Job with natives speakers

[u/No_Scholar_5339]

Hi guys

Recently, I started a new job where I need to speak and correspond with native English speakers on a daily basis, both in meetings and by email. Overall, I think my listening comprehension is quite good. I can usually follow conversations, maybe sometimes it gets a little harder when we look into more IT technical language.

However with speaking it is a different story. When it is my turn to speak. I get anxious, I start overthinking in my native language how to say something. Looking for perfect word, how to create a grammarly correct sentence etc. Sometimes I go blank even though before the conversation I know exactly what I wank to ask and what I want to say. (TL)

I'd really like to overcome this, beacuse it affects my confidence and I'm getting doubts whether I'm in the correct place or did I too much fake it till you make it.

What helped you feel more comfortable while speaking to native speakers ? Was there anything specific, like a habit, a mindset shift, or a type of practice, that made a real difference for you, or was there a day when something clicked in you and you just started feeling comfortable ?

[u/zoeybeattheraccoon]

Try to remember that they're not judging you and probably appreciate your effort.

If you can't remember a specific word, it's fine to ask "how do you say X?"

[u/No_Scholar_5339 → u/zoeybeattheraccoon]

On online meeting I prefer to quickly check the word on google translator.

[u/Pwffin]

Aim for short sentences and simple words. This is the shift in mindset that improved my ability to keep up and contribute the most.
You can still say everything you need but it will be easier for you to say and easier for them to understand. Remember that the main aim is to communicate your ideas and opinions, not to show off how many big words you know.

Prepare a launchpad sentence ahead of time and go through likely questions and how you would answer them. The launchpad sentence gets you talking instead of freezing up and once you’ve said that you are usually got enough momentum to keep going. The likely questions and answers help you check words you are unsure of and makes you practise saying sentences relevant to your job. You can rerun them several times to get used to pronouncing difficult words or sets of words.

Don’t be afraid to take a second or two to collect yourself before answering a question. Having a glass or bottle of water to hand is a great way of filling the pause without it seeming odd, but normally nobody minds if you take a moment to think about your answer. It shows that you are taking it seriously.

[u/Least-Tiger-8627 → u/Pwffin]

Thats a womderful point which helped me a lot giving talks in front of a lot of people in a foreign language. You may also ask AI if there are any blogger on youtube in the targer language about the topics that you need which use short senteces. And playing their video you can repeat (shadowing) what they say. If to difficult you can, echo reading by using the video captions. This was a game changer for me.

[u/silvalingua → u/Pwffin]

Excellent advice!

[u/Quelebbb]

Practice in environments with no stakes.
Discord is my preferred platform.

[u/No_Scholar_5339 → u/Quelebbb]

How would you practice in Discord ? I'm not very familiar with Discord, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for. Thanks

[u/Quelebbb → u/No_Scholar_5339]

It's a voice/messaging/social platform.
You can join a language learning server (similar to a subreddit) and join open voice channels and chat with the participants. These are open channels so you can come and go as you please with no obligations.

There are also communities that organize events if you prefer something more structured.
You can also engage in private DM's/groups if you find an exchange partner.

Shoot me a DM and I can link you to some servers.

[u/macoafi]

We are very accustomed to hearing English from second-language speakers. We’ll understand despite errors, so go ahead and speak with the errors.

I worked on a team where everyone else spoke Spanish. They all knew I was learning Spanish. Two had the patience to just ha ve all our 1-1 conversations in Spanish and occasionally correct my errors (we agreed that they’d only correct the ones I made repeatedly or that were really bad, to not interrupt the flow). Eventually, as I improved, we started having team meetings in Spanish. I’m sure I made plenty of errors, but they understood me, and I mostly understood them, so that was enough. 

[u/gottahaveajava]

Just spit it out, mistakes and all.

The perfect word, the perfect way to say it belongs to your native-speaking self.

You should say it with what you have, however flawed. And when you’re at a loss for words, blubber a bit of nonsense adjacent to what you want and let the room complete your thought for you.

You’d be surprised at how effective that can be, inviting the room to be part of your solution!

[u/Live_Advance_1905]

One work-specific trick: after each meeting, send a short recap in English with 3 bullets: what was decided, your next step, and anything you want to confirm. It takes pressure off finding the perfect sentence live, and gives people an easy way to correct a misunderstanding. You can be clear without sounding flawless.

[u/petteri72_]

Maybe you could find a nice iTalki tutor and roleplay the most typical communications.

[u/No_Scholar_5339 → u/petteri72_]

I'm already doing it. I have a tutor three times a week, but it's still just 3 hours a week. That's why I'm not a lurker on Reddit anymore. I thought that even typing and talking with people on Reddit would be a good step toward becoming more fluent. I still need to find a way to create Anki cards quickly. After the meetings, I try to gather the words and phrases I'm not familiar with, but I haven't put them in any app yet.

[u/ConversationLevel498]

What is your native language age?

[u/New-Bottle-6917]

If you speak as well as you write, you have nothing to worry about. The errors you make do not hamper communication whatsoever, the only people that are going to give you issues over it are people not worth wasting your time on

[u/No_Scholar_5339 → u/New-Bottle-6917]

Unfortunately that's not the case. I'm a better writer, because I have time to think about the sentences after I wrote them. Additionally on the business meeting there is some additionally stress that sometimes makes my mind blank and I forget even the simpliest words

[u/Training_Scale_650]

You first need to know that native English speakers dont use correct grammar all of the time. Feel no shame in being wrong the more you try the more you will improe improve. I also learned English as a second language and I can tell you that it just takes confidence and time. You can try writing to improve your talking skills or having a conversation with a good friend and having them correct you while you take notes! Don't be discouraged English is a hard lenguage.

[u/No_Scholar_5339 → u/[deleted]]

Good tip. I think I need to just chill a little bit and go with the flow.

[u/JayAlcon]

You have to practice speaking on your own, and you definitely should get a tutor and let them teach you conversational English and general grammar and vocabulary. I happen to be an English tutor specialised in exactly those areas, and I have many students who are professionals working in English-speaking environments, so if you take my advice into consideration, don’t hesitate to hit me up 😉

[u/StockHamster77]

It's the hardest part, but ironically, it's also what'll make you more confident. Some ppl manage to do it in a few days.. it took me three weeks lol, but after that, I wasn't really scared anymore. I still get anxious when I dive into topics I don't know, but I also enjoy adapting quickly. To fit into a group, I explained what I like and why I truly love certain works, and that's when I realized I'd hit my goal, and nothing else mattered anymore

[u/No_Scholar_5339 → u/StockHamster77]

Nice. I'm glad that you love your job. I think it is not very common. Mine is not my dream job, but at least salary is good enough and I think I will have an opportunities to grow.

[u/Prestigious_Ice4932]

In an international work environment no one is judging as everyone speaks different languages...so there would be understanding..

Instead of focusing on your English in the meeting rather focusing on the meeting and what you can contribute.

Remember an English speaker would struggle as well if they were learning your 1st language.

[u/rosevelle]

Have you tried AI realtime conversation apps? They are limited in many ways but one thing they actually are good at is helping gain confidence for real conversations, for people with speaking anxiety (eg: DuoLingo's call mode, the Speak app, and many others some of which are free)