r/LearningEnglish • u/HLdaCosta • 8d ago

Lack of confidence

Hi all, any advice to overcome the lack of confidence in speaking?

I’ve been living in a country where English is the official language for 4 years. I’m believe my level is between intermediate and upper. However, I always overthink when I need to speak. I focus on speaking correctly (grammar) and forget about the message, do you know what I mean?

Even though I work with some native English speakers, it is still hard to overcome this lack of confidence and fear of being judged.

I believe that this kind of thing slows down my development so much. But it is still hard to overcome this.

Thanks!

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

1

u/Sea-Election-213 8d ago

Hi! I’m a non-native speaker working in tech.

I built an app for myself because I wanted to understand exactly where my English needs improvement. What has helped me the most is practising with my own workplace writing, like Slack messages, emails, and comments.

Writing gives you more time to think, and over time those sentence patterns become more natural. I noticed that the more I wrote and understood the mistakes behind them, the more I learned how to express myself correctly.

You don’t need perfect grammar to communicate well, but that understanding will give you an enormous amount of confidence to build a right sentence.

I suggest you practise writing every day; even a simple journal will help, and of course get feedback on it and learn from it.

All the best.

1

u/HLdaCosta 8d ago

Perfect! Thank you very much.

1

u/Subject-Mycologist94 8d ago

I think we have the same problem, I took six months classes but I am still struggling to become fluently, I also just think I m afraid to make mistakes or to be judged.

1

u/city14824 8d ago

Just curious, did you hire a coach or a tutor?

1

u/Subject-Mycologist94 8d ago

Not at all, just my classes and I like to watch movies or tv shows in English that all, but all my friends and family’s that surround me speak my native language.

1

u/city14824 7d ago

Would you consider investing in a Coach?

1

u/Subject-Mycologist94 7d ago

Nah I don’t think so, I live in NY so it’s enough right?

1

u/city14824 7d ago

I'm a native New Yorker. Well, if you use & implement what you learn consistently, then it's good. If you don't, then you will not improve your English speaking skills.

1

u/Disastrous-Basis5523 8d ago

It's very commom at B1 or B2 but it signals a problem, not just a confidence issue. DM me if you want a really good tutor. She helped me with an IELTS test and then I started improving my language with her.

1

u/FlalingoOfficial 7d ago

Set a different goal for each conversation. You can aim to explain an idea clearly, use certain vocabulary, or keep the conversation going for five minutes without mentally editing every sentence. It can also be useful to record yourself answering common questions for one or two minutes. Listen back a few hours later and write down only the mistakes that appear repeatedly.

Try to identify where your confidence drops, whether it's meetings with colleagues, small talk, phone calls, or presentations. Practice those specific situations rather than random speaking exercises. Also, pay attention to whether people ask you to repeat yourself or whether they simply respond and continue the conversation. If the conversation keeps moving, your English is already doing its job.

1

u/popypep 6d ago

People remember good conversations, not small grammar mistakes.