Vanessa: Hi. I'm Vanessa
from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Do you speak like this? You shouldn't. Let's talk about it.
Imagine this scenario, your coworkers have asked you to order a birthday cake
for your boss so you call up the bakery and you tell them that you want the cake to say,
"Happy birthday to the best boss in the world." But when you get the cake back, uh oh, there is a
serious problem. On the cake it says, "Have a big day to the best bus in the wheel." What? What went
wrong? Something terrible happened. And then you realized that when you were speaking on the phone,
you didn't speak clearly enough. This is a big problem. And now your mistake is in icing
for everyone to see. ugh, so frustrating and embarrassing. Well, of course a good baker would
not write some kind of nonsense like this on a cake but I've seen plenty of mistakes and typos
from English learners when they're not speaking clearly and making five common speaking
mistakes that you should avoid. Let's talk about them and a solution to help you speak better.
To help you never forget what you learn in today's lesson and to never make these
embarrassing mistakes, you can download the free PDF that I've created with all of the tips,
sample sentences and ideas from today's lesson. Plus, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question
at the end of the PDF worksheet. Click on the link in the description to download the free PDF today.
All right, let's get started by talking about the first speaking mistake that I often see
English learners make and it is mumbling. Hi. My name's Vanessa and I teach English online. You
want to learn English with me? What? I did not speak clearly at all. I was mumbling. It means
my mouth is closed. Hi. My name's Vanessa and I'm going to teach you English today.
It's not good for an English teacher but it's also not good when you're speaking a
language that's not your native language. You absolutely want other people to understand you.
If you have not perfect grammar, if you have not perfect vocabulary, you know what? It is not the
end of the world but if you're mumbling, no one's going to be able to understand what you're saying.
What's the solution for mumbling? It is enunciating. Enunciating means that you
speak clearly. This might mean that you speak a little slower than you normally would or maybe
than you would like to but do you know what? As an English learner, this is perfectly fine. When you
speak clearly you avoid embarrassing mistakes like we saw at the beginning of this video.
Your cake, if you speak clearly, would say, "Happy birthday to the best boss in the world."
It would say it's so beautifully and clearly and your boss would be really excited and happy
that you put in such beautiful effort for him. Speaking mistake number two that I often see my
English students make is not speaking up when you have an idea. It doesn't even need to be an
amazing idea. This idea of speaking up means that you are telling other people your ideas or telling
other people your opinions. The mistake I see my English students make is if they have an idea,
they don't say it. They just keep it and they let other people speak their mind but they don't
share their ideas. There might be two reasons for this. The first one might be that you just
don't feel comfortable speaking in English. You don't feel confident enough that you'll be able
to express yourself in the right way or use the right words but do you know what? Saying something
is absolutely better than saying nothing. The solution to not speaking up is to say
something. It doesn't need to be perfect and I think that perfectionism is often the thing that
holds English learners back. In fact, it can hold all of us back in a lot of ways in life
but just saying something and realizing even if my English is not perfect, it's okay.
Another reason that you might not speak up is if you doubt your ideas, maybe you feel like
it's not a great idea. Other people's ideas are probably better. This is not a language issue.
This is something that's in your head and those are the hardest things to overcome.
Instead of over thinking, maybe this isn't a good idea. Oh, maybe their idea is better.
Maybe they won't like my idea. Instead, practice speaking up for yourself. Say, "Actually I think
this would be a good idea too." Or, "What do you think about this idea? I'd like to share something
that I was thinking." These are all wonderful things to say, and they help you to speak up.
The third speaking mistake I often see my English students make is that they use
offensive language or even profanity when it's not appropriate. What's the solution for this? Well,
I know that a lot of English movies and TV shows use bad words, we call that profanity,
casually, easily. They use it in daily life but really, especially as an English learner,
you want other people to feel comfortable speaking with you and using bad words just
isn't really a good idea. If you feel like you might accidentally be saying some bad words,
I recommend checking out this video that I made about some common words that are often
said incorrectly as a bad word. You don't want to accidentally say a bad word instead but I
recommend overall avoiding using a bad word. Instead, you could say something like this,
"Hey, I don't really agree. How about if we do this instead?" Oh, that's so much better
than confronting them and saying, "You bleep, you blah, blah. Why are you beep, beep? No.
Instead you can use softer language and that's perfectly all right. Other people
will feel more comfortable talking with you. The fourth mistake that I often see my English
students make and that I make myself is to rely too much on filler words. Like, you know, well.
Yes, it's true that American English speakers often use filler words but
if you use these too much, it could make it difficult to understand what you're saying
and it might not really be pleasant to have a conversation with someone who's
constantly saying, oh, well, like, you know. When you stall like that, stall means to wait between
words or to wait between events even, then it doesn't really flow well as a conversation. Yes,
you can use filler words but don't overuse them. Instead, don't be afraid of a little silence.
It's perfectly all right if you're telling someone about your day and you say,
"Yeah, I walked into the office and I couldn't believe i, but they're was a,
what's that word? There was a printer on my desk." If you can't remember the word printer,
you don't need to constantly fill that space with something to say. There was a, like, you know,
there was a thing, what was it? A printer. You could talk like that but you know what? If you did
that too much, it would be a little bit stressful to have a conversation like that. Instead
don't be afraid to use some blank space. We all need a little bit of silence in our lives and
it's totally okay. Feel free to use a filler word here and there but just not too much.
The fifth and final mistake that I often see my English students make
when they're speaking is that they either speak too quietly or they speak too loudly.
Usually it's the first one. They speak too quietly and this might be because they're feeling shy,
they're worried about speaking up, like we talked about before but really this might just be because
you don't want to offend other or people, possibly from your native culture. It's not polite to speak
at a normal tone like this. Instead, it's more common to speak softly and quietly but often in
the US, this is seen as a lack of confidence, it's seen as somebody who doesn't really feel
comfortable being in that situation. And even if that's true, as they say fake it till you make it,
try to speak at a normal tone. As for speaking too loud,
this might be because of your native culture or this could be because you maybe feel like
you need to speak extra loud in order for other people to understand you. But I would like to
suggest for you to moderate your tone. Notice the volume that other people are speaking at
and try to match that. This is especially true of course, when you're out in public but I've really
noticed this stark difference between cultures. When we're sitting at a coffee shop in the US,
it's pretty common to talk normally and usually you can hear other people's conversations
but you don't want to hear them too loudly. If you're talking to your friend about the
date that she went on and you said, "Oh, how was your date? Oh really, he kissed you? Oh,
he had bad breath?" Oh boy, if you say that too loudly, everyone's going to kind of stop and say,
"Oh, can you talk a little quieter?" This is not meant for the whole cafe but you don't
need to whisper it either. You can just talk in a normal voice and that is perfectly acceptable.
And the same goes for the workplace. If you're giving a presentation, for example,
you need to have a presentation voice. And that's kind of what I do when I make videos for you is I
make sure that I speak up, I speak clearly and I enunciate so that you can understand
but I'm also using the appropriate words. I'm not using swear words.
I'm speaking in daily life English and I'm using the correct volume. I'm making sure
that you can hear me accurately and clearly through the camera, through the internet,
to the other side of the world. Can you hear me? I want to make sure that you can hear me. If you're
giving a presentation at work, make sure that you speak up and you use a good office voice.
I hope that you can avoid these five common speaking mistakes that I see
my English students make. Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet. There is
a link in the description. You can print it out, put it under your pillow to sleep on.
Review it before you give a presentation. Review it especially before you call a bakery
to get a cake made for your boss. Don't make that mistake. And make sure that you are remembering
what you learned today with the PDF. There's a link in the description. Download it today.
Well, now I have a question for you. I want to know which one of these five mistakes do you make?
Do you speak to quietly? Do you possibly use too many filler words? Or maybe some bad words?
Do you speak up and share your ideas? Or maybe do you mumble too much? Let me know in the comments.
I can't wait to see what you have to say and I'll see you again next Friday for a
new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. The next step is to download the free PDF
worksheet for this lesson. With this free PDF, you will master today's lesson and
never forget what you have learned. You can be a confident English speaker. Don't forget
to subscribe to my YouTube channel for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.