help .....

Why?

What is your first language?
I Speak french and English but sometimes I am nervous when speaking English (depending on the situation) because English is not my first language.

Hello yiping,

As a teacher (ESL) with a career that spans over 25 years now I can tell you that you're not alone in feeling nervous. It will pass at some point in your journey toward fluency.

Just remember, it may not necessarily be speaking English that you fear, it might be speaking in public that you really fear. Do you have the same level of nervousness when you speak publicly in your own language? I would almost bet that you do.

Numerous surveys have been carried out about things that people most fear. One would think that the No. 1 response would be death, but it is not. The greatest fear of most people is speaking in public.

Just relax, remember that everybody knows that you're learning the language and they understand your difficulties and discomfort. Don't give up, no matter what you do. If you do have to speak in front of a group then try this old trick...

Just imagine that everyone in the audience is seated there in front of you wearing nothing but their underwear. It's hard to take seriously someone who is wearing only their undies.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

thanx wjwoodward. that's my problem too

mas fred wrote:

Why?

Yeah.  What he said.

The thing about English that people just learning English don't seem to understand is that there are native speakers all over the world.  We don't all speak English in the same way.  If you heard Fred and I talking at the same time, you'd probably never guess that we share a common language.

People want to get everything right when they're learning something, but with English, very few people ever get everything right.  Just look around this site and all the terrible spelling and grammar from native English speakers.

You will make mistakes.  Everyone does.

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

If you heard Fred and I talking at the same time, you'd probably never guess that we share a common language.

Yes.
Americans say, "Tom ay toe" but we pronounce it correctly.

The nice thing about English is that there are so many variations that it's hard to be wrong. Whatever mistake you may make, try to remember, you aren't the first to make it and you will not be the last to make it. If you know that you are going to be ask to speak in public then practice in front of a mirror, working on your voice control and pronunciation. The more times you do this thing the better you will become.

mas fred wrote:

Yes.
Americans say, "Tom ay toe" but we pronounce it correctly.

You probably wait in a queue to get a rise at work and say things like "lighted", "in hospital" and "have a bath".

Crazy talk.

Hi, what you need to do is that you need to believe in yourself that you can do it,erase fear and calm yourself by saying i can do it.

You may be surprised to hear that non-English mother tongue speakers can communicate much better among themselves than when talking to a native English speaker......  so never worry - you are probably doing better than us !!

Some tips:
Learn a set of sentences off by heart by writing them down and saying them each day until they come out quickly and naturally.
If you add a new one each day you can increase your skills quickly. 

Listen out for a useful sentence someone speaking English is using. It can be people around you or on the TV/Radio (preferably mother tongue speaker....) Write it down and you already know how it should sound. 

It's a good way to build up your language skills and confidence. Having a good response in a conversation at your fingertips will increase your confidence.

Good Luck...

I learn English at school as a foreign language only. I don't speak it for daily communication in my community so I have to think hard on making the sentences I will say in speaking. and it always takes time that makes me feel so nervous when I have to do speaking English. however, thanks for your tips All. I hope it will work on me and I get my confidence soon. again... thanks.

You can look at language sharing sites like italki if you want to practice. I use it some times to practice Vietnamese. It is nice because you will never meet the people on there, so if you make a fool of yourself, it doesn't matter. Don't worry too much about making small mistakes. Most native English speakers are used to hearing non-native speakers.

italki..
livemocha

many sites will help you

if you said so hard to make some sentences because you're not used to use english..it's only a matter of time
the more you practice..the easier you will get

yiping wrote:

I learn English at school as a foreign language only. I don't speak it for daily communication in my community so I have to think hard on making the sentences I will say in speaking. and it always takes time that makes me feel so nervous when I have to do speaking English. however, thanks for your tips All. I hope it will work on me and I get my confidence soon. again... thanks.

The trick to speak English is that first you need to know where to start.
Do you like music ? let's start with that.

am sure you have your own favorite American or British band to listen to

Try to say how they say it, and understand the lyrics as the grammar will eventually become easy.

Music helps me a lot in speaking, writing and to understand English.

Hope this works for you too
-Dewi-

just do it

Yes It's good idea.

DWSA wrote:

Do you like music ? let's start with that.

am sure you have your own favorite American or British band to listen to

Try to say how they say it, and understand the lyrics as the grammar will eventually become easy.

I hear people say this a lot, but I think it's a very bad idea.  When you're just learning the language, you can't know when the song is purposely screwing up the grammar or if the songwriter/singer is just an idiot.  Words are also often mispronounced to fit the meter.

I'd be equally as willing for a dentist to be drilling/Than to ever let a woman in my life

Every little thing she does is magic/Everything she do just turns me on

In the desert you can remember your name/Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

And I'm proud to be an American/Where at least I know I'm free

Lay down Sally, no need to leave so soon/I been trying all night long just to talk to you

If looks could kill, they probably will/In games without frontiers, war without tears

I ain't worried doing me tonight/A little sweat ain't never hurt nobody

I can't light no more of your darkness/All my pictures seem to fade to black and white

I can't remember when you weren't there/When I didn't care for anyone but you

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

DWSA wrote:

Do you like music ? let's start with that.

am sure you have your own favorite American or British band to listen to

Try to say how they say it, and understand the lyrics as the grammar will eventually become easy.

I hear people say this a lot, but I think it's a very bad idea.  When you're just learning the language, you can't know when the song is purposely screwing up the grammar or if the songwriter/singer is just an idiot.  Words are also often mispronounced to fit the meter.

I'd be equally as willing for a dentist to be drilling/Than to ever let a woman in my life

Every little thing she does is magic/Everything she do just turns me on

In the desert you can remember your name/Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

And I'm proud to be an American/Where at least I know I'm free

Lay down Sally, no need to leave so soon/I been trying all night long just to talk to you

If looks could kill, they probably will/In games without frontiers, war without tears

I ain't worried doing me tonight/A little sweat ain't never hurt nobody

I can't light no more of your darkness/All my pictures seem to fade to black and white

I can't remember when you weren't there/When I didn't care for anyone but you

You have a good point there hailey, some musicians do it on purpose.

On the beginner level, I suggest that reading lots of english books and listening to the news in english will make the learning process much easier.

Reading is the big thing most people don't do.  The more books you read, the more you'll know how to spell and what grammar is supposed to look like rather than what it looks like online.

For those asking, yes, those are all from songs and they're all grammatically incorrect.

English books in Indonesia are rather expensive, but there are stores that sell lots of second hand English books ( PM me for this info).
I've met lots of indonesians who speak english, but sadly they couldn't get the pronunciation right.

The best way to learn anything is practice until you get it right.

You can get books online now.