Am I Good Enough to Speak English Fluently? | IMPOSTER SYNDROME

When I'm at my best, my vision  is the only thing that I can see.

Sometimes blindly. At my best I'm naive, I  actually believe I can change the world.

When I'm at my best my vision  is the only thing that I can see

sometimes blindly

Okay, so according to a study published by the  Journal of Behavioral Sciences, approximately 70% of  

people suffer from imposter syndrome. People of all  ages, from a variety of careers and jobs, struggle  

with it every single day of their lives. You've  probably experienced it on some level yourself. 

Like not believing in your ability to do something  and fearing that people will find out, judging your  

capability to the point of calling yourself  a fraud, and believing that everyone else is  better than you are.

Okay so imposter syndrome  is this feeling of, first of all, not being enough.  

The inability to celebrate your achievements  and successes because you think that inside  

you're a fraud and everyone is going to find  out that you're a fraud sooner than later.  

So it's like, even if you were able to achieve  something or do something that you should be  

proud of, and other people you know admire you for  it and and they recognize it... um you can't own that, 

because you feel that it was a fluke,  right? And, you know, like maybe now it was  

it worked out but you know next time it happens  they're gonna find out that I don't know English,  

or I'm a bad teacher. And imposter syndrome, and  and again, I think it's essentially this idea of  

not being good enough. And it's like about 70%  of the population experience imposter syndrome.  

It's a psychological pattern.

This happens to all of us. We are still us and we're still human.

But we have turned into our own harshest critics. This imposter syndrome is present with so much  

power in our journey to learn English. How many  times we've found ourselves feeling judged while  

we speak in front of people? Remember that job  that fit perfectly with what you wanted to do,  

but that you didn't apply because English was  a requirement and you already felt anxious  

about the interview? Or refusing to apply to  that university program because you didn't  

sound as smart as you wanted to when writing  in English. Now, as adults, we are especially  

sensitive to people looking at or listening to  us. When we grow up, we're even more aware of the  

world around us, and sometimes that awareness  makes us even more insecure about ourselves. 

Plus kids have got no sort of limiting  mental factors like adults will, you know,  

feel bad if they haven't made progress in a  certain amount of time, they feel self-conscious,  

they're proud. All those sorts of things kids don't  seem to be weighed down by all that stuff and so  

their language learning journey is probably a lot  more smooth. And there are fewer obstacles,  

whereas adults will put all sorts of obstacles  in their way, that "oh I'm not good enough at this",  

"I've got an accent", blah blah blah. Yeah,  so yeah it does take time. You gotta, you know,  

it takes time like in the same way that kids do it.

So, as Luke mentions, we adults often feel very  

insecure about ourselves. We think stuff like  "yeah that person has a better accent than me",  

or "I'm not sure I'm good enough to  reach my goal of being completely fluent". 

And another popular one: "everyone is smarter  than me because they speak perfect English".  

I'd rather have that. I'd rather show our students  i think, I think your listeners and your students  

Ethan are probably at a similar similar level,  right? The intermediate to advanced. I'd rather  

show them the real English rather than spend time  cleaning it up and making it perfect. Because again,  

it comes back to our value of connection not  perfection. We don't want to show you perfection  

because we're not perfect. We make mistakes, right?  We know that as native speakers, so why us? Why strive for that?  

And even though we know that most  those things aren't true, we still keep believing  

them. So much so that we try to become something  that we're not, just like khadar, in a previous  

Beyond Borders lesson stated while talking  about her own English learning journey.   

And I do think that in a way I was hoping to erase a part  of my past, and kind of like create a new identity. 

Even though it was, of course it was still me. But I  was exploring a lot of new things. And then at some  

point, you know, I moved back to Israel and then  moved back to the US again to to study acting.  

And I think back then I was like coming to terms  with who i am and my identity. I went back to Hadar  

And then I started to bridge that, those two identities together.

Now, it's really interesting to see what happened to Hadar. A lot  of my colleagues, people who speak English and  

communicate completely intelligibly, have struggled  with it. Speaking English with an accent has become  

a challenge for them, because on the one hand  they are constantly reminded of being an outsider.  

And, on the other hand, being different, not fitting  in, is challenge in itself. But these feelings are  

really like every feeling. Stories that we have  repeated to ourselves so many times that we just  

believe them and that's it. Which is the most human  thing, really. You think that speaking a foreign  

language is just too much of a hassle. And that,  after all, if English isn't your mother tongue, then  

it will never be something that you can achieve.  But where you start, in this case as a learner,  

doesn't dictate where you'll be. Which is  natural and fluent as a global citizen.  

Because English, after all, is a global  language now. It's a global lingua franca. And  

there are many English speakers, many voices  around the world. It means that everybody,  

everybody simply has to be a bit more tolerant  of accent variation. Because that's the world.  

That's the world. It's a global community. We have  to, uhm, we speak locally, we understand globally. 

That means our tolerance as listeners has to  be much bigger than our capability as speakers.  

And if your goal is to speak English fluently,  naturally, and confidently. Then we have just the  

thing for you. Our RealLife English app is the  only place where, for free, you can speak English  

anytime, anywhere, and discover other cultures by  just touching a button. Plus, you can listen to full  

interviews with the teachers and experts that you  are seeing today with an interactive transcript  

and vocabulary definitions .Give it a try. Just  click here or in the description below to  

download it now. Or you can search for RealLife  English in the Apple App or Google Play Store  

So what do we do? What can we do to overcome the  fear of not being a good enough English speaker?  

Well, first of all, it's important that we know  that our path is the one that we make ourselves.  

No one else can do the work or walk that path  for us. Our goals are our own, and there are a  

million ways to achieve them. But we choose the  one that fits best with who we are. Secondly, you  

need to acknowledge these feelings. Because they  will encourage you to focus on doing the work.  

Even if it scares you, you have to do it. Have  you heard the phrase "fake it until you make it"?  

It suggests that you have got to have a positive  mindset towards achieving a goal.

There's always more that they want to achieve, it's not just... it's  not just the language. It's just that English is  

a reflection of the things that we achieve for  ourselves in life, and it's a personal achievement  

more than it's a language achievement when we feel  free and fluent. 

Now, as I said in the beginning, judging ourselves is the easiest thing to do. But  we need to become our biggest fans if we want to  

move forward on our journey. I invite you to focus  on yourself, to have an open mind about English,  

and except that mistakes are just steps forward.

I think I just realized there's nothing to be afraid of, especially on the  internet where people are making themselves  

available to speak with learners of their  language. They're inherently going to be helpful,  

and I'd much rather make embarrassing mistakes online than in person. And usually your mistakes  

aren't embarrassing. 99% of the time it's just you  trying to find the right word. And so realize that  

there is nothing to be afraid of, but everyone has  to make this realization on their own. You can't  

be told "there's nothing to be afraid of, just lose  the fear. Just speak". Everyone has to follow their  

own journey to realize that it's going to be ok. Just speak.