In our Facebook Live session today, I shared six things to avoid doing when you speak English. The first one is to stop apologising for your “bad” English:
“I’m sorry for my bad English.”
“I’m sorry if I make grammar mistakes.”
“I’m sorry if my English is poor.”
Just don’t do this — especially at the beginning of a presentation!
You do not need to apologise when you haven’t done a mistake.
I understand that you may say this because you don’t want people to judge you. You’re setting up their expectations so you can avoid being criticised or laughed at.
But this shows a lack of confidence and a fear of judgment. The beginning of a speech or presentation should be positive and energetic, not negative and fearful.
So instead of apologising, start with a smile and an awesome introduction! You can do this!
Here are the six things you should avoid doing when you speak English:
- Apologising for your “bad” English
- Speaking too fast
- Rambling
- Mumbling
- Using too many “ums”
- Using the same filler words too many times!
Watch the replay of the session here to find out how you can avoid doing them and what you should do instead!
You can also listen to this session on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.
