Hi. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today, I want to talk to you about speaking. Speaking
in English and how you can become better speakers. These are very general tips, but I'll start
by saying that I have been teaching English for almost 20 years. I have taught in four
different countries. I have taught students of dozens of nationalities. So, I've seen
all kinds of things, and I've discovered all kinds of reasons why people don't speak well
or don't speak at all. Okay? Now, the number one cause of not speaking is fear. So, one
of the things we're going to have to work on first is getting rid of your fear of speaking.
So, I'm going to give you a few general tips on what you can do to become better English
speakers. And keep in mind, this applies to any language you're going to learn. If you're
learning how to speak Spanish, this will help you become better Spanish speakers. If you're
learning how to speak Russian, this will make you better Russian speakers. Okay? So, that's
a few things to keep in mind based on my interaction with students.
Now, I've put number one out, I left it blank for now because I just want to give you guys
a chance to think what is tip number one. If you've watched my videos before, you probably
already know what I'm going to say, but, you know, say it for yourself, say it out loud
anyway. It's good to say it out loud. Okay? Tip number one, if you want to become a better
English speaker or a better English writer, reader, etc., relax. Learn how to relax when
it comes to using a different language. Okay? When you are relaxed, your brain functions
more efficiently, your ideas come together more easily, everything works. When you're
in a panic, nothing really registers because everything... Your brain is, again, it's in
self-defense mode. When you're in a panic, your brain thinks there's something wrong,
and it's sending all kinds of ideas into your head to try to fix whatever the perceived
problem is. Right? If you're relaxed, you're putting all your ideas together, your thing
comes out more naturally. Next, part of being relaxed means to be confident. Be confident
in yourself. Now, I know that a lot of people, and I've experienced this with tons and tons
of students, a lot of people think that somebody who's not speaking well might be, you know,
an idiot. That's not the case. A lack of language does not equal a lack of intelligence. Okay?
Now, if I go to China and I try to speak Chinese to people, I'm going to sound like an idiot.
Does that mean I'm an idiot? No. It means I don't know Chinese. I can learn Chinese,
I can practice Chinese, and eventually I will be a good Chinese speaker. But at the beginning,
I'm going to sound like an idiot. Okay? So, that's the one thing. Along with being confident,
there's one thing I want everybody to understand, and I know you know this, but I will say it
to you anyway. There's only one person on this planet who is qualified to judge you.
Of course, employers can judge your qualifications for a job, a sports coach can judge your qualifications
or your skills to be on a sports team, etc. Only one person in the world can judge you
as a person, and that one person is you. So, it doesn't matter what other people think
about you. It doesn't matter what other people think about the way you're speaking. You know
who you are, you know what you are, you know where you are in your learning process. So,
don't worry about what other people think.
Now, another thing. When you go... And again, this is a part of people's human nature, but
if you go to another country and you will meet some people, some locals, some of them
will be patient, some of them will not. Some of them will look at you like struggling with
the language and not want to talk to you. Some of them will try to help you. Okay? Don't
worry about what people think. If somebody's not nice to you, go to the next person and
try again.
But again, very important, know your audience. Know who you're talking to. Now, if you're
going to try to basically put together a good sentence, if you're going to try to improve
your English, there are people you're going to try hard to have a good sentence with,
and there are people you're just going to try to get an idea across. Okay? Let me give
you an example. If you're getting on a bus, you go to New York City, your English is still
a little bit, you know, high beginner, low intermediate. You're getting on a bus in New
York City. Don't try to tell the bus driver a perfect sentence. Don't try to make your
question perfect. Just get the idea across.
Let me give you an anecdote. Okay? A little story from my experience. I lived in Tokyo
for a bunch of years, and at the beginning... I'm a very adventurous... Sorry. I'm a very
adventurous guy. I like to travel around, you know, I like to go get lost in a city
and find my way back. So, I would go get lost. I had very few words, then, in Japanese. And
I got lost in this one little town in, you know, like one little suburb of Tokyo. And
I was getting a little bit tired and I wanted to go home. So, I didn't know where the train
station was, I didn't know which way to go. There's no such thing as north, east, south,
west. It's just... Everything's a big sprawl. So, I went looking for a Japanese person,
you know, one who wouldn't run away from me because they didn't want to practice their
English. I found a Japanese person who would stop and listen to me, and I would say, "Sumimasen.
Densha doko?" That's all I would say. "Excuse me. Train. Where?" And, of course, this person
would point out the way or even walk me to the train station. I get on the train, I go
home, I take a nap, I'm happy. Right? But if I was so worried about getting a full sentence,
like saying the full sentence perfectly, "Excuse me. Can you tell me how I can get to the train
station?" I would still be lost in that little suburb today. I went, I got my message across,
I got home.
So, I'm actually going to jump around with all these tips. Build vocab first. Vocabulary
is the most important thing you can do in terms of learning English. A lot of people
worry so much about the grammar that they can't put together a sentence and they get
panicked and they get nervous. So, let me actually stick on to the vocab a little bit.
I want to give you an analogy, okay? Like, I'm going to compare learning English to doing
something else. Let's say you want to build a model house, and you have, you know, those
lollipop sticks, like little sticks, and you have some glue, and you're going to glue all
your sticks together, and you're going to build yourself a house. Okay. I want you to
think of the sticks, the little wooden sticks, okay? They kind of... You know, you have all
these sticks, you can... The doctor has them and your popsicles have them. You have all
these sticks. The sticks are vocabulary. The glue is grammar.
Now, imagine trying to build a house and all you have is glue, and you're putting glue
everywhere and all you have is, like, a sticky fingers or sticky hands and a big mess. If
all you have is vocabulary and no grammar, you can build... You can still build somewhat...
Something that looks like a house. Grammar gets you nothing. Vocabulary gets you something.
Of course, you want to have both together at the end so you can have good English. So,
don't worry about just having vocabulary. Throw out your few words, use your hands,
use your face, use things around you, get your message across. But be confident and
know who you're talking to. If the person doesn't seem to be patient, okay, thank you
very much, go to somebody else. Go to somebody sitting in a park enjoying the sunshine. "Hi.
Would you like to talk?" "Yeah, sure. Let's have a conversation." Bus driver in New York,
don't think about it.
Don't assume anything. Now, what does it mean to assume? To assume means to think something
is true without having the facts. So, don't assume that everybody's nice. Some people
are not nice, and that's okay. Walk away from the not nice people, find yourself a nice
person. Don't assume that everybody's going to try to help you. Don't assume that everybody
is judging you. Don't assume all kinds of things. Don't make assumptions about people.
The only thing you need to understand is that you know who you are, you know what you need.
Keep going until you find somebody who will help you, okay?
Now, the worst thing you can do, and I... Don't do this. I'm just saying to you now.
Don't go up to a stranger and say, "Can I practice speaking my English with you?" That's
not going to work. That person gets nothing out of the deal. If you go to somebody, "Hi.
I'm from wherever country I'm from. You know, can you tell me where something is?" It doesn't
matter what you say, start a conversation. If that person is interested, he or she will
continue the conversation. But if you go to somebody, "Can I practice my English with
you?" "Well, no. I got to go. Bye." Okay? Don't do that, it doesn't work.
Again, don't try to be perfect. If you were perfect, you wouldn't be an English learner,
you'd be an English speaker. Remember, you're an English learner. You're building up to
a certain level. Now, another thing to keep in mind. Do you think that my English, that
when I speak English with people, I speak perfect English? I don't. Nobody does. There
is no such thing as perfection. I make mistakes, other native speakers make mistakes, right?
Perfect is just not necessary. So, when you're trying to create a perfect sentence, all you're
doing is thinking too much and not speaking enough. Just speak, just get whatever ideas.
The most important thing is to be understood, not to be perfect, which means that mistakes
are good things. If you're not trying to be perfect, you're going to make mistakes. Mistakes
will teach you more English than perfection. If you're perfect, you have nothing to learn.
If you make mistakes, you have something not to repeat. Okay? And something to figure out
how not to repeat it. Perfection doesn't exist, doesn't help you. Mistakes, they're good for
you, that's how you grow. Okay? And, of course, the most important thing, practice.
Now, how do you practice speaking when there's no... When there are no native speakers around
you? First of all, find a recording or find a TV show or a movie or something like TED.com,
etc., where you can listen to talks given by native speakers. Find transcripts. Scripts.
See? Not perfect. Nobody's perfect. Find transcripts for these talks, and then just follow them,
and then record yourself speaking. Then compare your speech to the one you heard. See where
the intonation is, where the pace changes, pronunciation, all kinds of things. Record
yourself again, and again, and again, until you get as close as possible to the native
speaker's speech. Also, record yourself and find out your grammar mistakes.
If you find an interview, like a news interview or an online interview or a TV interview,
try to take one side of that interview. So, you are the interviewer, ask the person the
questions, and sort of pretend you're having a conversation with this person. Then switch.
That's the interviewer, you are the interviewee, answer the questions, and then answer with
your own answers if possible. But basically, just play, play, play. Speak. Speak to the
mirror. Stand in front of the mirror and have a conversation with yourself. You know, it's
not very comfortable and it's not very interesting, but it's practice.
And as much as possible, engage other people. Find native speakers, speak to them. Find
non-native speakers, speak to them. Create a group of your classmates or your friends
or your local people, and just, you know, speak. Now, the thing I find very common in
language schools, you'll have all the Brazilian students and you'll have all the Korean students
and you'll have all the whatever students, and they're all staying in their little groups
and they're speaking their languages. That doesn't help. Do not speak your language when
you don't have to. When you go home, speak it all you want. In school, outside, speak
the other language.
And tying all of this together, be adventurous. Life is an adventure. If you're trying to
make everything perfect all the time, there's no fun. Once in a while you have to fall flat
on your face, right? So that way, you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, grow.
Become somebody new. Become something new. Go to different places. If you're going to
be afraid of speaking in English, you should probably just stay home, right? You don't
want to stay home. There's a reason you're learning English. You want to watch movies
and understand them. You want to meet new people. You want to go new places. You want
to get an education, a job, whatever. You're going to have to speak. Be adventurous, be
confident, relax. Okay?
Those are my, you know, two cents worth of tips on how to speak better. I hope they helped
you a little bit. If you do have any questions, please go to www.engvid.com, and in the forum
there, you can ask me questions about this or anything about English speaking. There's
also sort of a quiz. It's not really a quiz. It's more of like a review that you can take
there, make sure you understand the points I've made here. I hope you liked this video.
If you did, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and come back for more tips on how
to speak better, listen better, be better with English, in English, with... For English.
Okay? See you soon. Bye.