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  • Hi guys, today I'm going to be talking about how to build up your confidence in

  • speaking English if you've learnt it as a foreign language. Coming from someone who's learnt English

  • as a foreign language, I know it's not easy and you constantly doubt yourself

  • especially if you feel like your level of English is still not where you want it to be.

  • And I've struggled with it for a while, whilst I built up my confidence to speak English,

  • but nowadays I find that I can communicate and I can speak to other native speakers of English

  • without feeling too intimidated. I still would feel intimidated if I had to go and have

  • a conversation with the Queen or Prime Minister, but I think that, overall,

  • on day-to-day life, day-to-day situations I feel very confident speaking English

  • The only times where I struggle still is talking on the phone, because although

  • I understand everything and I know that people understand me, I still feel that

  • pressure that I can't see the person that I'm talking to.

  • So I'm hoping to give you some tips and maybe kind of point you in the right direction

  • of helping you build your own confidence and to feel like you've got this,

  • that you don't have to be scared, you don't have to be afraid.

  • Just by sharing some of my experiences and things that have helped me.

  • So if you don't know anything about me and you just stumbled upon this video,

  • my name is Ysis, I'm originally from Brazil and I live in the UK, I've been living here for the last

  • nearly seven years now and I learnt English as a foreign language in Brazil,

  • so when I came here I already knew I'd say ninety percent of the English

  • that I know now, but I've spoken about my story and my background on previous videos before,

  • so I won't bore you with the details again. I'll just leave my English Language playlist here

  • for you to go and have a look at my previous videos, and they have helped a lot of people out there

  • which I'm really happy about, so I'm hoping to make some more videos

  • which will be even more helpful to you all.

  • My first kind of general tip to help build your confidence to make you

  • feel more comfortable speaking English as a foreign language is to remember

  • that everybody is going to make mistakes in every language, either it be English

  • Spanish, Portuguese. If you're a native

  • speaker, if you're a foreign speaker, if you are

  • student, if you are teacher, even if you're

  • the most professional speaker of a

  • language, you will still make mistakes,

  • and so you're not gonna be the only

  • person in that conversation in that

  • situation making mistakes. Making grammar

  • mistakes, making speaking mistakes,

  • making kind of like pronunciation

  • mistakes. I make mistakes all the time,

  • and if they were to stop me from feeling

  • confidence and carrying on a

  • conversation, I would never have become

  • fluent in English, and that is something

  • that I think I had to accept before I

  • moved on and decidedYou know what?

  • even though I'm making some mistakes, it

  • doesn't mean that I have a bad level of

  • English, it doesn't mean that I can't

  • speak English.

  • It just means that i will get over these

  • mistakes and the people that I'm talking

  • to, they still understand me, and they will.

  • I think you have to remember as

  • well that people are not as critical and

  • judgmental of your own english as you are.

  • That was a huge problem for me. I'm a big

  • perfectionist, so it was a big issue for

  • me when I knew had made a mistake. When I

  • knew that I didn't know something, I felt

  • as though people were judging me just as

  • harshly as I judged myself.

  • So just remember that the majority of people are

  • not going to judge you for your mistakes.

  • Also if you make YouTube videos, and you

  • put yourself out there, and you're

  • worried that people are mocking you or

  • that they are talking about your accent

  • as being funny or weird, or that they

  • don't think you know enough English,

  • just remember that you're the only person

  • that has the right to analyze your level

  • of English, that other people's

  • perception of your English doesn't

  • matter as much as long as you're happy,

  • that you're progressing, that you're

  • doing well that you're being understood,

  • and that's all that matters.

  • I get a lot of lovely comments from you

  • guys on my english videos, complimenting

  • me on the level of my English and my accent, and all

  • of these things which are all really

  • nice to hear and really important to me,

  • because I put a lot of effort and time

  • and money into learning English as a

  • foreign language and becoming fluent, so

  • it means a lot to me when people say

  • your English is really good. And, but I

  • also get a few comments from people here

  • on YouTube saying that my English is

  • nothing special, that my accent is

  • rubbish, that... you know, just people

  • criticizing basically the way that I speak.

  • I know it's their opinion and

  • they're entitled to it, but it doesn't

  • mean that I have to agree with them, and

  • it doesn't mean that their opinion is

  • the truth, or that it's more important than

  • what I think about myself. So, don't let

  • the fear of being judged knock you down

  • and feel like you can't progress with

  • your English level, if you know what I

  • mean. My second tip is to stop treating

  • yourself as a student, and that's

  • something that I still do till this day,

  • and I've got to kind of like... stop myself

  • when I'm doing it because it's really

  • counterproductive, and what I mean by

  • this is that sometimes when I'm talking

  • to someone about something that I don't

  • have a great knowledge of, I kind of give

  • people a bit of a disclaimer, and I say

  • oh English is not my first language, and...

  • you know, if I make a few mistakes here

  • and there... and although that does lighten

  • up the mood of the conversation,

  • it already brings my own confidence down,

  • because I feel like the person that I'm

  • talking to is that a higher level than me

  • If I just believed in myself,

  • that conversation would have flowed a lot

  • more equally. It's not so much about how

  • the person feels, it is about how I feel

  • towards the person that I'm talking to.

  • So, I mean general day-to-day

  • conversations it's fine to be humbling

  • to say: oh I don't know this or I don't

  • know much about that or my English is

  • not very good in that particular field

  • but I think it's kind of like a way to

  • bring your own confidence down, is not a

  • good thing to do. Don't kind of discard

  • your own level of English just because

  • you're a student and you're a foreign

  • speaker. My third tip is to not play it

  • safe.

  • Try your best to use those words that you're

  • not confident about, because they are the

  • ones that are going to give you the

  • confidence that you need. Get stuck into

  • the difficult conversations. Don't shy

  • away from them

  • You'll have plenty of everyday basic

  • conversations with things like "how you

  • doing?" and "what's your day been like?" and

  • "what's the weather like?" and "what's your

  • name?" and "where are you from?" You need to

  • step up and get out of that kind of

  • comfort zone and going to questions

  • there are a little bit trickier. To me it

  • was talking about things that I knew

  • really well in Portuguese but I wasn't

  • confident I knew enough of my vocabulary

  • in English. Things like talking about law,

  • which is my background and talking about

  • politics and something that I'm really

  • interested in. I used to shy away from

  • those conversations, because I thought my

  • level of English wasn't good enough to

  • carry on a conversation on that topic.

  • But now I find that if I just push

  • myself and I fight... just dive into the

  • deep end and ask a question on that

  • topic, and just see how I go, that, I feel

  • a lot more confident. I know that i've

  • already had seven years living in the UK,

  • which has obviously boosted my

  • confidence a lot, and boosted my fluency

  • a lot, but I'm giving tips based on the

  • the things that I think helped me the

  • most to feel confident. My next tip is

  • to pay a great deal of attention to the

  • questions that you're being asked,

  • because often the answers to these

  • questions will be in the questions themselves.

  • If you're talking to someone

  • for the first time and they're asking

  • your questions about yourself, about your

  • work about general things,

  • and you're kind of like having a mild panic attack,

  • because you're thinking, "oh my god what

  • if i don't know the answer to what

  • they're asking me, especially if it's

  • something important like a job interview

  • Just a really great attention to the

  • questions, and you'll be able to find

  • usually a little bit of the answer or a

  • clue of what the answer is with within

  • the question. And to keep this short and

  • sweet, I'm going to move onto my last tip,

  • because i don't want to bore you any longer,

  • this video is going to be too long otherwise.

  • And so my last tip is to

  • not worry too much about grammar, and

  • I've touched on this probably on all of

  • my previous English tips videos, because

  • I think it

  • so important to remind ourselves as

  • students of english as a foreign

  • language, that grammar is important for

  • building up your vocabulary, for building

  • up your language in your head but

  • grammar is not the most important thing

  • of a conversation in English. I think a

  • good understanding good listening skills

  • good pronunciation, all of these things

  • go hand in hand with grammar. If you get

  • too stuck on your grammar and wanting to

  • get every single sentence perfectly,

  • you're not going to flow in a

  • conversation. You're going to doubt

  • yourself a lot, you're going to think

  • that people are not understanding you

  • because you kind of like misplaced or

  • mispronounced something. I still

  • struggled a lot with the in on at, and

  • make a lot of mistakes when it comes to

  • these three.

  • It's just a block on my brain that

  • prevents me from learning. They used to

  • kind of like give myself such a hard

  • time for not knowing those three

  • perfectly

  • Nowadays, I know I've probably made about

  • 20 mistakes in this video with regards

  • to in on and at, and with regards to other

  • things as well, but I'm sure that the

  • majority of you have been able to

  • understand me, and even thought that I

  • have a good level of English, even though

  • I know I made those mistakes.

  • So don't get stuck on your grammar thinking that

  • that is the most important or the one

  • thing that you've got to get right in.

  • Most everyday situations you're not

  • going to need perfect grammar to feel

  • confident and be understood in English

  • So that wraps up my tips on building up

  • your confidence and speaking English as

  • a foreign language. I hope this video was

  • helpful to you, and if it was make sure

  • to give this video a thumbs up so that I

  • know you guys have found in these videos

  • helpful. And don't forget to subscribe to

  • my channel so that you don't miss my

  • future videos. And if you have any tips,

  • or suggestions of topics that you would

  • like me to talk about, or videos that

  • you'd like me to make on the topic of

  • english-speaking, then leave it on the

  • comments below and make sure to check

  • them out.

  • I hope you're all having a great day and

  • I'll see you very soon. Bye.

Hi guys, today I'm going to be talking about how to build up your confidence in

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