How to Stop Being Shy in English: Speak Fluently and Confidently

Hi.

I'm Vanessa from Speak English with Vanessa Dot Com.

How can you stop being shy when you speak English?

Let's talk about it.

I recently got an e-mail from a student that said, "I'm usually a sociable person, but

when I speak English, something happens, and all of a sudden I feel shy.

What should I do to stop feeling shy?"

Well, today I want to answer this student, and I also want to help anyone else who feels

shy when they speak English.

I want to give you three tips to help you stop feeling shy.

The first one is something that you can do right now.

It is to relax and take a deep breath.

We're going to take a deep breath all together right now.

Are you ready?

I want you to inhale slowly and then exhale slowly.

Are you ready?

I'm going to do it with you.

This is going to help you relax.

Ready?

(Inhale, exhale).

Did that feel good?

I hope that that simple breath helped you to relax.

I recommend doing this three, four or five times in a row so that you can feel more and

more comfortable and relaxed.

My second tip is to talk with someone who you trust.

Someone who will accept you even if you make mistakes.

Because when you're learning a language, you're going to make mistakes.

It's normal.

This is part of learning, learning anything.

So I recommend talking with someone who isn't your boss, who isn't someone in authority,

but a friend or a kind teacher, or a speaking partner, somebody who you trust.

This will help you with, Number 1, relaxing, and by talking one on one you'll be able to

focus on the conversation and you'll be able to speak with confidence, because it's one

person who you trust.

My final tip is to ask questions when you have a conversation.

When you ask someone questions, they are the one who's going to be talking a lot.

So if you ask questions that start with, "W-h," who, what, where, when, why, the other person

will need to talk a lot.

For example, if you saw someone who's an English speaker and you asked them, "What are you

doing next week?"

They're probably going to say, "Oh, I'm going to school and then I'm going to do this and

then I'm going to do that."

They're going to talk more, and then you can use their answer to ask more questions.

"Oh, who are you going to see?

When are you going to go there?"

And by asking questions, you are controlling the conversation.

And I think when you feel like you're in control, you can feel more confident, because if you're

waiting for the other person to ask you questions, it feels helpless, like you don't know what's

going to happen next.

So I recommend asking questions in a conversation to help you feel confident, and it's great

because other people, people in general, love to talk about themselves and what they're

doing and what they're passionate about.

So when you ask questions, you're caring about them and you're helping yourself feel less

shy and more confident.

I hope that these three tips, taking a deep breath, talking with someone you trust, and

asking questions will help you to feel less shy in conversations.

I know that this is a big deal, because speaking English might be a completely new thing for

you.

So at the beginning you're going to feel shy.

You're not going to feel completely confident.

So I want to give you these three tips to help you get to the next level, because speaking

is the only way to improve.

Just do it.

And now I have a question for you that I would like you to answer in the comments below.

My question is, what is a good "W-h" question that you could ask someone when you're talking

with them?

That was tip Number 3, to ask questions, especially, "W-h" questions.

Because if you ask, "Do you like this?

Do you want this?"

You're not going to get detailed answers, only "yes," or, "no."

So in the comments below let me know what question is a great question to ask in a conversation

and you can read each other's questions.

Thanks so much and I'll see you next time.

Bye.

If you enjoyed this video, be sure to download my free e-book where you can learn five steps

to becoming a confident English speaker.

You can share it on Facebook, upgrade the listening audio version, and don't forget

to check your e-mail to get the free e-book.

Let's see what it is.

All right.

Here is the free e-book.

You can download yours today.

Just click on the link and it will be in your e-mail within a few seconds.

Thanks so much for learning with me.

Bye.