When I try to speak English, words don't come out right. How can I speak fluent English?
Most likely you are afraid of making a mistake.I suffered the same in learning Spanish, and I see it as one of the greatest obstacles for my English students. One of my students recently told me he was in a store and wanted to ask in English, "What is the price of this item?" He planned it out perfectly in his mind, walked up to the attendent, and said "wutprsths?" When the attendent (obviously) did not understand, so my student just said "price," and got the answer he needed.Often we may say "I don't mind making mistakes, I know no one is going to throw tomatoes at me" but deep inside we feel that it is something terrible to speak poorly, and so are terrified of saying something wrong. As a result we overthink what we are trying to say, analyzing the grammar and syntax instead of just pouring forth concepts. This makes speaking very awkward. This can even happen when you are alone, speaking to yourself, because you constantly doubt if what you said is correct (I speak from experience)!Polygot Sid Efromovich points out that we are trained from youth to shun the feeling of having done something wrong, but in learning languages we must seek it, because that means we are crossing into new territory and learning. (See the video below, 29:00)When you are writing you can take time to think about how words should be organized - you cannot while speaking. So you just have to go for it. Spit the words out, and if they are wrong, that's OK. One successful English learner told me that making mistakes was the best learning tool, because he was so embarrased he remembered the correction!From my own experience and research and watching others, I believe the only solution to your problem is to listen to and speak a lot of English. It has to be a natural process that you don't think about, which will only come with lots of practice - as with any skill, from baseball to piano playing to speaking.
I have been learning English for ten years. Why is my spoken English so bad?
Have you heard of the 10000 hour rule? You can master anything if you practice it for 10000 hours. The reason you haven't yet improved is because you haven't used English for 10000 hours.As it is very difficult for you to learn the English language for 10000 hours in the class room, the only way to master it is to use it in daily life. Look for opportunities to speak - don't worry even if you make mistakes. Build your vocabulary and start stringing words together to form sentences. Use your native language to fill in gaps for words you don't know - ask the person you are speaking to if he can help you fill the gap.Let me tell you my example - I lived in Japan for just over three years. The day I moved there, I greeted the waiter with "konnichiwa", Japanese for hello. That was one of the few words I had learnt before going to Japan. And from then on, I tried to speak in Japanese whenever I got a chance.In my early days in Japan, my colleague challenged me to do a business presentation in Japanese within one year. I did accept the challenge I attended a few hours of Japanese lessons through the year, probably 20-30 but more importantly I conversed with people around me with whatever broken Japanese I could speak. At first it was funny, but then it got better. Though at the end of the first year I wasn't confident to do a business presentation, I still tried. I didn't do too well :)But by the end of the second year I was doing not only internal presentations but also customer presentations in Japanese. And I made Japanese friends with whom I conversed in Japanese. I don't know whether you have people around you with whom you can converse in English - the only advice I can give you is use English wherever you can and you will get better. Make some friends with people who know English or have a mutual interest to learn English and converse. That is the only way your Spoken English will get better.All the best!
I do not speak English very well... HELP!!?
Dear Saiirin, I totally understand your feeling because I've been there too. I moved to the United States from Taiwan in 7th grade speaking NO English, and I felt so ashamed and stupid EVERY SINGLE DAY. Can you believe it? My father even had to show the principal my IQ test result from 4th grade to prove that I was not retarded or anything. I was completely silent for two years and I didn't have any real friends. I hated English and I hated America.. so much. Some of my classmates made fun of me, immitated Chinese (like one of the answerers above did), etc., and they would not stop until I started crying. I think you are doing better than me, already speaking in front of the class and everything! The first time I spoke in front of the whole class (if ESL doesn't count) was in 10th grade, when I had to do a presentation for English. My voice was shaking, and I CRIED after the presentation. It was so bad. And then in 11th grade, I had to do a soliloquy, and even though I memorized the entire speech, I still forgot halfway through and stood there in silence for an entire minute. Everyone just stared at me. I have so many stories like this that I can tell you, but I just want to let you know you're not the only one going through things like this. Trust me, everything will be fine one day, and you will even be glad that you have been through experiences like this. Please don't be discouraged or ashamed of yourself. You are doing just fine!
My English is very poor. What can I do?
Dear Friend, This answer is going to be a bit analytical and uplifting. So, let's start with something very surprising.“ Everybody knows English. A lot of English... No Matter what!”So, what's different is of course… our size of vocabulary, capacity to hold conversations, ability to use it for a variety of applicable areas… and so on.Still Surprised? Don't be, yet!NOWLet's examine a normal day in our life and how penetrated English is in all of it:Get… Set… Go!AlarmPhoneTimeSnooze(Tooth)BrushToothpasteShampooTrimmer(Hair) BrushHair DryerMake-upTiffinBusCabDriverTicket“Change”StopSignalTrafficElevator/LiftFloorSchoolOfficeClassDesk/CabinTeacherBossMeetingNotesSyllabusWorkflowTaskAssignmentScheduleTimetableClientLoginLogoutAttendanceParkingLateComputerPenPaper“Leave”LunchCanteenCoffeePlate…. Enough is enough!English follows you…even haunts… no matter where you go!So, What's your point, Ahmed?Well, it's very simple and this:You… I… All of us… already know A Lot of English. An awful lot, I might add.Ok, ok… Agreed! What's next?Next is even simpler.Try to focus on two important things:Integrate more and more English into your life and lifestyleSlowly but steadily, shift the focus from our native language to English. Because, as a matter of fact, 60–70% of our daily thinking AND conversation is pure English!Now. . .A Digital Solution to DigiFans:YouTube is now full of short-films, Web series, and even many Episode ‘thing’.No matter what the parent language of such videos, every 3rd sentence, on average ,is in natural English.And, by the way, who wouldn't want to like our Mithila Palkar from Girl in the City?Anyway, a few such Youtube Names:Shitty Ideas Trending (SIT)Girl in The CityMensutra, the “Bang On” Channel!Sandeep Maheshwari.. sessions… and many more. . .subject to search!My Point:English is already integrated into our system of life and society in a great way. All we have to do now is … conciously and deliberately look for areas to expand it so that we become more and more comfortable with all of it.That way, the Weak-English become Strong-English…and Stronger become the Excellent-English… as simple as that!I earnestly request my readers to try this Methodology for a while and the result will definitely take care of itself.-Ahmed, The Curious Being.