- Hi, could I order a cup of coffee, please? - Need some help?
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Welcome to Smashing English. Before
we start this video, be sure to subscribe because we make new videos all the time,
and I don't want you to miss any. So, with that said, let's get on with the video.
Let me guess, you've been learning English for a while, but now you want to really
improve your confidence, your style, your flow. You want to feel like you
can stand in front of anybody and speak English confidently. Well, let us help.
My name is Laura, and my name is Bez. Hello, and we're English teachers. We're
going to give you some tips to help you speak English confidently and with style. Off we go,
starting with tip number one: being comfortable in the uncomfortable.
Try to do one thing every week that makes you feel uncomfortable. When people learn a language,
we're constantly given uncomfortable situations. For example, ordering a cup of coffee or ordering
a pizza. All of these uncomfortable situations are obstacles in the way of somebody learning a
language. My challenge is to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. For example,
talking to your barista, asking them how their day is, talking to somebody while you're standing in a
lift, brushing your teeth with your opposite hand. The next time something makes you feel a little
bit scared, lean into it, do it, and be grateful that you have this experience as practice.
Moving on to the next tip. Okay, tip number two: when building confidence in a new language,
finding the right speaking environment is essential. You can find real native speakers on
iTalki to practice true authentic conversation. You'll be speaking like a natural in no time.
iTalki is an online language learning platform that I myself use to learn French. We offer
one-to-one personalized and flexible lessons with native, professional-level teachers. Trust me,
nothing will build your confidence more than having a one-on-one conversation
with a native speaker. I remember my first French lesson on iTalki;
I was so nervous to speak to a native speaker. But after about 30 seconds,
I felt absolutely fine, and now I consider it my number one language learning resource.
Don't bar the more conversations you have with native teachers, the more your confidence will
build because you receive validation that what you're saying is correct and good. You know that
if you make a mistake in the conversation, that mistake will be highlighted, and that's great.
Highlighting mistakes is how we learn and how we build our confidence. This is how you will improve
your listening and speaking skills in a way that's truly fun. On iTalki, you can connect with over
30,000 teachers worldwide. No matter what your needs and goals are, there's a teacher for you,
and you pay per lesson. There's no subscription involved. Just choose a date and time that works
for you. No strings attached. Book lessons around your busy schedule and learn anytime,
anywhere. Click the link below in the description to start your language learning journey. Woohoo!
And you know I've got a good deal for you. Buy $10 and get $5 for free off your first lesson
when you use my exclusive promo code SMASHING2024. But the discounts are only available for the first
50 users, so go, go, go. Thanks again to iTalki for sponsoring this video. On with the next tip.
Tip number three: confidence comes with faith in your own ability. It's much easier to be confident
when you know you're good at something. Set yourself a target, for example, an exam or a test.
It doesn't have to be an official language test and a big-scale center. It could just be a test
on your computer at home. Once you've completed that test, you will have almost like a stamp of
approval. "I am at this level," and know that an external body told me I was at this level in
English. So, you know it and take confidence in that. And if you get a result that maybe
you're not so happy with, don't worry. Take it as motivation. Any knowledge we can have about our
abilities is useful for us. You might think you're a quick runner, but maybe you need to put yourself
in a race just to be sure and to understand how quick you really are. And once you know
how quick you are, you can have confidence and tell people, "Hi, I'm a fast runner." Oh, sorry.
Tip number four: now, come closer. Okay, I want you to listen really closely,
okay? When I say this, it's very important. Okay, you need to speak out loud every day. Now,
I know what you're thinking, Laura. I live on my own. Laura, I don't have enough money to pay for
an English teacher to speak to every day. Doesn't matter. You can still talk to yourself. Okay,
if you are watching me, that means you either have some kind of computer, some kind of tablet,
some kind of phone. So, I'm guessing you have some kind of technology at your disposal. There
are lots of things you can do to make sure you are speaking out loud every day. We made a whole
video about this. It's here, and I give you plenty of exercises that you can do on your own without
a teacher. That means you speak out loud every day. You will not be a confident English speaker
if the only thing you do is read grammar books or look at vocabulary lists. You'll have a very
good level of English, but it's almost like it's trapped in a cage in your head because
none of it can come out. Because you are not practicing that process of brain to mouth. Okay,
so if you're struggling with your fluency, you're like, "I know all of these words. I
know the grammar, but it just doesn't come out of my mouth," you need to find some excuse to
speak out loud every day, even if it's just for 5 minutes. Just five minutes,
speak out loud in English every day. Okay, I will leave the link down below of the video that gives
you all of these exercises that you can do in your own time. Okay, moving on to tip number five.
Tip number five: 99% of the time, if you're speaking to somebody in English, they want
you to succeed. They want to know what you have to say. They want to understand you. People are
not waiting for your failures. I get this all the time as an English teacher. Students come
to me and make mistakes, and they apologize or worry that they're wasting my time. No,
I'm here to help. Everybody is here to help. If you're talking to a bus driver or a taxi driver
or somebody on the tube asking for directions, they want to understand what you have to say. And
if the person you're speaking to doesn't want to know what you have to say, who wants to know those
people anyway? Losers. Oh, this candle smells so good. Oh my goodness, like mango. Oh, sorry.
Tip number six: now, this one is an interesting one. Okay,
I've come across this problem a lot when I'm teaching people. And
I will ask them maybe if they're working on their pronunciation or how they use English
. They say, "Oh, I love um David Attenborough, for example, and I watch a lot of David Attenborough,
and I'm trying to copy his English." And I look at them, and I think, but you're a 28-year-old
female. It's not the best English to be copying if he's very outside of your age and gender. So,
I would suggest finding a language model who is very similar to you. Okay, so I want you to think
outside of the box here. Don't just go for the most obvious British, American, Australian person,
depending on what kind of English you're learning. So, for example, "Oh, an American guy, Tom Cruise.
I'm just going to sound like Tom Cruise." The only people who should really be looking to
Tom Cruise as their language model is someone who is Tom Cruise's age and gender, really. So,
okay, you're 30 years old, you're a female, and you love sports. Okay, I want you to find
a 30ish year old female who loves sports. Maybe that's a sportswoman, maybe it's a tennis player
or something. Find somebody who is in your world. Okay, because then you will learn vocabulary that
is relevant to you. You will hear slang that is relevant to you. You will hear sentences that are
made in a way that people your age would make a sentence. Okay, obviously, it's completely up to
you if you want to sound like David Attenborough. Who am I to tell you not to? Oh my goodness,
what right do I have? But if your intention is to feel confident, like you are sounding
as natural as possible, you are blending in in the culture that you're moving to or whatever it is,
you need to find a language model that is your age, your gender, and maybe has similar interests
to you. So ideally, someone who does a lot of interviews and is featured in lots of podcasts,
for example. Okay, moving on to the next tip. Oh, Sean Connery, you speak very, very good English.
Tip number seven: learn how to deal with making mistakes or not knowing
a word. This is normally a language learner's biggest fear, but don't worry,
mistakes happen all the time. All the time, you will make mistakes, I will make mistakes.
I've made so many mistakes for filming this video today. But how we deal with making those
mistakes can really help you. If you do make a mistake, make a joke out of it, keep it light,
acknowledge the fact that you're not a native. If you lower the stakes of making a mistake, then a
mistake is nothing to be worried about because it happens. You acknowledge it, you move on.
Hey, Simon, would you like to go and eat some coffee after—sorry, eat some coffee,
drink some coffee. Sorry, tricky language. Minimize the thought of making a mistake,
so it's nothing to be worried about. So, for this final tip,
I want to speak to you a little bit more personally. All of the other tips have been
mainly focused around English confidence, but I want to speak to you just about confidence.
Now, you may or may not know that me and Bez both met at acting training. We both went to
drama school where we tried to learn how to be actors. And a huge part of acting is confidence,
right? You've got to have the confidence to stand on a stage and speak in front of people.
And when I first got there, I really struggled with feeling self-conscious. I really thought
that if I did something wrong or if I did something silly or if I looked a certain way,
people would laugh, and they would remember, and they would point fingers at me,
and it would be humiliating. But then it really just dawned on me
after a couple of months being there. No one cares, you know? No one truly cares.
Our life experience, we think that everything is about us because we are us, you know? And we
think that everyone is looking at us, and everyone will remember every bad thing we do. But everyone
else is thinking about themselves too. So if you go into a coffee shop and you say, "Okay,
I'm going to order in English, and it's going to be really hard, and if I make a mistake,
everyone will remember." No one will remember, you know? That coffee person, the person serving
you the coffee, won't remember if you said a glass of coffee instead of a cup of coffee.
They're thinking about themselves too. They're thinking about what they have to do that evening.
So in a way, it might be empowering for you to know that it doesn't matter. Everyone is
so focused on themselves. Just the fact that you are putting so much work into this language
and you are trying to build a skill, and you are getting to a point where you are going
to either give a public speech or you're going to speak English in public for the first time,
that is something to be so proud of, and no one can take that away from
you. That's incredible what you're doing. So take that as empowerment
that even if you make all of the mistakes you could possibly make, so what? So what?
And obviously, in this life, there are things that have higher stakes. Maybe
you're going to a job interview, and this job interview is very, very important. Obviously,
that feels very pressured and feels like it matters. But use that as your motivation. Use
that as your drive that makes you practice more and more and more. But in general,
in a coffee shop, on the train, no one really cares. You're doing really, really well. Well
done for watching this video. Clearly, you are very determined and motivated, so you're doing
all the right things. Well done. Thank you so much for watching this video. If you enjoyed it,
please give it a like. If you want to follow us on Instagram, you can do so there. And if you
want an online one-to-one lesson with me or Bez on iTalki, and if you want those iTalki discounts,
go to the link down below. Thank you so much for watching, and we will see you next time, ta ta!