By Dave Mangene
Meet Mark (not his real name). He's Dutch. Smart as a whip. Educated both in good schools and on 'the street'. He's likeable and interesting. This is a guy with his shit together.
When Mark writes to me in English, his grammar is excellent. In fact, it's near-native level. Every once in a blue moon he makes a little mistake but his written English is close to perfect.
But there's a catch.
As good as his written English is, Mark won't actually speak English to me. Which is tough, because I'm his English teacher. But he will not speak it. Not a word. He just refuses.
When I suggest he try, he gets irritated. Yikes. We had our first lesson last week and he spoke Dutch the whole time. I spoke English and he spoke Dutch. My mission is to change that pattern before our ten lessons are finished.
Do you recognize yourself in Mark?
Do you sometimes refuse to speak English?
If you do, you're making the worst mistake you could ever make in the English language. In essence, your mistake is that you won't fight through your fear and make a mistake. Pretty ironic, no?
If you do recognize yourself, here's what I think you should do about it:
Get over yourself, man.
Seriously.
You gotta let go of the illusion of perfection. It's time to be a grown up and allow yourself the luxury of making a mistake.
So stop the drama and stop being stubborn and just start speaking.
It's really that simple.
You do it by asking somebody a question. One little question and let the conversation develop from there. Yes, you will make mistakes. Yes, it will hurt. Making mistakes is painful, but it's a good pain. When it hurts it means you're getting better.
As for Mark, we'll take it one little step at a time. I have faith that he'll find his courage and go for it.
So will you.
~ DAVE
PS - If you want free tips to instantly improve your English, delivered to your inbox every Friday, click here.
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