Imagine living in a nation where you,
a member of the majority, are unable to read the label of the medicine you must
give your child, the menu at a local restaurant or even the warning signs of the
road; a place where you are unable to comprehend the government document
officiating your driver’s license, tax filing or marriage. This is the world
that hundreds of millions of Indians live in simply because the elite prefer
English. This discrimination has become so systemic that the elite and middle
classes send their children to English private schools while the vast poor send
theirs to the government schools of their mother tongue. One need not mention
that universities and even government jobs require fluency in English, as
mandated by the ruling elite. Therefore, a person’s socioeconomic status in
Indian society is approximately in line with his or her fluency in the
language. In other words: a new caste system.
Why
English has become the language of the elite
There is an enormous range of nuanced
reasons as to why English has become the language of the elite and of
governance in India, even putting aside the original Macaulyism. It remains
that Indians have come to believe that their nation’s prosperity, as well as
their own, is wholly dependent upon not just learning English, but exclusively
learning it as a first language. It began with the travelled elite, boomed
within the middle class that was hired by multinational companies, and trickled
to the vast majority hoping to escape their destitution but unable to afford
private English education. Curiously, many states in India have attempted to
make English the medium of instruction for all schools in an attempt to assuage
the demands of the poor; however, the shortage of teachers who can even speak
English is surreal. All of this while the vast majority is able to communicate
in their respective mother tongues
Only
about 30% can speak English
The statistics on English speaking ability
tends to be unreliable for a host of political reasons, but it is generally
accepted that somewhere in the range of 30% are able, to varying degrees, speak
English—though only a third have some semblance of reading and writing
aptitude. Still, it is unadorned disenfranchisement and an embarrassing plight
for the other 70-80% of Indians.
What
the private sector is doing to help
What is most fascinating in all this is
that it is companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Samsung which are
reaching out and providing the tools to the people and the state governments to
advance the local languages. Consider that Google revamping Andhra Pradesh’s IT
system to make it Telugu input friendly or that Samsung is leading the charge
in providing phones with local language capabilities even while local leaders
post their campaign signs in English.
You know – it’s the
feeling when you’d gladly say something when chatting in English with someone,
but you
hold it inside because you’re not sure you’ll get it right.
So how to deal with
this anxiety and how to overcome your fear of making mistakes?
We all can definitely
remember situations when we’ve made a mistake when speaking or attempting to
speak, and that has made us feel insecure,
embarrassed and ashamed of our level of spoken English.
And this is where it
gets serious. While being a bit confused and making an odd mistake here and
there is absolutely normal, those foreign English speakers who are constantly
worried about making mistakes have their English improvement seriously impeded;
in other words – they find it hard
to enjoy themselves when speaking English.
Where This Fear Comes From?
So where does this
fear of making mistakes come from and why it’s so prevalent among foreign
English speakers?
I think there are a
couple of reasons for that,
·
Goes back to
your school days when you studied English sitting behind a desk.
Just think about this – at school you are aiming to achieve
good grades, so every mistake you make downgrades your assessment in your
English teacher’s eyes. While generally students are encouraged to speak and
express themselves, at the same time your knowledge is constantly assessed and checked against
the existing standards.
So in other words, I believe that the existing English
teaching system at school is responsible for many foreign English speakers
being way too conscious of mistakes they’re making. They feel as if they’re
still sitting behind a desk in an English class and if they say
something that isn’t 100% correct, they’ll get a bad grade.
·
Type of personality.
And
the same goes with speaking English. You’re not a professional English speaking
artist which means that you’re not a native English speaker. But similar to
what I just said about signing performance, as
far as you’re smiling and being friendly and the small mistakes you make aren’t as big
as to create a real communication barrier, you’re
fine!
“You see, the
thing is that nine out of ten native speakers and also other English speaking
people in general will see much more in your English speech than just words.
It’s about HOW YOU LOOK AT PEOPLE; It’s about YOUR EMOTIONS WHEN YOU SPEAK, YOUR
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, YOUR GESTURES and so on.”
HOW TO OVERCOME
1. Don’t be too ashamed to Speak
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!
You can make excuses for why you don’t want to speak, like
saying that you’re too embarrassed to speak, but these won’t get you any
closer to your goal of achieving English fluency. It doesn’t matter if you have
no vocabulary, or if your pronunciation isn’t perfect, you need to open your
mouth and speak if you want to improve.
Whatever you do,
don’t say that you can’t speak English because this will become a
self-fulfilling prophecy. By believing that you can’t speak English you close
your mind to trying, and never give yourself the opportunity to improve. The
only way to improve your English is to practice it, no matter how bad you may or may not
be at it.
2. Don’t Be Afraid of Making Mistakes
Another thing
you shouldn’t do when speaking English is to be afraid of making mistakes. Part
of being human is making mistakes and sooner or later you’re going to have to
accept the fact that you’re not perfect and that you will always make mistakes.
The only way you can avoid making mistakes is by not trying at all. If you
follow this approach you’ll avoid making mistakes, but you’ll never improve
either.
This may seem
counter-intuitive, but you should try making as many mistakes as possible. If
you are making mistakes that means you are actually speaking English and
improving. If you aren’t making mistakes every day then you aren’t speaking
enough. Of course, you shouldn’t intentionally make mistakes, and you should
try to be aware of your mistakes so you can learn from them and improve your
skills.
Grammar is the last thing you should be worried
about when speaking English. You don’t need to have perfect grammar in order to
communicate with someone in English. Native speakers aren’t going to judge you
for having bad grammar, they are going to be more focused on understanding your
meaning and continuing the conversation.
As long as you
speak clearly and confidently, it doesn’t matter if you use the wrong article,
adjective ending or sentence order.
Many language
programs put too much emphasis on grammar and not enough emphasis on speaking.
They spread the idea that you have to know all the grammar rules before you can
start speaking, which can have the effect of reducing your confidence when you
finally start speaking. This is backwards. You should learn to speak first to build your confidence, and then
work on correcting your grammar after you’ve reached a basic level of fluency.
Everybody makes
mistakes, even native speakers of English. Nobody is born speaking perfect
English; fluency is something that takes time and
hard work to achieve.
There are many Americans who go through 13 years of schooling and still don’t
learn how to speak English properly.
So don’t be
discouraged by your mistakes. Learn to embrace them and value them for the role
they play in your learning.
3. Don’t Apologize For Your Level
Something that really annoys me when I’m
talking to someone in English is when they apologize for how much English they
speak. I’ve never been offended by someone’s level of English, and I don’t get
upset when someone makes mistakes. If you talk to someone and they do get
offended or upset because of your level of English they are an evil person who
probably tortures kittens in their spare time.
Most of the
people who apologize for their level of English feel like they should speak
better than they do. Its fine to think this, but don’t get upset at yourself
for not knowing more than you do. Achieving fluency in any language is a
process that takes time, and you can’t expect to become fluent overnight. Whether
you’ve been studying English for years or only for a few months, you’ve put in
a lot of work to get where you are, so don’t underestimate yourself.
4. 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.
Nearly everyone
who learns English goes through this phase; it’s just a natural part of the
language learning process. 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.
Keep in mind
that this frustration isn’t because you’re not smart enough, or because the
language is too difficult, it is something that many people have to go through.
By embracing this frustration and feeling it more intensely through increased
exposure you can pass through this stage more rapidly.
5. 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
cant seem to understand you. Due to the large number of English speakers in the
world, there are a wide range of accents, some of which are hard to understand.
I for one have a hard time understanding some Australian accents and most Irish
accents.
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.
This can also
happen when talking to English learners who have a lower level of English than
you. They won’t be able to understand everything you say because of your more
advanced vocabulary. Try to remember that you were once at their level and not
everyone is at the same place on their language journey.
The same person
who gets offended when you speak English also tortures kittens like these.
6. 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.
This also means
you shouldn’t go around comparing yourself to other people. Everybody is
different; some people learn languages more easily than others and some people
have spent more time working to improve their English. Just because your friend
who lived in London for 3 years can speak really well doesn’t mean that you’re
not on the right path.
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.
7. If you are fluent, or just think you are, Don’t Get
Cocky (arrogant)
English is not a
chip in your brain. It’s a learning process. Maybe this is gonna seem harsh,
and definitely a bit paradoxical, but for the rare English Jedi breed, they realize that there’s never
really perfect fluency, only the impassioned and ever-approaching journey
toward it.
This means that
when you finally become fluent, (whatever that really means to you or to the
world), you shouldn’t adopt the attitude of somebody who thinks “I already
learned English” because there are some fundamental problems and limitations
that come from this assumption. Here are just a few:
- You’re
living a lie because you never stop learning a language. It is like
calling yourself a fully-realized human being. There’s always the
next level up, and the current level always needs practice.
- The
learner tends to get lazy, and it’s a universal fact about any learning
process, that if you aren’t growing, you are probably getting worse.
- The
inflated ego prevents you from recognizing the final 5 or 10% that
separates you from the master jedi breed of English speakers.
- There
is a tendency to treat other English learners (or people who are learning
their language) in a condescending, totally idiotic way, forgetting what
it is like to learn because they themselves are no longer connected to
their own learning process.
- Cultural Understanding: You can know everything about grammar, but that doesn’t mean you are fluent. You need to be constantly connected to the source of the language (culture) so that it flows from who you really are.
“Life (English) is a Journey Not a Destination
Start your Journey."
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