ARE YOU AFRAID OF MAKING MISTAKES IN ENGLISH?

Most of my students’ main focus is to improve their English for professional purposes.

Some of them want to get a better job, some of them already have a good job and are challenged everyday with meetings, e-mails and presentations in English with people from a myriad of countries with numerous accents…

If that is your case, I suggest you keep reading…

Sometimes you may experience frustration when trying to understand or be understood in English, and depending on how you face it, this may cause you to feel hesitant to speak English again…

Yes, I get it… You are afraid of making more mistakes or you feel embarrassed about what happened...

Let me tell you that, although this can be a natural reaction, I do not recommend you keep on It for long and I will tell you why. In a state of frustration, embarrassment or fear, there is no room for improvement… You are stuck on your ‘mistake’ or ‘inadequacy’. The fact keeps playing endlessly in the back of your mind and there is nothing else you can do…

Whereas if you step out of it, there is action!

I know it sounds cliché but we learn from our mistakes, right? There is life after you make a mistake, so let’s get on with it!

The first thing I would like to assure you is that your English gets better every day with practice, but for that, you do have to expose yourself. So, keep talking!

The second thing I have to say is that, in your professional interactions, your MESSAGE and your CONTRIBUTION are more important than the correct grammar (you think you do not have) or the advanced vocab (you think you lack), got it? This is the reason why you have been called to that particular meeting or presentation; you HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.

Improving is part of your goal and it will come gradually, so be patient.

Now to some practical tips:

If you do not understand, it is not a problem to ask people to repeat. You may use sentences like:

- I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Could you please repeat? Or

- Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. Can you say that again?

If the problem is a certain word/part that you are not familiar with, you may say:

- I'm not sure I know this word "x", could you please explain what you mean? Or

- Can you explain what you mean again?

If you want to make sure you got the message, you can also repeat it in your own words, starting like:

- Ok, let me see if I understand...

- From what I understand, you are saying that…

 Like I said, your English will get better every day, and part of the process involves dealing with the mistakes and learning from them.

How do you feel about making mistakes now that we’ve had this chat?

Keep up the good work and count on me!

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