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Are YOU the Problem? How to Learn English If You Are Shy

This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 48: Wisdom Wednesday, “What to Do if the Problem Is YOU!”

Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, where you’ll finally get real, native English conversation. Now here are your hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the ‘English Adventurer’ and Gabby Wallace, the ‘Language Angel,’ coming to you from Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to get over your shyness if you’re trying to learn English here in the US and you’re not seeing the improvement that you were expecting.

Hey Gabby. What’s happenin’ (happening)?

Hey Lindsay. Not much. How you doing?

I’m doing great and (uh), I wanna (want to) address (uh) – today we’re gonna (going to) talk a little bit about an interesting issue, a big problem for a lot of students. I’ve had a couple of conversations recently with students who feel really strongly about this problem.

Yeah.

Yeah. And that is (um), some, (you know), some students might be here in the US and, (you know), they’ve actually come here with the number one goal to learn English, but they also have taken with them their personality. Maybe they’re a little bit shy, a little bit passive and there’s nothing wrong with that, that’s okay. But what can students do in this situation because they’re stuck and they’re not approaching people and they’re not actually practicing .

Right. It’s an interesting question because it’s hard to admit that maybe you might be the problem for why your spoken English is not progressing as quickly as you want it to. And I think, Lindsay, you and I have different points of view on this.

So I would say, (you know), it’s okay, be who you are. There are ways that you can practice speaking English on your own. (You know) you can be shy and still improve your spoken English, (like), (you know) immerse yourself through movies, watching TV, through podcasts, so that you’re listening to a lot of English and you’re absorbing all that language, the pronunciation and the vocabulary and everything. And then you could actually practice speaking on your own. (You know) you could read out loud, you could practice having conversations even on your own.

Maybe it sounds a little weird, but you have to practice. And if it’s on your own, that’s fine. If, (you know), if you’re a little shy that might work well for you. You can even record yourself and then listen to yourself. So I say if you’re shy, just embrace yourself, don’t get down on yourself, like ‘Oh, I should go out more, blah, blah, blah.’ Don’t get down on yourself, just keep practicing on your own.

Yeah. I don’t know. I, I would actually come at it from more of a ‘tough love’ perspective, okay. So that means that – listen guys, English is a spoken language. English is a spoken language, so you need to speak. So well, I actually agree with you, definitely with the compassion aspect you need to be who you are, you don’t need to get so upset with yourself. At the same time, you need to push yourself a little bit, because learning a language is kind of an inner journey too. And so it’s an opportunity to push our edges, push ourselves, learn to…

Get out of your comfort zone.

Get out of your comfort zone. It’s, it’s about developing yourself as a person.

Yeah.

:

Okay. So that means what I would say is- speak. Push yourself to speak, but think about the context, where are you gonna (going to) go and speak. Would you rather join a, for example, the Boston Coffee Shop Meetup as opposed to the Boston English Language Meetup where you’re out having a drink and there’s (there are) so many people and you feel intimidated. Maybe you’d rather sit around a small table with five people and practice instead of 25 people in a bar. What’s the context where you’re going to speak? But in the end, go out and speak. Use these materials as supplemental materials, but speak. Practice speaking.

Yeah, I do agree, but I have to say if you are shy, I think you need a little more preparation time to work up your confidence, so if you think that you’re a shy person, use some time, create some space for yourself to practice on your own in the comfort of your own room and get your confidence up so that when you do go in that social situation, you’re ready to use the English that you’ve prepared and practiced on your own.

Yeah. Definitely. And I think, again, in the end, don’t use the feeling that you’re shy or your shyness or whatever embarrassment you have about your own character as an excuse.

Yeah.

For not improving ‘cause (because) you’re here in the US. You’ve come here to improve, and you’ve gotta (got to) improve.

Yeah. Step one, you gotta (got to) admit that YOU might be the problem and then, (you know), take action, take steps to prepare yourself to get out there and speak to real people out in the real world, outside your room.

Absolutely. And we’re here to help you guys with that.

Yeah.

So no worries, no worries.

Awesome.

And good luck.

Yeah, good luck ya’ll (you all).

Ya’ll (you all)?

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