One of the most common problems faced by learners of Spoken English is hesitation. Even students who have sound grammatical knowledge are sometimes not able to speak fluent English because they hesitate. In this article, we are going to discuss the reasons for such hesitation and some simple ways of overcoming it.
Following are the 5 golden steps of this journey.
1) Understand why you are hesitant - It is necessary to understand why you are hesitant. Check all the barriers which make your hesitate and think- “Are they really affecting my success?” If yes, think about these reasons deeply and try to work on each one of them individually.
2) Address your fears – A huge factor in hesitation is the fear of doing wrong things or making mistakes. There are two ways of addressing fears–
a) Think about the worst situations which can embarrass you and say “So What?” We analyze our mistakes more than other people even notice them! So stop feeling embarrassed or guilty over your mistakes. You have not committed any crime. All you are doing is trying to improve your communication skills. That is something to be proud of! So stop getting scared and put a smile on your face. Remember that even celebrities make mistakes when they speak but when they realize, they simply give a big cheesy smile, accept the mistake and correct themselves.
b) Speak in front of a mirror – Use Mirror Therapy. It will boost your confidence. You just need to stand in front of a mirror and speak at least a few sentences regularly. By doing so, you will start speaking without fear and gradually become a more confident speaker.
3) Train yourself to think and act – Overcoming hesitation doesn’t mean that you’ll start jumping blindly into situations; that could get you in trouble. Train yourself to think about the pros and cons of a situation and then speak. Don’t allow yourself to go off on tangent after tangent.
4) Force yourself to do new things – Always try to get yourself engaged in doing new things. They could be related to sports, travel, art, singing, dancing or anything you want. It will help you learn how to cope up in new situations and build your self-confidence. You will become more decisive as well.
5) Have faith and confidence in yourself – Always remember that you have special talent and you have to show it to whole world. In order to do so, you need to get rid of the language barrier and communicate freely.
If you have any other problems in Spoken English, you can come over and have a chat with us at Ladders Institute “Taking you a Notch Higher”. English Speaking institute in Tilak Nagar Metro Station (West Delhi) and English conversation classes in Uttam Nagar . Our experienced and qualified trainers will help you in every possible way.
