Speak Russian without blocks! How to be confident in your speaking

Do you want a little test? I will read 10 sentences and you will count how many of these sentences are true. How many of these sentences relate to you. When I need to speak, I forget all the words. My accent is very strong. They don't understand me. My grammar is terrible. I make mistakes all the time. You need to know all the words before you start speaking. I sound stupid when I speak Russian. I will never be able to understand the speech, the fast speech of the speakers. I will never be able to speak on complex topics. I will never be able to fully express myself in Russian. I can't speak without mistakes. I don't understand when to say what case. I don't understand when to say what kind of verb and so on. Because of my accent, I may not be liked by someone. And the tenth. What if I say something stupid or offend someone? How? If you have at least two points, we need to talk. In this video, I want to talk about the most popular fears, blocks, which prevent you from starting to speak, which prevent you from starting to enjoy speaking in a foreign language. In this case, in Russian. What is the nature of these fears? And what are the inoculations to get rid of these fears? They will laugh at me. Or fear of condemnation. Probably, this is one of the most insidious reasons. Because it's something that we can't control, on the one hand. And on the other hand, it's something as irrational as possible. And I have three reasons for this. Three arguments. First. If you have ever spoken to a person, to a foreigner, and you spoke to him in your native language, how many times during your conversation did you think that this person was very stupid? How many times did you think, when you spoke to a person in your native language, how many times did you think that, God, what is he talking about? What nonsense! No. I think, probably, this is aiming for zero. I dare to assume that, most likely, you thought, wow, this person learned my language. Wow, this person can speak to me in my language, in Italian, in Spanish, in French, in Chinese, in Japanese. We don't speak English, because a lot of people speak English. And I think Americans and British people are very spoiled. Because they guess that people speak at least a little English. Therefore, we do not speak about English-speaking people now. But just think how cool it is when a foreigner speaks your language. And if you talk to a Russian-speaking person, I assure you, they will be shocked. Why? This is my second argument. In Russian-speaking countries, in Russia, for example, there is one belief, a very popular opinion, that the Russian language is, probably, the most difficult language in the world. Okay, if not the most difficult language in the world, then at least one of the most difficult languages in the world. And, firstly, because in schools children learn Russian from the first grade to the last grade. Therefore, every time for any Russian-speaking person the fact that some foreigners learn Russian and speak Russian freely, calmly, every time this is a reason for a pleasant shock. I see this every time. I saw it for myself. And now in my school every week Russian-speaking speakers come to meetings, to open meetings with students at school and talk. And each of them then says to me, Wow, I did not think that foreigners just speak Russian so well. And no one even thinks about some mistakes, about some problems in the accent. And if it so happens that you make some mistake or you say something funny, say something wrong, believe me, people understand that it may not be very obvious. And they just explain to you. That's it. There is one thing that I am telling you now and that you should remember so that they do not laugh at you. And that's it. This is one thing that you need to remember. There are two words that are very similar, but these words have very different meanings. Write and write. Just do not confuse. This is probably the only situation in which people will laugh at your Russian. But now you know this, and you will not make this mistake correctly. And by the way, even if you say something and it's funny, it's actually good, because it will melt the ice between you and your interlocutor. You will have something to discuss and they will laugh not at you, but they will laugh at you. The second group. My grammar is terrible. I don't know words. I don't know cases. When I speak, everything flies out of my head. What kinds of verbs? No idea. What numbers do you need? What words? I can't speak, because I don't know anything. This is the second very big mistake. Because, obviously, if you watch this video, even if you watch it with English subtitles, but you understand at least part of what I say, it means that you already have a sufficient level, which shows that you know something. If you study on your own, if you can read something and understand something, it already means that you have a sufficient base to start speaking. I really like these videos as an explanation of several levels of complexity, where one concept, for example, from science, is told as for a five-year-old child, as for a teenager, as for a student, as for a scientist, and so on. So, you know that any topic can be told... Oh, yes, another good fear is that I won't be able to speak on complex topics, and that I won't be able to express my thoughts in Russian. So, you know that any topic can be told on several levels of complexity, and any topic can be told in different ways. The meaning will be the same, but the words will be different. Different structures, different approaches. So, even if you think that you don't have enough vocabulary, you can try to describe it easier, you can try to say it easier, and if you are worried about your grammar, seriously, believe me, no one will be upset, and no one will be surprised if you accidentally say another word instead of one word, or vice versa. And you will be understood, re-asked, you will be explained how to say it better, and it will be a win-win. And there is one expression that I really like. The more you do something, the more likely you will do it again, and the less you do something, the more likely you will do it again. And this means that the more often you speak, the more you will speak, and accordingly it will be easier for you to speak. But the less you speak, it means that you will speak even less, and your skill will get worse and worse. Therefore, it is probably better to speak more, even if you do not have perfect grammar. Believe me, your grammar will only get better if you speak more. And the third group is fear, which I was talking about. About mutual understanding, about communication. If you think that the speakers will not understand you because of your accent, for example, or pronunciation, I will give you one way that you can use right now. When you talk to someone, let's say you are an English-speaking person, you ask him, excuse me, do you speak English? If the person says no, then you can ask, hmm, maybe in French, in German, or in what other language do you speak? If the person says no too, and that he speaks only Russian, you can make such a face. Okay, I'm trying to speak to him in Russian. That's it. Now, after this short conversation, you showed that you will do everything possible to speak in Russian, only because your interlocutor speaks only Russian. Your conscience is clear. You can make all the mistakes in the world. But without jokes, you can actually ask to speak slower, clearer, or not so fast. You can speak slower, try to be clearer, not so fast. That's okay. And even if you are not understood, you will be asked again. And as I said, the more you speak, the easier it will be for you to speak later. So if you were asked again, you said it again, that's a plus. And if you are afraid that you don't know what to talk about at all, then there is this video for you. There I talk about the coolest questions for small talk, for acquaintance, and so on. See you later.