Why Understanding Comes Before Confidence in English
Understanding is the key to confidence in English. Unfortunately, confidence is often a precursor to the learning process. When it isn’t, the learner is left frustrated, feeling as if they don’t have the “right stuff.” In fact, most people who feel a lack of confidence in English speaking simply have a lack of understanding. Confidence isn’t a character trait. It’s a lack of confusion. When the language makes sense to you, you’ll feel confident. Until then, it will be tough.
The first step to understanding is recognition. When you recognize the sounds, rhythms, and grammatical structures of English, it’s easier to understand. And the more you understand, the more confident you will be. Start with sounds. Listen to the sounds of English. Pay special attention to difficult sounds and sound combinations. Listen over and over again until you can distinguish them easily. Next, work on rhythm. Listen to the natural rhythm of the language and practice copying it. Work on stress and intonation patterns. Finally, listen to grammatical structures until they start sounding normal to your ear.
Understanding means you don’t have to “think” as much. When you can recognize grammar and sentence structures as they are coming at you, you can focus on the meaning. Your speaking becomes more automatic, and you start feeling more confident. Fluency is actually a “by-product” of confidence. If you push yourself to be fluent, but still don’t understand what’s going on, you’ll struggle. You might be able to practice your speaking skills, but you’ll get frustrated because you don’t feel confident. Instead of focusing on fluency, focus on understanding. Once you feel like you understand what’s happening, fluency will come easily.
When you understand, your mistakes don’t destroy you. When you make mistakes but understand what you did wrong, you can fix them and move on. But when you struggle with understanding, your mistakes feel catastrophic. You wonder how you could be so stupid, and fear of making another mistake prevents you from speaking at all. Understanding helps you overcome fear of mistakes. Once you understand how English works, mistakes aren’t so intimidating. And once you can accept and even welcome your mistakes, you’ll start feeling confident.
Confidence is quiet. When you don’t struggle to speak English, you won’t feel like you have to prove it to others. You won’t talk loudly and quickly. You will speak calmly and quietly, knowing that you can express what you want to say. To feel confident in English, focus on understanding. When you understand, you’ll be confident. And when you’re confident, nothing can stop you.
