How to speak a new language confidently?
One of the challenges when you are learning a new language can be gaining confidence in speaking that language. It is one thing to recognise sounds in conversations or to have a great vocabulary or excellent grammar skills. It is quite another to put that into practice and speak feeling confident. Here are 9 things you can do on your journey towards speaking a foreign language (more) confidently!
9 tips to confidently speak a foreign language
One of the challenges when you are learning a new language can be gaining confidence in speaking that language. It is one thing to recognise sounds in conversations or words on paper. To have a basic or even excellent knowledge of sentence construction and grammar or to have a great vocabulary. It is quite another to put that into practice and speak feeling confident.
No matter what level you have, speaking can be an intimidating thing. You have less time to process information, to formulate a “spontaneous” response or formulate it correctly and practise it. And you have a live audience. You might feel less secure about your abilities when speaking that language in general or speaking to native speakers or non-native speakers of a higher level in particular.
Speaking, like language learning, is a journey. Don’t be discouraged if things are not going fluently or effortlessly yet, you are learning! Instead, here are a few things you can do whilst you are on your journey towards speaking a foreign language (more) confidently:
1. Practise out loud by yourself
Most conversations involve reacting spontaneously, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing you can practise beforehand to make you feel a bit more at ease. Practise by yourself, say words and fixed phrases out loud to familiarise yourself with sounds and constructions and to improve your pronunciation. Practise those elements that your struggle with in particular. It is a great way to try out unfamiliar sounds, words, phrases and to get used to intonations and the pronunciation, pace and melody of a language without anyone there to notice.
You can for example repeat words, sounds or fixed phrases after a suitable audio file. First listen to the original, pause the video/audio file, and then repeat. If you record yourself during this process, you can use this recording to hear any differences, improve and track your progress along the way. Or, you can walk around and speak, for example like when preparing a presentation: pretend there is an audience and confidently try to communicate what it is that you want to say (an actual presentation, a dialogue, a list of words or phrases). Sometimes standing up, walking around, visualising a context and using natural body language for conversations can make it more realistic and easier to speak out loud and start practising.
2. Address what is making you feel less confident
In order to improve, it is helpful to be aware of what it actually is that you find challenging. It could be that what is getting in the way has to do with the foreign language itself. For example, you might find it difficult to pronounce certain words or sounds or you feel that there is a gap in your knowledge, such as in your grammar or vocabulary, which prevents you from saying what you want to say in a fluent, detailed or more natural way.
However, it can also be related to something broader, such as a fear of failure, a fear to make mistakes and unintentionally offend or hurt, to encounter embarrassment, to speak in public, to be in the spotlight/ have the focus on you, to be judged, ridiculed, not be understood or taken seriously or otherwise have people form an (incorrect) image about you based on your level of the language and/or language abilities.
When you identify what is holding you back, you can start looking at ways to overcome it.
3. Keep in mind that there is not only one way of speaking a language
When learning a new language, we often look at – or rather listen to – how others, usually native speakers, are speaking that language. One thing you soon notice, is that within one language, there are often many ways of speaking that language. Different people from different walks of life speak the same language but in a different way and sometimes differently in different contexts: accents, dialects, geographical location (within a country or worldwide), class/background, whether you are at home, with friends, in the pub or at work, your country of origin, your mother tongue, the sector you work in and many other cultural aspects are all aspects that can influence the way in which the language is spoken.
So, apart from finding a way to speak the language, also consider the cultural aspects around these ways of speaking a language. Don’t beat yourself up if you are not finding an example of the one, best and only way of speaking a language. Instead, try to get an insight into the cultural elements of the language and identify how you want to come across, focussing on general correctness of the language in terms of grammar, cultural understandings and other elements that are applicable to your unique situation.
4. Remember that mistakes will happen
When speaking a language making mistakes does happen. Speaking a new language will not always go perfectly, and that is ok and normal. No matter what level you have, you might forget a word, might not be able to find the right word or might use the wrong word. You might accidently pronounce a sound differently than planned or make a grammatical mistake which changes the meaning of what you wanted to say. When this happens and you notice it, there is nothing wrong with clarifying what you meant and correcting your mistake if the other person didn’t understand you. You would probably do this in your own native language too, if such a mistake would happen.
Sometimes, not all mistakes need to be corrected right at that moment. If a mistake wasn’t noticed or didn’t impede communication, it might be an idea to notice the mistake if you are aware of it and improve it at the next opportunity, but for now keep the fluency in the conversation. In any case, remember that you won’t be likely to begin your journey speaking the language fluently or perfectly. It is a process in which you will start with the basics and with making many mistakes. When that happens, remember it is ok to make mistakes, accept and embrace them. Mistakes are there to learn from. Then, over time, with more and more speaking time under your belt and learning from your mistakes, you will get better at it and improve your fluency and accuracy!
5. Try in a different way: “There are more ways that lead to Rome” (NL) (or: “There is more than one way to skin the cat”)
You made a mistake, you can’t find the right word or construction or your audience (whether one conversation partner or a bigger audience) doesn’t understand what you are trying to say. Now what do you do?
Describe in different words
One of your options: formulate your message in a different way! As the expressions go: “There are more ways that lead to Rome” (NL) (“All roads lead to Rome”), or, “There is more than one way to skin the cat”. Try to find different words, such as synonyms, that have the same meaning, or explain what you wanted to say with a description or example. You can for example describe the use, the opposite or the characteristics of something or the time and situation in which something happened as a way of explaining what you meant. You might not know the word “ladle”, but you could explain it as “a very big spoon with a long handle that you use to get soup out of a big pan to serve it in smaller bowls” and people will know understand what you mean.
Be aware of knowledge gaps and language gaps
Also, keep in mind who your audience is and what language you are using: most people don’t know the language(s) that they are speaking for a full 100%, whether native or non-native speakers. This might clarify why you didn’t understand your conversation partner or why they didn’t understand you.
There are always areas of the language, often vocabulary-wise, that you didn’t know or didn’t know in a different context. This is for example likely to happen with slang and jargon, or “special words and phrases that are used by particular groups of people” (Cambridge Dictionary), which can be related to work, regional differences and other categories (see also under 3, there is not one way of speaking a language).
On top of this, words might also have more than one meaning depending on the context. In fact, when translating from your native language into the foreign language you are learning this might happen too: there are words that are not translatable into one specific word in another language, or might have a different meaning.
So when you are not finding the right words or when your message is not understood, don’t worry. Try to express what you meant in a different way. Not only will you see how you successfully clarify your message but you might also learn new words, expressions and cultural concepts!
6. Realise the perspective of your audience
There are a few ways your audience might interact with you. People might be very kind, patient and encouraging when you are trying your best at having a conversation with them in the language that you are learning to speak. You might feel afraid of failure, making mistakes or embarrassment, or of being judged, ridiculed or not taken seriously, but many people might not focus on your linguistic challenges as shortcomings when they see you trying. Instead, they are likely to feel warm towards you trying to speak their language and be very understanding of the challenges you are facing. They might be happy to encourage you, willing to talk to you and help out or make you feel at ease. They might realise you might be nervous and will not judge you negatively. These interactions are perfect opportunities to practise your speaking!
Of course, there are also people who might not be as understanding, patient, willing or able to help you practise speaking. An interesting example is that people who are trying to speak Dutch as a foreign language in the Netherlands, for example when going shopping, often encounter native Dutch speakers who immediately switch to English when they recognise you are not a native Dutch speaker. Whether they do this because they can speak English and want to practise that, because they feel they help you by switching to a language that you might be more fluent in or might have a better comprehension of, or because they are limited in their time, don’t be discouraged. In these cases, keep in mind that this probably not about you, sometimes your audience just has a different perspective.
7. Remind yourself that speaking a foreign language is admirable
If you are surrounded by many people who are multilingual and fluent in 2+ languages, it is easy to feel intimidated and to feel that it should be easy to speak more than one language fluently. Also, if you are amongst native speakers or higher level speakers of the language you are trying to learn, you may start comparing yourself with their level and ease with which they speak that language. But keep in mind that they often learnt to speak the language in a completely different context than you: they might have learnt the language in an unconscious process as young children growing up in a household and society where that language was spoken constantly or they just might have started their language journey earlier or with different parameters (e.g. they might have had more time to speak, more intense exposure to the language, etc.).
If you feel you are struggling with speaking and feel less confident in conversations with speakers of a higher or native level, remind yourself that learning a language is something you can be proud of. You are motivated to learn and to make an effort to learn something new through a conscious process, which is not something everyone is willing or able to do. Regardless of how many other people are speaking that language already fluently, focus on where you are at and appreciate that you have started your own exciting language journey!
8. Practise in a 1-2-1 situation
The more you speak a language, the more you might start feeling at ease and confident. One way of starting to build up your speaking time is to practise in a small setting, which might be more comfortable than speaking to a larger audience.
Friend or acquaintance
For example, practise with a friend or acquaintance. If you both have the same level, you might use this time to practise dialogues learnt in class. If your friend or acquaintance has a higher level or is a native speaker, you might want to ask if they are willing to help you by having the conversations in the language you want to learn and giving you some tips and guidance. It can be a more relaxing way to speak a new language with someone you know, who you trust and who you have a connection with already. It might take off any pressure you might feel to speak without making mistakes.
Language exchange partner
Another way is to start a language exchange with a tandem partner: you search for someone who speaks the language you want to learn and who wants to learn the language you are a native or high level speaker of. That way, you can practise speaking in the language you want to speak in exchange for giving your tandem partner the opportunity to practise speaking the language you are already fluent in. You could help each other by giving guidance and agreeing to help each other with mistakes in a non-formal setting.
Professional 1-2-1 lesson
Alternatively, if you want a more focussed approach to improving your speaking skills in a small setting, you can take 1-2-1 lessons with a professional. Through online or in-person lessons with a teacher, you get the opportunity to focus on practising speaking a new language based on your needs and interests. A teacher can offer structured guidance to help you improve, helping you with grammar (sentence construction), vocabulary (expanding vocabulary, helping with different ways to describe something), pronunciation (recognising accents, improving your pronunciation) and any specific challenges you face with the new language.
9. Keep learning!
Lastly, speaking a language is not an isolated activity. We speak about things we know, things we read or heard, and we can speak about things because we read or heard them somewhere. When you are learning to speak a new language, you will have times when you don’t understand certain words others are using or you can’t find the right words or expressions for what you want to say.
Expanding your vocabulary & reading
A great way to continue to improve your speaking skills is to continue to expand your vocabulary. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to start learning word lists by heart (but you can if you want to, of course!), you can also expand you vocabulary by reading, specifically about things you are interested in (e.g. news articles, food blogs, or sector specific professional articles). That way you will encounter new words that are relevant to you and which you can start using to better express yourself when speaking.
Listening: vocabulary, pronunciation, accents
In addition, listening is another very useful way to not only expand your vocabulary but also to familiarise yourself with the pronunciation of sounds and the melody of the language. When listening to music, the radio or podcasts, or when watching the news, TV series or films, you learn new words or expressions in context. As they might be used frequently or alongside a tune that you like, they might stick with you more easily.
Also, by listening in general, you hear the pronunciation of words and you become more aware of different accents and will be better able to recognise them. Similarly, you will develop a sense of the culture of the language, hearing when certain words are used and how the language is constructed. This will all come in handy when you are having a real-time conversation, when you are familiar with listening for sounds, words and intonation in order to understand what is being said and to formulate a response.
The more you learn, the more you know and the more confident you will feel when you are able to use this knowledge during a conversation.