By Robby
If you are new here please read this first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/lH_E5ZE9mTE
I’ve been writing and making videos about English fluency and improving English for a good while now. But all of it accounts for nothing if you just read and watch and leave it at that ❗
If you don’t go out there and don’t enjoy life at its full, you’re not even using half of your potential as a foreign English speaker! Any language’s primary purpose is to serve as means of verbal communication – and all your English improving efforts should come together in real-life socializing ❗
Are you still afraid of being judged by other English speakers? Are you still insecure about your spoken English? Would you rather AVOID situations that can potentially end up embarrassing you than FACE up to your English fluency issues and deal with them?
Then learn from Halloween night when it’s all about FACING your fears and becoming stronger as a result!
Watch my Halloween Special Video Episode above or read the script below:
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Do you know why people dress up as witches, devils, monsters and zombies on the Halloween night? These days it’s all about having fun and pranking people, but in the olden times the reasons were much different. The ancient Celts believed that around this time of the year both harmless and evil spirits were finding their way through to our world. So what did the ancient Celts come up with?
They thought – “Hold on, if we would look like those evil ghosts, maybe they’ll leave us alone and no harm will befall upon us?”
And so they went dressed up us monsters, witches and living dead and faced their strongest fears – fears of being harmed or even killed by the creatures from the Otherworld! And now of course I’ll jump in with my English improving stuff and spoil the whole Halloween feeling! Sorry folks, but that’s exactly what I’ll do and here’s a very good reason why!
I want you to take example from the ancient Celts and face your fears!
And if you’re a struggling English speaker, I know what you fear.
You fear meeting up people and speaking English. You fear making English speaking friends because you’re not sure what people will think about your English. And probably what you fear most is to end up in embarrassing situations when speaking English because you’ve had so many bad experiences in the past! 😡
My friend, I want you to understand that your options are limited indeed. You can stay sitting inside with your English textbooks, and wait for the monsters to come. Or, you can face your fears, walk outside and meet the evil spirits by becoming one of them and starting having some fun! How’s that sound for you?
If you’re one of those struggling foreign English speakers who usually thinks: “Ah, my English is so-so, everyone knows that, so there’s nothing really I can do!” – then I’ll tell you: “You’re absolutely WRONG! No one can decide whether your English is so-so or not, it’s only you putting yourself down and limiting your true potential!”
How many times have you missed out on events in an English speaking world?
Did your English speaking work colleagues ask you for a night out but you refused imagining all the embarrassing situations that could arise?
Have you always wanted to start chatting with a particular person at work or university but never done it? Is the fear of refusal holding you back and you can already imagine yourself being told: “Ha ha! Your English sucks, you can’t speak – listen to yourself, you can’t say a single English sentence normally without stuttering and hesitating!”
Have you even gone for a job interview, for example, and been told that you’re not good enough, and deep inside you’ve known that it’s your English that let you down on that particular day?
If you recognize yourself form all these examples, then I’ve only one thing to say – never, EVER give up! EVER! Embrace embarrassing situations with joy!
Try to persuade yourself that you have to speak English with as many people as possible to get your English speech going despite the fact that you might make some mistakes when speaking, you can start blushing, and a hundred other things can happen. Keep doing it, because if you allow yourself to be defeated, you’re done! Those evil English monsters will come to you sooner or later, you simply have to stand up and become one of them!
It’s all about communicating, speaking, socializing, putting yourself into all possible situations when you have to speak English and only then you can truly become fluent!
You see – I’ve plenty of videos about different aspects of improving spoken English and English fluency. If you’ve been watching them for a good while you should know by now that the single most efficient way of improving your spoken English is to learn naturally used English phraseology and start speaking. But you see, it’s one thing sitting in a home comfort in front of a laptop or PC, but going out and meeting people is a completely different thing altogether!
Focus on Socializing!
And this is something that I’m probably guilty of not mentioning enough – your main focus has to be on enjoying life through spoken English!
And what’s the only activity you can fully engage into while speaking English? Of course – it’s speaking with real people in real time! It’s embracing meeting people despite the embarrassing situations, despite feeling awkward, and despite feeling nervous!
There’s something we don’t usually think about – and it’s about how others perceive us. When we, foreign English speakers speak with natives or other English speakers, we become quite self-conscious. We have an impression that the other person constantly judges our speech, behavior, spots the slightest mistakes, and definitely notices your blushing or nervous gestures when you speak! 😕
In reality it’s far from truth! On most occasions our chat partners don’t focus all their attention on us, they have hundreds of other things to occupy their minds with and for the most part it’s all happening here – in your head!
You probably think –”It’s easy for you Robby to speak and lecture me, you’ve achieved English fluency and now you’re probably even looking down on me!”
You know, even though I’m running this English Harmony project, I’m still the same old Robby! Despite all my confidence and fluent English I still experience moments of uncertainty and low self-esteem. Are you surprised? Did you think I’m some sort of a superman having achieved the ultimate English fluency? Well, I’m sorry to shatter your impression, but I’m not really like you’ve pictured me.
I’m just an ordinary chap, and there are thousands of foreign English speakers who speak better English than me! The only difference is that I’m inspiring others, and I can do it well, because I never backed down in front of difficulties ❗
I kept and kept improving my spoken English until I reached sufficient fluency and I still keep fighting my doubts and insecurities on many occasions. But – I face my fears and never back down!
And if you constantly strive for fluent English and embrace every chance to communicate no matter how uncertain you feel inside and no matter how much you fear failure – eventually you will succeed 😉
Robby
P.S. Are you ready to face your fears of English communication and gain real English fluency? Check out my English Harmony System HERE!
P.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out the English Harmony System HERE!