How to Speak English Confidently

You may possess the most expansive grammar knowledge and mastery over vast vocabulary, and yet when it comes to the crunch, you lack the confidence to speak fluently. As a result, you get flustered and end up making silly grammar mistakes and forgetting words you’ve known for years. Confidence is crucial to fluency, without it, your skills crumble. If you need to speak English in a professional setting, poor verbal skills will go against you and lead to poorer outcomes. Even the most high-performing professionals experience those types of wobbles, leaving them reeling and their partners scratching their heads. This post outlines how to speak English confidently, delivering tips and techniques to optimise your fluency.

The techniques are not only useful when mastering a language but they will also scale your general social confidence. We examine language aspects and body language tips while providing advice from top educators.

Social confidence plays a central role in happiness and professional success. Anyone who speaks to people with ease glides through life more effortlessly, and at work, they collaborate more effectively. When speaking and working in a foreign language the bar to self-confident performance is even higher. You must speak clearly, master terminology, bear in mind cultural differences, and all the while remaining relaxed and professional. Regardless of your speaking task, be that chatting over an informal lunch or delivering a high-powered speech to a sizeable audience, you need to invest time in learning how to speak confidently.

English dominates much of the world’s business-scape, making fluency in English all the more essential. Language teachers will tell you that many students with excellent skills and extensive knowledge struggle to apply them winningly. An irrational fear of appearing stupid creeps in and locks all the hard-earned fluency away.

Developing confidence must therefore be a top priority for professional success, both socially and linguistically.

Confidence at Work

Not to be confused with self-esteem, your self-confidence levels help to determine how willing you are to put thoughts into action. While self-esteem is about your feelings toward yourself, your self-confidence or lack thereof shapes your actions. Self-confident people take risks proceeding in a manner they deem adequate. Someone lacking self-confidence shies away from taking necessary steps even if they know how to proceed.

Dr. Richard Petty, an Ohio State University psychology professor has studied self-confidence for decades. He carried out numerous studies into the interplay between self-confidence and success. In one of his research projects, he documented how, in the US, income levels rise in line with confidence levels, meaning the more self-confidence someone possesses the more money they make.

When you apply these findings to language mastery, you now understand that self-confidence is more about your willingness to try and fail than speaking perfection. But how do you dispel the fear and try to converse fluently anyway?

Fluency and Confidence Tips

Considering that confidence is key to fluency, you need to chart a two-track course. To begin with, you must resolve to speak even when you are anxious. As explained, self-confidence equals a willingness to proceed, so you need to decide to press ahead and try.

At the same time, you need to consider your language skills and assess your preparedness. Have you got the vocabulary and language foundation necessary for the conversation you are about to have? Can you brush up on your skills and vocabulary to get ready?

Prepare, Practice, Proceed

If you think of fluency in the above three steps, it doesn’t seem such a lofty goal. You must bear in mind the extensive knowledge you already have at your disposal and consider it your solid footing. Firmly rooted there, you can prepare by adding conversation-setting appropriate vocabulary and phrases. Professional occasions require you to have a blend of small talk and industry jargon while informal get-togethers only ask you to relax and chat away.

During the preparation stage, you can read, listen, and watch ESL resources or study professional documents and vocabulary. Once you own the topic of your upcoming discourse, you begin to practice.

Find a conversation partner or tutor and set out the frame of the conversation you need to master. Roleplay and ask for feedback, applying newly learned words and phrases. Prioritize clarity by making concise sentences and veering away from lengthy structures. Doing so will eliminate most mistakes. It is important to listen actively to enhance the flow of the conversation. Concentrate on your conversation partner’s words when listening rather than jumping ahead to what you are going to say next in your mind. Practice daily, so that by the time you need to speak fluently in a professional capacity or at an important function, your words and phrases come easily.

The third and last step will see you proceed with confidence. Bear in mind the preparation and practice and allow yourself to dip into the conversation slowly yet determinedly. Many people allow their anxiety to accelerate their speaking, meaning they talk at 180 mph just because they are nervous. Instead, take a deep breath and utter each word and phrase clearly at a pleasant speed.

Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification if you lose the thread of conversation and never beat yourself up over errors. In all likelihood, you will effortlessly follow the topic and be in a position to add to the conversation intelligently. During moments of insecurity, take a breath, stand up straight, and allow the wobble to pass. You will be ready to rejoin the conversation in seconds.

A Word on Body Language

If you search for images depicting confident postures, you soon realise they all have several things in common; the body is straight, slouching is a no-no, eye contact is a must, and your arms mustn’t shield you from your conversation partner. Think superwoman or superwoman and you get the picture.

A straight posture and good eye contact make you appear more confident even if you don’t feel it. Plus, your breathing will invariably be better and result in an overall feeling of wellness and calm.