A string of linguistic elements sewn together and properly in a thread is called a language. Such strings are infinite in any language. That means a language is a set of sentences which is composed of several and various kinds of words and phrases to convey a message to others. This kind of thread of linguistic elements is essential in an individual's life to share their feelings, emotions, thoughts, ideas and so on to be interconnected with each other. One very remarkable point here is that it is a language that has made humans a special and unique species on the planet as well. It helps us talk about displacement in terms of space and time. The language that we speak is a valuable asset each of us has. This a human child begins to play with in the natural environment the very moment s/he is born, and this acquired language is his/her mother tongue. It means the mother tongue is a language every child is blessed with. Like this, people globally have different mother tongues they grow with.
As we grow and get ourselves involved in various activities, we (happen to) communicate with several people where we may need a language different from ours because our mother tongue and theirs might be quite different. Because of this difference in the mother tongue, we fail to communicate with each other. This is the situation where we become helpless and expect to have other and perhaps more than one language; that means a language different from the mother tongue. It is very true that the more languages we have, the better we can communicate with others regardless of their linguistic background. However, it is of course not easy to learn all languages prevailing around us in practice though we try our level best to learn as many as we can. Here, we look for the one that can be a common language spoken and understood widely on a large scale; and as mentioned on the verified X handle Fact Protocol, based on speakers but not native speakers, it is undoubtedly ENGLISH (1456 million speakers,) which is at the top of the ranking in terms of the speakers leaving Mandarin Chinese (1338 million speakers), Hindi (609.5 million speakers) and Spanish (559.1 million speakers) behind.
The English language is learnt, taught and spoken worldwide. Nowadays, it has also been linked with prestige and personality development. Apparently, people speaking this language feel one step up from others. This clearly shows the craze for learning English. In most communities, parents send their children to an English medium school with an inclination that their children would be fluent speakers of English. Surprisingly, parents link their pride and success to the English-speaking ability of their children as well. In addition, there are many other reasons: a majority of documents having an array of information from different areas worldwide are available in English; there will be a high chance of getting alluring jobs if they know English and the like.
Therefore, this write-up assists you in learning English with high confidence and perfect fluency within a short time without visiting any language centres. If you really wish to be a fluent speaker of English, keep in mind that there is ONLY one way to learn to speak English and that is to "speak English - no other way". In other words, speaking can be learnt only by speaking, no other ways are there. However, there are some tips to accelerate your learning process and you can soon be speaking English fluently with confident body language before anybody else.
1. Be a child.The very first tip is to think of yourself as a child who does not know any language. Why is this important? I'm sure you have noticed that when a child wants to do or express something, they never care who is in front of them while expressing or doing it. They unhesitatingly show their desire and move ahead. They express frankly and clearly what they like. They do not fear anything or anyone. Shyness never comes in the way of their learning. A child's confidence is always high, which is the best quality for overcoming barriers on the path to mastering new things. Similarly, when you want to learn to speak English, do not think of yourself as an adult who already knows at least your mother tongue. You do not need to worry about vocabulary and structures: speak as you like and as you can. Your sentences may be full of errors; let them be so. Other people may laugh at your mistakes, but let them laugh because they are not the ones learning—you are. Just ignore them and go ahead.
2. Love your mistakes.
Are you afraid of mistakes? Most probably your answer is "Yes", I guess. Those who are afraid of making mistakes cannot learn anything. I know you find it difficult to speak English, but just think for a while going into your past — was your first relationship easy with anybody else? Were you intimate with each other the moment you became familiar? Obviously not. It must have taken some days to flourish. The same is the case with learning the language as well. So, never get scared of mistakes. The mistake itself leads you to the door of success. What you understand as a mistake is actually your learning because the next time you won't make the same mistake. You have realized that it is not what I am to do. Isn't this realization a good lesson, or learning? If you pay attention to mistakes in your sentences every moment while speaking, it means you are discouraging and intentionally pushing yourself far away from bringing yourself closer to it. Never be over-conscious: love your mistakes and speak the way you like.
3. Develop "I-can-do" attitude.
Never lose your confidence: never kneel down before any problem or obstacle if you want to go ahead. Always remember the last stanza of the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost:
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Sometimes when we encounter a situation difficult to come out of, we become hopeless and surrender that. It means admitting that we are weak and incapable of overcoming it. No. never let such negative and discouraging thoughts come in you. Always keep your morale high. Start thinking that "I can do" it. What I mean to say here is that when you feel that English is going difficult for you, let this "I-can-do" attitude come to encourage you and make you bold to go ahead. It is because it is of course not something that you are not made for. Just encourage yourself by remembering that humans have reached the most unknown places like the moon and others or conquered Mt Everest without oxygen as well, then English is simply a language that is already in our daily conversation in the forms of words or phrases.
4. Don't worry about limited vocabulary.
Some people think that how they can speak English because they do not have words in sufficient numbers to communicate. Do you also think so? If yes, please stop thinking so. I want to ask you one very simple question: do you think that you can communicate without producing any English words throughout the day while communicating with anybody else? Can you promise yourself that you won't speak even a single word from the moment you wake up in the morning and the time you go to bed at night? Certainly not. It means you already know English, or at least you are familiar with English and have a sort of stock of words and phrases of the English language. Therefore, without worrying about the number of vocabulary items, learn to play with those words and phrases you have in your repertoire. Develop your confidence by practising already-have words and phrases.
5. Put the headphones on.
While attempting to speak in English, I guess you must be hesitating due to several reasons like I'll be a figure of fun for my mistakes, I feel shy when I try to speak somebody's language, and so on. If so, there is a good solution to your hesitation. Put on the headphones and play music; meanwhile, speak anything in English by setting your voice recorder on so that your English will be recorded for your reference to have feedback on your speaking. Now, you may be thinking about what benefits you will have from this. So, let me tell you the secret of this. As music is on the go in your ears, it prevents you from listening to your own voice and because of this, you will not be scared of making mistakes. This way you go speaking and speaking without any hesitation. Once you are done speaking, take your headphones away and play your recording to reflect on your speaking. It lets you know where your voice was shaky, where you felt difficult, what kind of problem you faced, what you need to improve and so on. This technique will get you used to speaking English ahead.
Moreover, this activity will also let you focus on the correct pronunciation of words so that you can sound much closer to the native speaker's pronunciation. It can be one of the perfect ways to train your ears for the native-like pronunciation of English sounds. You can polish your accent as well. Your ears can minutely discriminate and perceive even slight changes in the articulation of sounds.
6. Focus on fluency.
Which comes first — language or grammar? Yes, you are right. Language comes first. That is to say, language is not based on grammar but grammar is according to the language. To understand the language, grammar is there. Grammar just shows how sentences are formed cohesively. It tells us about the appropriate place/position or slot of words they go in. Therefore, when you are learning English, keep grammar aside. I mean don't worry about whether your grammar is fine, but it does never mean that grammar is nothing or can always be ignored. For the time being, keep grammar aside and stop thinking about accuracy in your language. Right now, your priority should be your fluency which needs confidence.
7. Do not care about who else is/are around you.
You may be speaking a lot to your head in English. However, when the time comes to speak before others, you find your confidence shaky; you start losing your ground. It is because you understand that those who are before you are not actually humans but monsters or they know English better than you and can easily notice even your minor mistakes. This is enough to make you afraid of speaking in English. You see them better at English than you. It means you start comparing yourself with others. This is your big mistake. Do not care about anybody's presence when you speak. Just assume that they know nothing in English, or I am far better at English than those all. I mean, underestimate them. Then only you can open your mouth; otherwise, this situation will always come as an obstacle in the way of learning English. This lets you become an extrovert.
8. Do not escape the situation.
Do you find yourself tensed and helpless when the time comes to speak something in English? Do you escape the situation so that others do not notice that you do not know English? If yes, you do not like to learn English although you say you like to learn it: actually you don't. Rather you always try to look for opportunities so that you can practice English. Gather your courage and stay bold. Face the situation, and SPEAK: speak as much as you can. If possible, create such an environment where you can practise English. The more you face the situation, the more comfortable you will be.
9. Frequently switch your language to English.
Needless to say, every individual has at least his/her mother tongue. Take advantage of this. Most of the time you communicate with each other in your mother tongue. So, while you speak your language in your daily conversation, go for code-mixing and also code-switching the moment you feel easy. I mean, try to insert some short expressions in your conversation from the English language, for instance, come on, give me a call, leave me alone, I'm busy with my job, somebody is calling you, someone is on the telephone line, please move a bit, don't rack my brain, I'm kidding, take it easy, mind your language, be focused, my feet are killing me, hold on, and so on. This way you won't feel that you are speaking English; however, the fact is you are practising it bit by bit. It will make you habituated to producing sentences in English. Later you won't know that you are expressing yourself in English though in chunks. It means you are gradually developing confidence and overcoming fear and shyness.
The abovementioned tips are just to guide you to developing confidence so that you can come up with your zeal. I am very hopeful and sure that if you follow these, you will certainly be a fluent speaker of English. I suggest you should practice at least 30 minutes every day either before the mirror or with somebody else. These suggestions are not to be kept in your mind, rather get them in action to learn it faster.
BEST OF LUCK!
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