make sure that you know enough about them

so that you can have a pleasant conversation

without struggling for words.

This works even if you're just having a normal conversation

in your own language.

But knowing a little bit about the person who you are going

to be talking to can help a lot.

Number six, take notes

after every single English conversation

that you have.

Especially if you are a beginner

or intermediate English speaker.

If you have a conversation, immediately after

that conversation, as soon as you have a chance,

write down a few things that you talked about

during the conversation.

Write down one or two words that maybe you learned

during the conversation

or maybe that you didn't understand.

Just try to write down as many things as you can

so that later that day you can kind of go over in your mind

and you can read over your notes and think about

that conversation again.

Repetition is very important when

you are learning a language.

It's hard to repeat a conversation,

but you can always just review your notes later in the day.

So take some notes as soon as you can

after every English conversation that you have.

Tip number seven, know what to say to control the speed

of the conversation in a polite way.

I think I've mentioned this in a couple of other videos.

It's important that you know how to say things

like I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand

what you just said.

Could you repeat that please?

It's important to be able to say things like,

could you please speak a little more slowly,

I'm still learning English?

It's good just to be honest with the person

who you are taking to.

And if you can help control the speed of the conversation,

it will help you understand a lot more

and it will help you get a lot more out

of the English conversation.

Tip number eight,

repetition is your friend.

I know this is somewhat simple advice,

but it's very true.

Human beings get better at things the more they do it.

If you are little nervous

about having an English conversation,

the more English conversations you have,

even bad English conversations,

the easier it will be and the less nervous you will be.

You will be less afraid.

Because it will become routine for you.

If you think about some of the things that you need

to do in life that you didn't like doing,

the more you do it, the easier it gets to do it.

I know when I first started teaching I was very nervous

to go in front of the classroom.

But after a few months and years, after a few years

it became a lot easier and now I really do enjoy it

and I have very little anxiety and very little fear.

So repetition is your friend.

Have as many English conversations as you can.

If you can do it every day that is awesome.

If not, try to have at least one per week

and that will help a lot.

Tip number nine, have a lot of small English conversations

before you have to have important English conversation.

Sometimes people are nervous to speak English

because they know they have to speak English

in a job interview or they have to speak English

during the speaking portion of an English test.

The best way to be less nervous for those situations

is to make sure you're having a lot of small unimportant

English conversations before you have an important one.

When I was preparing to do a French test

I decided that I needed to speak French

with people everyday for at least 15 minutes

for the whole month before I went to write

my French test or to take my French test.

I think the same applies here.

Sometimes nervousness and fear happens because

you have not practiced enough

for something really important.

So tip number nine, have as many small, unimportant

English conversations as you can before you have

to have an important English conversation.

Tip number 10, practice as much as you can

with another English learner.

I know sometimes people think that you only want

to have conversations with native English speakers

and that is not true.

You can have a lot of conversations with classmates

in a class where you are learning English.

Even though your English isn't perfect

and their English isn't perfect,

it's a very low-key way, a very low-risk way

to have an English conversation.

You will not be very judgemental of each other.

So, tip number 10, have as many conversations

as you can with other people who are learning English.

It can really help a lot.

Well hey, thanks for watching this English lesson.

I hope some of the tips that I gave during the lesson

will help you be a little more relaxed and calm

when you know you are going to have an English conversation.

Let me just remind you, if you are new here,

please click that red subscribe button over there

and give me a thumbs up if this video helped you learn

just a little bit more English.

And if you have the time why don't you stick around

and watch another video.

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