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Sometimes, when we're learning a language, we can feel very frustrated.
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Despite all the hours that we're putting in and all of the hard work that we're doing,
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when it comes to actually speaking the language, it can sometimes come out stuttered, full of mistakes,
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and sound like we're not really that good.
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This can lead to a lot of self-doubt.
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It can lead us to ask questions like: 'Can I really learn this language?' or
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'Have I perhaps reached my limit?'
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The way to start speaking a language more fluently and more proficiently is just to practise speaking it.
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Practise, practise and practise again.
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Here are some tips that you can use to get more practice at speaking the language.
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So, the first one is: Get a conversation partner.
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You can find a lot of people who will be happy to practise languages with you online.
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Or, otherwise, if you go to a meetup group
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or a student event, I'm sure you will find plenty of people who you can practise your languages with.
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If you don't know where to find a conversation partner,
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the other thing you could do is start to talk to yourself.
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Or, if you're not comfortable talking to yourself in public, just think to yourself.
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Start narrating to yourself what you're doing and working out
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what things you're comfortable describing and what things you're not yet comfortable talking about.
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Then, when you go home, you'll be able to fill in those vocabulary gaps,
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and the next day try again.
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The third thing you can do is to learn vocabulary like you want to use it
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So, instead of just learning the word for 'door', why not learn it in a phrase
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like 'open the door', 'close the door' or 'behind the door'.
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That means that, when you need to talk about things like that,
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you're immediately going to have phrases that you can start using.
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Finally, whenever you learn a new grammar point or anything really in the language,
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always think about how you could use this.
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Imagine a scenario in which you'd use it naturally, with friends, as part of your normal life,
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and then immediately you'll find that what you're learning theoretically
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will be much more applicable to your speaking of the language.
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Share your language-learning tips and experiences by leaving a comment below,
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and make sure you check out the other videos in this series.