Build Confidence in English - Episode 2 - Fake it till you make it

Okay, step number two is called,  “fake it till you make it.” So,  

this is an English idiom we talk about idioms  a lot on our channel. This is an English idiom  

that means to pretend you're good at something  until you are. So, to “fake it” means to pretend  

right, and then “make it” means you can do it.  So, fake it till you make it. We use this idiom  

pretty often in English especially when  maybe, I am starting a new job for example,  

and I don't feel very confident. Well, I will  just pretend to be confident until I am, and  

we can do that with English as well. Pretend you  are confident using English and eventually maybe,  

maybe even in a few minutes, if you are pretending  to be confident, or maybe it takes some time  

you will really feel more confident and  comfortable. So, does this sound crazy?  

Maybe it does, but I promise it really works. So  what does it mean to pretend you're confident?  

How do we pretend to be confident using  English? Well, what do confident people look  

and what do confident people sound like?  Well confident people have good posture,  

good volume, and humor. Right can we can  laugh at ourselves if we feel confident?  

So, let's talk about each of these. First, good  posture. So confident, someone who has who is  

confident, has good posture. Part of this  means sitting up straight. Like I’m doing.  

So, if you are using English make sure to stand  or sit up straight. It helps you, really does help  

you, feel more confident. Make sure you don't  start shrinking right and doing this. We do  

this when we feel nervous right. So, make sure to  sit up straight and it really does help you feel  

a little more confident. Another part of good  posture is don't do something called fidgeting.  

So, for example, let's say I am looking  for oh let's say I’m holding a pencil  

and I’m using English and maybe I feel a little  nervous, so this is fidgeting right. Or maybe I’m  

doing something like this. Don't fidget,  make sure to be aware of the things you  

do when you feel nervous and to help yourself feel  more confident make sure to don't do those things.  

Right, so sit up straight and don't fidget. I  notice when I’m nervous if I’m wearing a ring,  

I play with my ring. So, I have to not do that  because it helps me feel more confident and also  

other people see me as more confident. Another  part of posture or just our body language is  

keeping eye contact. If this is difficult  for you, or maybe in your culture it's not  

as normal to always keep eye contact when someone  is talking, that's okay. Just make sure that  

you're not looking away because you're feeling  nervous or shy. Okay so step one, fake it till  

you make it, good posture. Next is good volume.  So, this means speak at a normal conversational  

volume. One thing that we do when we feel like we  don't know exactly how to say something in English  

is maybe we start mumbling right. We talk a little  quieter because we don't, we're not really sure is  

this how I say it? “Oh I don't know.” So maybe  you start speaking quiet quietly so make sure  

to speak at a normal conversational volume, and  again maybe you have to force yourself to do it.  

Maybe you feel uncomfortable speaking loudly.  Or you feel uncomfortable sitting up straight,  

not fidgeting, and keeping eye contact, but it's  okay you will feel a little uncomfortable at first  

but soon it will feel normal. And you  will feel more confident. And last,  

and this is very important, is humor. So,  humor is we often say someone has a good humor.  

This means that they can they laugh a lot or make  other people laugh, right if you have good humor.  

So, part of fake it till you make it is humor.  Don't be too serious. Laugh at your mistakes.  

Every person alive makes mistakes. I make  mistakes, you make mistakes, that person over  

there makes mistakes, they make mistakes. Everyone  makes mistakes, right. So, it's okay if you are  

trying to sit up straight and speak clearly  and loudly and you make a mistake. Just laugh  

and continue. It's okay to make mistakes. Don't  be too serious or too hard on yourself because  

this is just part of learning. Right, we always  make mistakes and another thing that you can do  

if you really feel like you're making big  mistakes and you are talking to a native  

speaker just joke about your language level.  “Oh I have so much to learn with English.”  

You'll be surprised at the feedback that you  get. And what do I mean by this? Most people  

appreciate that you are trying to speak to them  

in English, or in their native language. Right,  so it's okay you don't have to be perfect.  

So, just try to have some humor about it. It's  very important to be able to laugh at yourself.  

You guys see me laugh at myself on the live  streams when I make mistakes. “Ha-ha whoops  

and continue.” Right so like this. So  remember good posture, good volume, and humor.