You can speak English fluently if you identify these 5 reasons I shared below:
Table of Contents
1. You are studying the English language, not acquiring it (Speak English).
The English language is not a knowledge to learn, it is a skill to acquire. What do you do when you learn a skill? Obviously, you practice it and use it to learn it but when it comes to English learning you completely forget about it. You study grammar rules, memorize plain vocabularies, or practice speaking drills, and you forget them all quickly.
Studying English and speaking English both are completely different things. How? Think about how you learned your mother tongue, did you study grammar rules to learn it? No, definitely not. You learned it by listening to your parents, siblings, and neighbours. So, what did they teach you? They taught you how to use the language (your mother tongue), not grammar rules and tools. They did not teach you translation, in fact they only knew one language. (Hilarious, right?)
Problem: if you study grammar rules, then you are blocking the natural flow of your brain to come out English through your mouth. If you analyze and translate the language in your head, then you can not speak it because speaking requires fast thinking.
Solution: Start to build thinking in English. How to build thinking in English? First, surround yourself in English. Second, change your existing environment into English. For example, consume social media content in English language, whatever you read and listen, listen in English. If possible, limit your interaction. Read More about it here.
2. You think speaking English can be taught, but it is not.
According to Dr. Stephen Krasen “Speaking can not be taught.” School brainwashed you that speaking is teachable by memorizing sentences and words, but in reality you still can not speak English despite years of learning English in school. Why can speaking not be taught? because your brain needs input to produce output.
For example, you can not run a car without an engine. It will not work no matter how hard you train the wheels to run. Similarly, without the training of the English language to your brain, and training the mouth all day long will not work because you are missing what truly matters most.
Problem: you overestimate speaking, and underestimate listening. You are frustrated why you still can not speak English despite lots of study.
Solution: First, you have to spend lots of time listening to English because listening is the foundation of language learning. The more you input English through listening, the faster you will learn to speak English.
3. You think speaking is first, and everything is last.
Speaking English is the outcome or output, not the action. In reality, action is the first, outcome is the last. If you want to get something, you have to do something ( getting is the result of your doing). Similarly, to get an outcome (speaking) in learning English, you have to do listening in English.
4. You are not creating a gap between your listening skill and speaking skill.
What is creating a gap between your listening and speaking? The answer is understanding the gap. You have to increase your listening comprehension to improve your speaking skill. How? Well, if you understand 60% of English while listening, then you will automatically be able to speak 20% of English. Now, the real difference happens when you understand 90%+ English, then you can easily speak 70% English. It sounds cliche, actually it is the truth according to linguistics.
Problem: you are focusing on Speaking English, not in understanding English.
Solution: Focus on understanding English through inputting enough real English. Listen to anything you find interesting and enjoyable as much as possible.
5. You think confidence comes from outside validation.
True confidence comes from assuming the truth that you are in the process of learning English, not perfect. You can build confidence in two ways depending on your approach: first, if you live in a community where the majority of the people speak English, then go and approach them and try to speak or imitate what they are saying. Ask for their help by saying that you are a new English learner and you want to learn English because fear goes away when you face it. Second, if you do not have access to an English community, then turn your bedroom into the English learning hub. How? Input English all day long (listening, reading, watching), then after 300 to 400 hours of doing that you will see an automatic shift in your learning English. You can understand English and all the sentences and words coming out through your mouth easily. Believe me and trust the process.
