Why Confidence is the Key to English Fluency (or Any Language)

“Confidence comes from not always being right, but from not fearing to be wrong.”

-Peter T. Mcintyre

Today we’re going to play around with the idea of confidence, which, in my opinion, is at the converging point between language learning, life and self-realization. This is such a deep and complicated topic, but let’s start with the simple definition. According one online dictionary, the meaning of CONFIDENCE is:

“belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance”

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CONFIDENCE IN LANGUAGE AND LIFE

As language, confidence is fundamental to communication, and an important catalyst to the whole process and the enjoyment at every step. As human beings, it transcends and includes the way we communicate, perceive others, and are perceived by them. Confidence is the most tangible expression of who we are.

It defines not only how we express ourselves (in any language), but how we perform at work, how we interact with people, and the vigor with which we pursue our goals and dreams. If it is such a crucial component to success in life and communication, how can we apply this to language learning?

CONFIDENCE VS GRAMMAR IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Where does confidence come from? Does grammar come from confidence or does confidence come from grammar? It’s kind of like the chicken and the egg analogy (which came first, the chicken or the egg?.

I personally think they are equally important, but the problem in English learning (and teaching) is that people tend to ignore the more complicated internal dimension that CONFIDENCE suggests. This is where the great teacher inspires, opening the door to the enthusiasm of more dynamic forms of learning.

Beginners think to themselves: “Someday I’ll learn enough grammar to be able to speak English.” Why? Because they don’t have the confidence to use it now. They are insecure. They’ve learned that fluency will come from understanding the technical aspects of the language. They forget the human element of confidence that can only be realized or developed by finding the courage to open your mouth and make mistakes.

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced learner, perfection isn’t nearly as important as believing in who you are as a human being, and feeling okay with your place in a language learning process. If you feel okay with yourself, people will feel okay with you. This is not a question of your English as much as it is as what you believe about yourself. How do you feel when you speak English?

For me, as a native speaker of English, it’s a lot easier to speak English with a non-native speaker who makes a lot of mistakes in a relaxed, confident manner than it is to speak with someone has perfect grammar but lacks a basic sense of confidence.

CONFIDENCE TRANSCENDS & INCLUDES LANGUAGE

We all intuitively know this. Sometimes we think that the really fluent English speakers simply have a natural ability to learn languages, but if we sit back and observe, we start to realize that a lot of them are just naturally confident people. They have supreme confidence in everything they do, and they have simply applied this to learning a language.  Of course it’s more complicated than this, but confidence can fix a lot of things.

I know the psychological aspect of language learning is a puzzle to many people. I mean, it’s not easy to measure confidence. To diagnose yourself, you need self-awareness, and for most people it’s a deeply personal and complicated process. Although it is hard to teach and even harder to diagnose, you can look into yourself and explore how you can improve your confidence, not just to speak and learn a language more effectively, but to improve your life.

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