1. Don’t Be too Ashamed to Speak
By believing that you can’t speak English you close your mind to trying, and never give yourself the opportunity to improve. There is only one way to learn how to speak English, and that is to open your mouth and speak English! The only way you will ever get better at speaking is by speaking, and speaking a lot!
22. Don’t Be Afraid of Making Mistakes
This may sound funny, but you should try making as many mistakes as possible. If you are making mistakes that means you are actually speaking English and improving. Of course, you shouldn’t intentionally make them, and you should try to be aware of your mistakes so you can learn from them and improve your skills.
33. Don’t get frustrated with yourself
Learning English will come with a certain amount of frustration. At some point, you will come to a stage where you won’t be able to fully express yourself like you would be able to in your native language, and there will be times when you won’t be able to find the right word to say.
This stage may last only a few weeks if you are completely immersed in English, but it could last years if you only use English twice a week at your language school. The only way to overcome this frustration is by practice, practice, practice.
44. Don’t take it personally when people don’t understand you
At some point in your English speaking career, you are going to speak to someone who, no matter how hard you try just can’t seem to understand you. You’ll have this problem a lot when talking with people who aren’t used to dealing with foreigners. If they don’t have this experience they will be used to hearing English spoken in a very specific way, and they won’t have any frame of reference when talking to you. Realize that this isn’t a reflection of your language skills, but rather a reflection of this person’s lack of exposure to different people.
55. Don’t compare yourself to other English Speakers
No matter what level your English is at, you had to work hard to bring yourself to that level. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished and don’t be too concerned with what other people think about it. They don’t know how many hours you’ve had to work to get to where you are, they don’t know all the struggles you’ve been through to get there.
Some people like to see others fail, and by paying any attention to these people you are just feeding their negativity. Any time you spend worrying about what they think of you is time wasted that could be better spent by working to improve your English.
