So you want to remove hesitation while speaking in English?
Why?
Speak, don’t hesitate. Even if you speak wrong!
Because you get tied down by doubts whenever you want to speak in English. Is my English grammatically correct – you ask yourself and then get confused. Instead of talking like a wise parrot, you stare silently like a teddy bear.
Well:
- don’t worry, and,
- keep reading.
Doubt is a basic human emotion. You can also call it fear of the unknown.
In olden days, it helped the early man save himself from wild animals and harsh weather. Even in the modern age, it saves our lives. But if you let it become too powerful, it makes you a pathetic underachiever.
Now, back to English speaking.
To kill your doubts and hesitation while speaking in English, you need to first understand where this hesitation comes from.
Causes of hesitation when speaking
It is important to know what makes your tongue tied in a situation you should be speaking up. Hesitation can happen due to many reasons, we have grouped them into following basic categories:
Hesitation due to lack of knowledge
Obviously, you cannot talk about something you do not know. You also cannot use a tool you don’t understand. Similarly, if you are asked to speak about something that you do not have enough information about, you will not be able to speak well.
Similarly, if you lack basic knowledge of grammar or your vocabulary is very small or you have insufficient exposure to English, you will hesitate.
Hesitation due to lack of skills
There is another form of hesitation too – one that happens due to lack of skills.
Whenever you feel like you can write good English and read and understand it but hesitate to speak, that’s because you lack speaking skills. Whenever you feel like you know everything about something but still hesitate to do it, then that hesitation is caused by lack of skills.
Removing hesitation
Now how do you remove hesitation? It is simple enough. We summarize success strategies for hesitation removal as follows. Back yourself up and commit to the following plan and you will see your hesitation break and then slowly disappear. Building good English speaking skills without hesitation is a lifelong mission – you need to keep sharpening the edge, however, with the combination of the approaches given below, you will be able to quickly achieve the dramatic reduction in your hesitation and also be on your way to the state of fluent and confident English for life.
Every one of you needs the long term solution. Those of you who have an interview coming up or an important client meeting should also take up short term approach along with the long term one.
Hesitation elimination through practice
Time for results to show up: 1-3 months
We are afraid of doing something which we have not done before or not done many times.
We hesitate to drive on the highway if we have not driven on the highway before.
We fear to talk to girls if we haven’t talked to many girls before.
We hesitate to perform on a stage if we haven’t participated in many dramas or plays before.
The same with English speaking.
The fear will be all gone when you have already spoken in English many times.
Yes, the only long term solution is to practice speaking in English. Find a friend, find a colleague, find a spoken English partner or join a conversation based training program like BodhiSutra English on phone course. Find any method that works for you but give yourself your daily dose of English speaking practice if you want to kill the fear monster forever.
Quick trick to defeat hesitation
The long term solution is like Yoga. If you do pranayama every day, you’ll live longer and healthier. Similarly, if you practice English speaking with a partner, friend, colleague or a trainer every day – it will build your confidence on the solid foundation.
But, what if you are having a headache right now? Yoga won’t be of much help. What you need is a Saridon.
And Sarandon for English speaking headaches is to say, “To hell with grammar”.
Yes, you heard it right.
Stop bothering about your grammar mistakes and speak whether you are speaking correct or incorrect.
Would others notice? Most likely, yes, but not as much as you think they would.
Would they think you are a fool? No. They would only think that your spoken English is not perfect. And this is not a serious crime if you are an Indian and English is only your second language.
Would they laugh at you? Not at all unless you are a class IV school boy talking to other class IV school boys.
Would it cost you a job or a promotion? No, in fact, it would be better than not speaking anything till you can speak perfectly.
Even in jobs that require English speaking, your hesitation will cost you a job. Your wrong English will only benefit you.
I know it sounds crazy but its true.
When you hesitate, the boss thinks, “This guy cannot speak”. Period
When you speak wrong English, the boss thinks, “This guy can speak. This guy tries”. Good.
Another impression you automatically give when you speak wrong English is, “Well, I am sure this guy is trying hard to improve his English. Otherwise, he too would hesitate like most others”.
There, that’s one more plus score to you.
It’s like what is better – leaving the answer sheet blank or writing a partially correct answer?
You knew the smarter option when you were a school kid writing class IV exams. You got to apply the same wisdom here, now that you are a grown up.
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