The Effects of Confidence on Language learning

Confidence plays a major role in language learning. In simple terms, the more confident you are the faster you’re able to speak in your target language.

Now let’s imagine this scenario together. There are 2 different students taking the same Egyptian Arabic class. However, there is a huge difference in confidence between those 2 students. One of them is confident and is not afraid of making the inevitable mistakes when he tries to speak Egyptian Arabic.  It’s an inevitable mistake, since there’s absolutely no way to avoid mistakes when speaking a new language.

Worrying too much about being made fun of when speaking a new language or seeming silly in front of people shouldn’t be on your list of worries at all. On the contrary people mostly would be encouraging and praising you for trying to speak their language. This is very true especially in Egypt. if you try to speak Arabic with Egyptians no matter how simple, they would always complement your efforts and will be very happy that you even tried the language yourself.

Now back to the 2 students. One is confident, so that student always puts himself in situations where he needs to use what he knows to communicate. Therefore, automatically gaining more and more experience and practice.

While the less confident, shy student hasn’t practiced at all yet with people. what’s worse is that even during lessons, which is a safe space to learn and practice the less confident student may be worried about pronouncing the words or even speaking at all during class.

Simple asking questions becomes a chore.

My advice to you is, push past your comfort zone and don’t ever be afraid to speak and make mistakes because that’s the process of learning and when you’ve done it long enough. you will reach a point where you are no longer making those mistakes and you’re actually comfortable speaking your target language.

How to gain confidence?

gaining knowledge can always boost your confidence. The more you know about the language, the more confident you become. However, there’s a fine line between just gaining knowledge and actually putting yourself out there and speaking.

there are many people who just focus on gaining knowledge and we all know a couple of those people in out lives. Your friend who can read and write another language really well but sounds like a train wreck when they try to speak. that’s the result of studying and not applying the knowledge gained. Don’t fall into this cycle ever.

Learn it then use it, to confirm it and move on. Then review it, refine it then add to it.

Good luck with your studies

Your favorite Egyptian Arabic teacher MiMo