Roba English Podcast Ep. 4: How to Gain Confidence Speaking in English

英語の後に日本語が続きます！

Are you an English learner? I'm glad you landed on my channel!

My name is Roba and I'm from the UK.

This podcast is perfect for those who want to learn British English and who want to do it the natural way - by listening to natural, native speakers!

I live in Japan and I've been an educator since 2018 and I'm fascinated by languages. I'm a native English speaker and I'm fluent in Japanese, and I'm learning French and German! Learning languages is all about meeting new people and in learning Japanese, my life has changed in so many ways, so I started this podcast because I used Japanese podcasts for learning and I found them incredibly helpful.

This episode is about how to gain confidence in speaking English.

It's also a chance for you to contact me! Please comment below or send me an email! Please let me know in the comments about the channel and what you would like to hear about next. —------------------------------------------

みなさん、こんにちは！自然な英語を聞きながら英語を勉強したいですか。私のチャンネルへようこそ！ イギリス出身のロバです。

英語圏の自然な英語で、異文化や僕の経験など、面白い内容を楽しみながら英語力を身につけたいという方にとって、このポッドキャストはぴったりの内容になっています。

２０１９年から日本に住んでおり、その時からも教育業界で働いています。外国語がめちゃくちゃ面白いだと思い、日本語ももちろん、フランス語とドイツ語も独学で勉強しています。だからこそ、言語学習の大変さの溝と楽しみの波をよく理解できますし、そのポッドキャストを作ることで、みなさんとその経験を共有したいと思っています。

僕は日本語を勉強し始めた時に僕と違う背景の人に会いながら楽しく話すというモチベーションで勉強し、日本語のポッドキャストをよく聞き、人生が変わった実感があったので、僕と同じような道を歩んでいる人の役に立ちたいと思い、このチャンネルを始めるようになりました。

今回のエピソードでは、英語を話せる自信をどうやってつければいいのかをお話します。

リスナーのみなさんと繋がれるのを楽しみにしています！　コメントでもメールでもご連絡をお待ちしております。ご意見や感想を共有してもらえれば一緒にこのチャンネルをより良いものにしていきましょう！ 宜しくお願いします

Contact: [e-mail]

Find the transcript for this episode here!!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
[Music]

(00:14):
Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Roba English Podcast. The time is
9:25 on the 3rd of August 2025. Thank you to everybody who has subscribed and
thank you to everybody who has sent me messages. They're much appreciated. I do

(00:37):
read them... and yes, thank you, keep them coming please. They're making a big
difference to the podcast. Today I kind of I wanted to speak about how to
begin confidence in speaking your second language. I'm learning French right now.

(00:59):
I'm very beginner but I still...I'm remembering the time when I was learning
Japanese and it was really difficult and terrifying to speak Japanese in front
of other people. I remember clearly the first time I went to a language exchange.

(01:24):
What is a language exchange? A language exchange is when two groups of people
want to learn each other's language so a group of English speakers and a
group of Japanese speakers come together and they each pair and speak each

(01:45):
other's language for practice. The first time I joined this I was still
very beginner and I was recommended to go to a language exchange by my friends.
On the day I was waiting at the station for my friends so that we could go to

(02:06):
the language exchange, but they never showed up. They said they couldn't go and they
cancelled and I had to go by myself and I remember being absolutely terrified to
go to a place to speak a second language. I almost didn't go. I almost turned

(02:32):
around and went straight home because I was so terrified of speaking. I guess
because speaking is a performance you have to get it right otherwise your
partner won't understand you and what happens if your partner doesn't

(02:53):
understand you? It's quite scary and so well for some people it's scary for some
people they're very confident and they don't mind speaking their second
language in front of other people but for some especially me it's quite
terrifying and so now I'm used to it and I'm going to share with you a few

(03:17):
techniques that I used in order to make it more comfortable to speak my second
language. So thanks for listening and here we go.

Okay, so the first technique that I think is really important is (03:32):
that you have to
speak every day. Now it doesn't matter really for how long. Don't make it really long

(03:58):
because if you have to speak for one hour every day then you won't stick to it.
You'll do it one day; you won't do it the next day; you'll do it the next day or, you
know, it's not consistent and so if it's ten minutes every day that's perfect.

(04:21):
Ten minutes every day will just get you in a routine of talking. Now the best is
if you talk to a real person in real life, but obviously everybody is busy and
so even if it's online for ten minutes every day speaking to somebody, perfect.

(04:45):
If it's a teacher or a tutor who can grade your language, great. That will really help
you improve your English and just get you used to speaking every day. I had a friend
who used this method he did it online every day just for I think maybe half an

(05:06):
hour during his lunch break and he is extremely fluent and so I'm sure you also can
do the same as what he did and just it doesn't even require preparation very much
preparation at all. Just continue to do it every day I think that's the most

(05:32):
important thing. I think the second thing that we need to overcome the fear of
speaking is just going from being very nervous and then going straight into a
language exchange or a very social situation is probably not the best. It's

(05:59):
quite scary and so we need to prepare our mind and our voice before we go into
these situations. So what I used to do I used to do it before interviews I used to
do it before language exchange I did a lot of shadowing. I did maybe about one

(06:26):
hour of shadowing before stressful social situations in Japanese and that gets
your mouth warmed up and it gets your brain thinking in your second language. Now
What is shadowing? Well, briefly, shadowing is... you are listening to native

(06:54):
speech and, whether it's a podcast or if it's an interview on YouTube, you
you take a native speaker and you try to copy them as you're watching and
listening. It's really good for getting your brain and your mouth linked together

(07:20):
and so when you're trying to find words it's easier. I found it was good for
making my brain work before using my second language. I'm not very good at switching
from English to Japanese or to French or whatever I'm not good at switching and

(07:41):
so shadowing was a great way of putting my mind into the language I wanted to
use. So shadowing I might do another video on it...I might do another podcast on it
because I think it's very important for people who are trying to learn their

(08:05):
second language. Point number three I think is to join groups which are in the
language you want to learn, but are not specifically about language learning.
For example, if you are nervous about joining language exchange groups and you

(08:27):
want to learn English, then join other groups, other circles of people like
running or if you like cooking or reading, join other groups who are using the
language you want to learn. And that takes the pressure off you. You don't have

(08:50):
to perform. You're doing an activity with other people and everybody has a
shared interest and so everybody will help you try to learn your second language or
your third language. English. So that was really good when I was doing Japanese.

(09:15):
The Language Exchange Group that I was at. We did Takoyaki. We were basically
had a cooking class, Takoyaki cooking class and we made lots of food and we were
all interacting in Japanese and in English. It was fun you know you weren't

(09:37):
just sitting and trying to make conversation and it happened naturally. So
that's my recommendation I think. Okay now the last point I think is very
important and it's probabl... probably the one that I use the most I guess even

(10:00):
now I use it and I think it's very helpful for you to think like this. The
point is now is the only time that you have. Don't put things off. Don't say I'll do it
tomorrow. Don't say I'll do it next week. Don't say I don't have time. You have to do it

(10:27):
now. If there's a place you want to join... there's a Language Exchange you want to join
but you're a little nervous; you have to just think that now is the only time
that you have to do it. Tomorrow is too late. Next week is too late. It has to be

(10:49):
done now. Remember to make a comfortable environment for yourself to learn and
so if you think about now being the only time that you have, you'll find it will

(11:11):
give you motivation I think or it gives me motivation to do things that I find
a little scary. Because if I don't do them now I will miss the chance to do them
later. I think that's a great motivator for language learning is that you

(11:33):
have to do things now because it takes a long time to learn a language and
fluently. It takes a long time to get to fluency. If you keep putting things
off and you don't study now or you don't speak to your friends now in English or

(11:58):
you keep putting things off, you will always delay that time when English
becomes easy and you will enjoy using English. I think that's probably the most

(12:19):
important point for me is just to do things now. If you want to do it now don't
wait around. Make the time. Easier said than done, but I think it's terrifically
important. I think if you use these four techniques then it will be easier for you

(12:42):
to speak in front of other people in your second language. Obviously it... it
depends a lot on your personality some people who are very extrovert who like
talking to people, they naturally can pick languages up I think better than

(13:06):
perhaps introverts can. Not to say introverts cannot learn language to very high
levels but I think it's easier or less stressful for them than introverts. I'm an
introvert and I do find social situations sometimes stressful but I know it's

(13:28):
important for good communication and good communication is language learners
goal. That gives me the motivation to keep doing the things that I'm doing
and going to social situations. So if you have any other techniques that you have

(13:50):
worked for you or worked for your friends, then please either leave them in the
comments below or let me know. I do like hearing from listeners and I too like
hearing from you and so please let me know what you think. I look forward to
hearing from you.

(14:24):
Thanks guys for listening to another episode of Roba English Podcast that was
just a few techniques you can use if you are not feeling so confident about
speaking in your second language. Now for me it did take time to get over the

(14:46):
fear of speaking my second language, Japanese. I need lots of practice. The best
thing for me was to think of now as the best chance for doing things and the best
chance to improve myself. I also tried to create a very comfortable environment for

(15:11):
me to speak Japanese. I used to speak to... or I speak to my parents-in-law a lot; I
spent lots of time with the same family members; I spent a lot of time with my
wife and I speak a lot of Japanese with very familiar people and friends.

(15:32):
That makes it a lot easier to speak to strangers or to go to parties or to you
know speak to people you don't know. Just enjoy the journey and you'll be
able to see yourself overcome that fear a little bit by a little bit. Thanks

(15:57):
for listening guys and I'll see you in the next podcast. Cheers
[ Music ]

(16:21):
(gentle music)