How to overcome your fear of speaking

I'm most afraid of not being understood due to my poor pronunciation.
Most of english words I know I've learned from reading texts -- I've always preferred reading to listening. But recently I've started to listen to ESL podcasts. I hope it will help me.

gr - Try to watch videos/series with subtitles. First you can start with Polish, and when you get used to it, switch to English, or even disable them at all. It's superb way to improve pronunciation by listening how it should sound! :)
btw, Check out this site
http://www.ted.com/
It contains tons of very interesting videos. You can of course enable subtitles. Each of them contain also an interactive transcript.

I encourage everyone to listen to language without subtitles, but more then just once this same content. There are no subtitles in real world :)

Cześć David! Trafiłem na twój blog kilka dni temu i od razu mi się spodobał. Fajny z ciebie gość, fajne masz pomysły, fajnie się ciebie słucha i ogląda. Myślę, że jesteś bardziej polski od wielu Polaków. Jakbyś chciał sobie posłuchac polskich radiostacji FM w internecie to tu jest lista: http://www.listenlive.eu/poland.html Jest też tam lista radiostacji angielskich, jeśli ktoś się uczy angielskiego.

Hi,
great blog!

I do have a fear.. but it isn't the one mentioned in your article. I have a fear of public writing in foreign languages.. and I do not know what to do :/ I have no problem with talking at all. I love to speak in foreign languages even if it comes with a great difficulty BUT I can't force myself to write.. though I know quite well the grammar rules, vocabulary and so on.. Some people suggest writing a diary in a target language is a great solution- but again - I have a fear of making mistakes and not being aware of their existence. I should like to be able to write (even making lots of mistakes) but there is something stopping me, so I continue being defeated.. :/

I live in Quebec so naturally it's required that I speak French. And I can, just fine!...with strangers. It's super strange. I have this crazy anxiety about speaking a foreign language with people I know personally, even my parents. Which is an issue, because my boyfriend is French.

Tonight I have to try and force myself to speak french with him. Eep! It feels weird when I try, almost like it's become a physical inability when I plan a sentence and go to say it, it's like my throat locks up. Crazy.

Anyone experience such things? I feel dumb often because of it. @_@ only one solution, I know, but still. xD

Hi, I'm a Pole, who moved to USA last month. I have a fear all time when I need to speak English with Americans, in shops, restaurants, offices. Talking on the phone is a nightmare!

I was shocked, when I came here because in Europe I hadn't this problem at all! I've been traveling a lot and speaking in many countries. I know my English isn't perfect but wherever I went in Europe (even England!) I spoke without stress, talked with people fluently, and it gave me the real pleasure.

But here... I can't get used to American pronunciation. It's difficult to me understand Americans when they are speaking fast, much more difficult than understand English in England:( I am very anxious...
It's the big different between American English and British.

David I'm going to try your method with listening the book everyday, hope it will help me:)

Great post! Unless we step out of our comfortable zone we will never realise how irrational are our fears, and that actually it's not as bad as we thought.

I am offering free workshops to overcome the fear of speaking if anyone is interested ---- http://www.gumtree.com/p/community/free-confidence-workshops-to-overcome...

I think that speaking to natives is always the biggest problem :)
I was terrified, when I had to say anything in English, especially to someone who's British or American, i convinced myself that my English is awful, but when I went to my friend to Budapest a few months ago, and I've met his friend, who was in England for some time, we started to speak in English and I found my English being quite good, at least better than I expected. So in my case, it helped me a lot, because i knew he wouldn't mind my mistakes, because he's English was not perfect too :)

well im living in Paris since one year ,i learned french and i have a good vocabulary , but as you mentioned its much easier to start a conversation with non-native speaker than a native one .. so now i will start working at the hospital which means i'll be in touch with doctors , nurses, patients and i think the situation is getting worse ,, in my opinion i would not trust a doctor who doesn't communicate with my in my maternal language ,, knowing the french attitude of non french ppl will increase my fears !!! i understand very well a normal conversation and inside me i think i can answer but when i try to do that i just stutter and eventually they know that am not a french speaker and so i get that look :(

i really love french but i have experienced many bad reactions because of the mistakes i commit ,, like " ohh my god she speaks a terrible french " or " ohh,, sorry i cant understand what you are saying at all " etc

please help me

p.s: please excuse my language i guess am loosing my English too !

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jestem pod wrazeniem tego co robisz - cos... az ciezko znalezc wlasciwe slowa - okreslenie "cos niesamowitego" ... nie koniecznie oddaje to co chcialoby sie rzec.

I think when it comes to speaking in public most of us have a fear of making a mistake. however if you're sitting in the audience you're 100% behind the speaker. The same applies when you're speaking, everyone is supporting you as we all know just how difficult it is to speak in front of large crowds. By using hypnotherapy techniques http://subliminalcd.net/fear-of-speaking/ I believe we can stop this fear & give a great speech.

Hello David,
Thanks so much for providing so much useful information.

In regards to speaking my second language (German) I have no fear of making mistakes. Primarily because the native speakers and other students are well aware that I am learning. However, my problem is that I cannot think of what to say in German. Typically, the native speaker will provide a topic, i,e., weather, health, wife and children, the whole bit. Once I get started I do a fair job. Of course with a lot of assistance. I have been using Pimsleur's Language Program for German and it seems to do a very good job. It takes a lot dedication and hard work to learn a new language, so one must not become discouraged. Thanks for reading.

Tony

I'm kind of in the same boat as some others. Speaking with strangers doesn't bother me too much but speaking with people I know on any level is like murder. I'm not sure why but I think I fear they will think less of me if I show any "weakness". The big problem is that I am horrible at meeting new people, even back home in America. I have Tourette's and a bi-product of the disease is both OCD and social anxiety issues (not related to looking like an idiot whenever you're ticking in front of people). Not everyone has these but I do to some extent. Social situations and meeting new people can really stress me out. This places me in a weird middle ground.

The shame is I live in Japan, where people are really very friendly. After 2 years my Japanese is around the level of some friends I know who majored in Japanese. The fluidity of my speaking is far behind, however. My accent is horrible and I generally repeat phrases or words a few times when speaking because I say them incorrectly and I KNOW it so I double back to correct it. This is all because while I hear it a lot and have studied quite a bit I just don't have the hours of speaking practice.

One thing that I try to keep in mind is the times when people wanting to learn English talk to me (like co-workers, etc). I've never been put off nor felt burdened by the fact they take up to a minute to conjure up a few sentences. It delights me they just want to try to speak my language. So, if that's how I feel about the whole thing isn't it reasonable to think they probably feel the same way?

I think another thing that creeps in is the idea that you just can't express yourself in a second language like you can in your native language. This can be frustrating and lead to feeling "burdened" by the second language, which can cause fear in trying to produce it. Sometimes it just helps to laugh at your own inadequacies and accept you might have to talk like a baby for a long time.

The best advice, as stated, is to put yourself into situations where you have to use the language. This seems to help override the part of your brain that fears speaking because the necessity of what you need to accomplish is a bigger problem. I find my Japanese always gets better when I go to the doctor's office or something similar.

Thanks for the post.

Greetings to everyone,
In my experiences with my English students, it finally occurred to me what they need to try doing in order help with speaking the language. I simply tell them to put their Mothertongue in a box and place it on a shelf. Each day, beginning with getting out of bed, they are to think in English. For example: The alarm clock went off, I am now moving toward the shower, I am now taking a shower. After my shower, I will have some breakfast, and head to the office. Even something as mundane as housework. Now I am dusting the living room, vacuuming the floors, doing the dishes, you get the idea. I tell them they cannot speak their native tongue unless absolutely necessary. Many of them have tried this during their daily routines and seem to be experiencing substantial progress. I try to do this everyday with my German. I hope this helps, and I hope this finds everyone well.

Auf Wiedersehen,
Tony

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Jestem Polką ucząca się rosyjskiego. Dla Ciebie jako Amerykanina który język jest trudniejszy, polski czy rosyjski? Pewnie z początku brzmiały dla Ciebie tak samo, ponieważ oba są słowiańskie a angielski jest germański. Rosyjskiego uczyłeś się po tym jak zacząłeś polskiego? Przepraszam jeśli odpowiedziałeś na te pytania gdzieś indziej ale nie przeczytałam jeszcze wszystkich artykułów. Bardzo inspirujący blog.
Pozdrawiam, Ola.

My problem is speaking :) I can watch movies or tv shows with english subs and I can understand what they said, but the problem is when i listen language and I heard slang. At the moment I make "facepalm" and I've had it. :) When I feel than I doing progress i again heard slang and in this situation I really hate english :)
When I watch interview in Youtube with some actor or singer i can't understand nothing exepct a several words :( Why?

Hi David!

Very good idea put this text to Bibliobird.
This article is for me. My huge problem, not huge but HUGE, is speaking. The problem is also listening.
What vocabulary as hard to talk about?

Polakom polecę rozmowy z Davidem i jego żoną, Carry o życiu w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Pierwsza była najcięższa, ale dzięki Davidowi są znośne, i - nie tylko ja - dostaję potężny impuls do nauki. Trochę to chaotyczne, ale chciałbym się uczyć wszystkiego związanego z angielskim. Wstyd mi, że David "szczebrzeszyni" po polsku, a ja nie gadam (to nie pomyłka językowa ;) ) po angielsku.

Na Bibliobirdzie, a raczej przy pomocy komunikatora, rozmawiamy 2x w tygodniu nominalnie po godzinie a praktycznie dużo dłużej.

Za 2 tygodnie mam wylot do kraju anglojęzycznego i dukaniem na spotkaniach dźwiękowych z wolna usuwam strach przed mówieniem. Na pewno będzie lepiej! Może nawet jak w Moskwie! (Kto jest ciekawy mojej przygody językowej w Moskwie niech zajrzy na Bibliobirda.)

Czasami mam wrażenie, że jestem o krok od mówienia po angielsku i za niedługo zacznę mówić, ale... Strach przed mówieniem powoduje, że znane słownictwo gdzieś znika, pozostaje za mną i nie mogę z niego skorzystać. Te spotkania na pewno przyspieszą gadanie po angielsku, usuną strach przed błędami w mówieniu. (Davidzie, jest różnica pomiędzy mówieniem a gadaniem, więc chodzi mi o gadanie.)

Thank you, David, for your great job!

Arek

When I was in Spain someone stole my bag. And I had to make complain in the police office. I don't know Spanish, but fortunately a policewoman knew English and I did it somehow.
But often I have problems with speaking and people don't understand me for the first time. If my speach could be as good as writting, maybe communication with people would be easier for me.