SPEAKING ENGLISH: Is this holding you back?

Well hey there! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

So tell me, how do you feel about speaking English?

Does your heart start pounding?

Do you get sweaty palms?

Do you feel anxious or stressed out?

Its really common!

But you're here watching this video because

you want to improve your speaking skills.

You want to feel more confident

in English conversations!

You might feel a little more confident

reading or listening to English, where you're

taking on information, the information's coming in.

During that time, you're learning new words and you're

refining your awareness of English grammar.

By practising these skills regularly,

you're building a really big passive vocabulary

but you're not producing English.

You're not having to create your own ideas or opinions,

you're just taking on someone else's.

But you can practise writing English, right?

That's producing English.

You have to think of your own ideas and

write them down, right?

Absolutely!

But you also have time to pause and think

to look up words, to go back

and correct your grammar mistakes.

There's much less pressure.

Writing in English definitely helps you

to improve your conversation skills

because it helps you to organise your ideas

and use correct grammar,

it's definitely a good place to start.

But it's not quite the same, is it?

For you, speaking English.. it's tricky

because not only do you have to

produce your own thoughts and ideas in English,

but you've got to do it on the spot,

in that moment.

And once you do that,

then you've got to pronounce

all of those words correctly.

One of your biggest challenges while speaking English

is recalling the correct grammar

and remembering the right words to use, right?

And to do it quickly.

You know this problem, don't you?

It's happened to you before.

You've tried to explain an idea to someone in English

but suddenly you feel stuck.

You've forgotten the word

or you just don't know how to explain it.

Well what happens then?

In that moment, what happens?

Perhaps you get frustrated with yourself,

annoyed, angry even. Maybe you feel embarrassed.

Maybe you've lost a little confidence

and maybe you even try to avoid speaking

as much as possible

because you don't like that uncomfortable feeling.

I hate this!

I really want to help you to overcome these emotions.

Making mistakes is the most empowering thing

that you can do with your English.

It gives you the opportunity to learn and improve.

Okay let's talk about some of the

challenges you face when speaking English.

You need a decent vocabulary.

Broadening, widening, expanding your vocabulary.

Of course that's going to be helpful

for speaking English, right?

And you can do this by reading books on topics,

listening to podcasts, watching movies with subtitles,

using language apps, all of those things.

But the most important thing

is that you need to be actively

participating in these activities,

it's really easy to learn passively,

just watch movies and hope that

some of the words will stay with you in your mind.

No! You want to expand your vocabulary.

You have to do things to make that happen.

So when you're doing all of these activities,

keep a notebook with you

and write down words and expressions.

Look them up. Try to understand them.

Make sure that you're using the words that you learn.

Write a daily journal or draw vocabulary maps.

You need to keep these words and expressions

in the active part of your brain

if you want to be able to use them

easily during a conversation.

But more than just expanding your vocabulary,

you have to train your brain to think of alternatives

when you don't know the exact word

that you're looking for because it happens.

Imagine that you want to buy a vase

but when you go to the shop, suddenly

you've forgotten the word.

Should you just give up and go home?

No!

You can use other words to describe what it looks like

and how it's used.

So are all of those names

the right ones to use for a vase?

Absolutely not.

But will you leave the shop with a vase?

Probably!

And the shop assistant will probably

remind you of the name as well.

Alright another fun way to improve your vocabulary

and communication is to play games.

One of my favourite's is a synonym game.

Now it's a little like a guessing game

where you're given a word and you need to think of

some alternative names

or different ways to describe it

without using the actual name.

If you watch this lesson through to the end,

I'll show you exactly how to play it. We'll play together!

Games like this, they really help you to communicate

your ideas effectively even if you forget a word.

They're training you to do that.

They help you to keep English words active in your mind

and you'll get better at improvising

and getting yourself out of trouble during conversations.

Being a more creative thinker will definitely help you

even when you can't think of the word you need.

So you'll be feeling less stuck during conversations.

When you're speaking English,

try to focus less on accuracy, and more on fluency.

Just allowing the words and ideas to flow to you

and don't worry if it's not perfect.

Worry about your writing being perfect,

but not your speaking.

In fact, just forget this idea of perfection at all.

I have had hundreds of incredible conversations

with non-native English speakers.

Some of them the most enjoyable ones of my life.

Now was their English

perfect when they were speaking?

No. But my English isn't always perfect

either when I speak.

But did this stop us from communicating

our ideas and creating a wonderful experience together?

Absolutely not.

So perfection should not be your goal when speaking.

Your goal should be effective communication.

Do you have any special methods

that you use to learn vocabulary?

I want you to add them to the comments.

I'd love to learn some of your tips

and recommendations as well.

What tools do you use to learn vocabulary?

Or what games do you play?

Improving your range of vocabulary

and remembering it is important

but what else gets in the way of

fluent, effective conversation?

Good pronunciation is important when speaking English

it helps people to understand you.

But English pronunciation is a challenge that

all non-native English speakers face.

To speak, you don't just have to work your brain,

but you also have to work your mouth, your tongue,

your throat, all of these different things.

There are so many muscles that go into

speaking clearly.

If you decided to try surfing for the first time ever,

would you expect that your muscles to know exactly

what to do and help you to catch your

first perfect wave in just a few minutes?

No.

Speaking your second language is similar.

You have to train your mouth and develop your muscles

to improve your pronunciation.

Even if you use perfect grammar and expert vocabulary,

but your mouth just can't make these sounds correctly.

Well you're stuck!

So let's talk about what you can do to train your mouth

and develop those muscles.

If you can invest in a pronunciation coach or a trainer

that will help you to break out of your bad

pronunciation habits, then do it.

Even if it's just for a short period

so that you can really understand

which sounds are making your spoken English unclear.

You could even do this yourself

by keeping a list of English words that you find

difficult to pronounce.

These are all tricky words, right?

I'm sure you'll make a huge list!

Look up how to say each word correctly

before you practise. Make sure you've got it right.

Try and copy a native English speaker,

even from a video.

Never assume that you know

how to pronounce an English word.

So you look at all these words,

and you look them up in the dictionary,

you review the phonemic symbols if you can.

So once you've made your list, you check,

are there any sounds or groups of sounds

that repeat themselves through this list?

This is how you can find out which sounds

you need to practise.

Perhaps there are some consonant clusters there

or some final consonant sounds that are difficult for you

or a particular vowel sound.

And once you know which sounds are difficult,

make a new list of words that include it

and practise them out loud.

Practise them in sentences,

use language apps to record your voice

and help you to identify where to improve.

Finally, there is a great way

to improve your pronunciation and that is imitation.

Repeating after a native speaker is a great way

first to hear the proper pronunciation

but then to practise it yourself,

by imitating them, copying them.

Now I have two whole series of imitation lessons

that you can use to practise and improve

your pronunciation and English expression.

You can use this link up here to check out

mmmEnglish imitation courses.

One of the biggest challenges facing language learners

is fear.

The fear of making a mistake,

the fear of forgetting what you're trying to say,

the fear of not understanding

the person that you're talking to,

the fear of talking to a group of people,

the fear of presenting in another language.

The thing is, sometimes these fears are real.

But most of the time, they're thoughts in our head

that's all they are.

We get to decide which thoughts in our heads are real.

But it's completely possible to tell ourselves

that those thoughts are false, they're just not true.

You don't have to believe them.

For example, we tell ourselves

it's bad to make a mistake. We should know better.

We're dumb. We're slow learners.

We tell ourselves all of these things but we don't have to

Instead we could tell ourselves:

We could say we're busy people,

If you're waiting for your English grammar to be perfect

and to know every word in the English dictionary,

then you'll never actually start speaking.

Unlike writing, it's not necessary to worry

so much about having perfect spoken English,

right from the very beginning.

In fact, most native English speakers that you listen to

will occasionally use a wrong word

or the wrong grammar. We're not perfect either.

Let me ask you, have you ever run a marathon?

Is it possible to finish a marathon if you've never

gone running or jogging before?

Probably not.

Unless you're some kind of superhuman.

You have to train for a marathon

and you have to get some momentum.

Start off small.

Run short distances and slowly you'll feel stronger,

you'll feel faster every time that you go for a run.

With each week that passes,

you'll be able to run a little further.

Speaking English is similar, you start out small

and with a little bit of training each day,

you work your way up.

Don't wait until you feel like you can join a conversation

without ever making a mistake.

Because that day just simply won't come. So instead

start off small and let yourself make some mistakes.

People will generally understand you anyway

and you'll be improving your pronunciation, you'll be

gaining confidence and experience in that conversation.

And guess what? Next time you'll do it better.

And it will get easier.

So deliberately work on your confidence.

Tell yourself that you're capable, that you

can join a conversation,

that you will find a speaking partner to practise with

Don't give up when you fail.

Just accept that you're doing to make mistakes

and they will make you stronger.

So once you do all of that, let's focus on

speaking with someone. You need to practise, right?

So if you've got a tutor or a class to practise with, great!

But if not, well you have to get a little more creative.

Do you know any native English speakers?

You could just offer to buy them a coffee once a week

and chat with them for thirty minutes.

But maybe speaking to a native English speaker is

a little intimidating.

How about non-native English speakers?

It's a really common misconception among

my students that you have to

practise with a native speaker and that's just wrong.

While you build your conversation confidence

and try to become more fluent in conversation,

practising with non-native English speakers

is awesome!

They have more time and are willing

to practise with you, especially practise regularly.

You have the same goals as each other

so you can help each other to reach those goals.

You'll feel less bothered by your mistakes because

your partner's making them as well.

You'll have a study buddy who you can

solve your English problems with.

Plus, you can find partners who are at a similar level

as you and that will help you to feel less intimidated

about these conversations.

Remember, we're focusing on fluency not accuracy

so this is the perfect way to practise.

Now finding this person or finding these people

is the hardest part.

You need to spend some time trying to find

someone who's the right fit for you.

You get on well together. Someone who's available

regularly at the same times as you.

Someone who motivates you and helps you to practise

even if you don't really feel like it.

There are so many online groups that help you to

connect with other English learners

who share specific interests or goals.

Ones that, you know,

focus on presentation skills for professionals

or ones that focus on travel, food.

You'll find people who share similar interests with you.

And those people will help you to feel motivated

and excited to speak with them.

Try to find someone who's

willing to meet with you regularly

- once a week, for example.

You need that commitment from someone.

Now I run an online community

that's specifically for women

who are trying to learn English, The Ladies' Project.

We focus on conversation topics

that women care about

and deal with particular challenges

that women face when speaking English.

We connect our members with other women

who are learning English and help them to make

new friends around the world.

If you're interested to learn more about it,

then check out the link right here.

No matter where you look for your speaking partner,

like any relationship, finding a genuine speaking partner

that you get along with takes work.

It's not going to be anyone but it's worth the effort.

Practising with them is going to prepare you for

future conversations with native English speakers,

prepare you for job interviews or that moment when you

see your favourite American movie star

across the street and you run over to say hi.

There are just so many complex parts to

speaking in English.

So being able to quickly recall vocabulary

and use grammar correctly really helps you

to communicate your message effectively in English.

As does good pronunciation.

But the fears that we just spoke about are

more complex issues that require you to think

more deeply about the person that you are

and what you need to do to try and reduce those fears.

I'll be making a few more lessons about this soon

but right now, we're going to have a little fun

in the extra practice section.

So keep watching for a few minutes.

And let me know in the comments if you have any other

suggestions or recommendations

to improve your speaking skills.

Do you have any other strategies that we can try?

Share them in the comments below. You know

that I love to see you all helping each other

and supporting each other

on your English-language journey.

It's a tough journey but you're all in this together

and I'm definitely here and I've got your back.

So are you coming with me to practise a little more?

Let's go!

So this synonym game..

Yeah

How does it work again? I've totally forgotten.

So what you do is you think of a word

and this could be any word.

You could have a list of vocabulary that you use

or you could even just look around you and

look at the things that are around you for inspiration.

And what you need to do is think of alternative ways

that you can describe or talk about that thing

or that feeling for example.

So what it's good for is to help you to get a little creative

with your English vocabulary. It's good for

pushing you a little bit further to help you

think of alternatives for describing things

and this is great when you're in a conversation

and you get stuck.

You know that feeling when you get stuck for a word,

but you need to quickly think of new ways to describe

or talk about that thing so that you can keep

going in your conversation right?

So it's just a bit of fun but it's the kind of game

that you can play on your own, any time like when you're

on the bus on your way to work,

when you're going for a run, anything like that.

You can play it on your own but you can also

play it with friends which is kind of cool.

You can challenge your friends to, you know,

different words and they've got to think of new

and alternative ways to describe or talk about that word.

So do you want to try it with me?

Sure!

Okay you think of a word

and I'll show you what you need to do.

Okay. Playground.

Okay. Playground.

This is a place where children play. It's like a park

for children actually and usually you can find

swings and slides and monkey bars.

It's even called jungle gym in some countries.

So do you get it? Now you know how to play it right?

So I'm going to choose one for you.

Okay, exercise.

Exercise. Things like

Okay now you think of another one for me.

Okay.

Peaceful.

That's a tricky one. Peaceful.

So some synonyms for peaceful are

Alright, I'm going to think of one last one for you now.

Okay.

Okay, beach.

Beach? My favourite place. Beach.

It's just over there.

Okay.

Did I say

Awesome! That was really good!

Okay I'm going to give one last one here

and I want you to think of the alternatives,

think of some synonyms

and add them into the comments below this video.

Okay? I'll be down there to check them in a minute.

The word is enthusiastic.

So how can you describe this

or use alternatives for this word?

If you enjoyed this lesson then make sure you subscribe

to the mmmEnglish channel just down here.

And when you're ready, let's go check out

these next lessons together. I'll see you in there!