TRANSCRIPT
You know what time it is? Come on. It’s story time. Hey, I said it story time. All right? Now I told you all, I promised you that I tell you a story about my experience. Now, I told you all the last secret was confidence comes before fluency, right? I told you that when I was studying Korean, I was studying so many books, but I still sounded awkward.
But eventually I understood the secret and I started paying attention in real situations. So when I lived in Korea for that 10 year period. I was speaking Korean fluently. My Korean had really improved, but now I’m in America, right? So I came back to America about, hmm. Uh, it’s been a while, and after being home for a year, one of my closest friends, she was going to get married, so I had to fly back to Korea.
So there was this one year period where I had not been around any Koreans. I was not speaking Korean on a regular basis anymore. So even though I was fluent when I was in South Korea, when I came back to America for that full year, I was speaking in English. So you, as you naturally think, yes, I was probably a little bit nervous and you would be correct.
So I remember getting on the flight to fly back to Korea, excited about my friend’s wedding. I was really excited and on my way to Korea, I realized, hey, there are certain people that I need to see, not just that friend. So when I arrived in Korea, I texted some of my other friends saying, Hey, I’ll be in Korea.
Let’s meet up, let’s hang out a little bit. And one of the individuals I texted was one of my favorite on only is like older sister. She actually helped me with my thesis when I was writing my thesis in Korea. So I really, really love her. I really care about her and I really wanted to see her. So I messaged her and said, Hey, I’ll be in Korea.
Let’s meet up for lunch. Now we’re texting, right? You all know sometimes it’s easier to write in English than speak, right? So up until that point, everything was fine. I could type, if I forgot a word, I could look it up really quickly and I was fine texting her in Korean. So we met up and we went to a restaurant in Korea, and the restaurant had really good food.
So we said, Hey, and again, Alden Korean. But again. The introductions and saying the greetings are very simple, right? Even in English, Hey, how are you? So we sat down to eat and we ordered our food, and so we started to have a conversation, the back and forth. Now again, I hadn’t spoken Corina in about a year.
Just simple things, you know, via text and sometimes on the phone periodically. So my friend was telling me about things that were going on in her life, and my understanding was fine. Listening skills were good, but again, I had to go back and forth. I had to respond. But remember I said I’m very close to her.
I really care about her, and I’m very around her, so I feel confident whenever I speak to her in Korean. I’m never shy or nervous. So the conversation was flowing very well. I wasn’t even noticing it because again, I was so comfortable around her. I didn’t feel insecure at all about my Korean speaking ability.
So we’re talking and she stopped and she said, TIFF, again, all in Korean, your Korean is still good, but you’ve been gone for a year. And I paused and I said, oh. I guess it is. But then I realized it’s because of you. I said, I’m comfortable around you. I feel confident around you. So everything I learned, all the Korean words and expressions came back to my mind and I was able to speak Korean fluently because I felt confident around her.
She smiled and said, oh, that’s good. And we continued on with our conversation, but I never forgot that situation. I never forgot what happened because again, I had been gone for a full year, but because I felt confident around her, I was comfortable with her. The Korean naturally flowed. So I’m telling you this story because I want to encourage you.
Confidence comes before fluency. When you are comfortable around someone, you’ll be able to speak English fluently. It’ll come out more naturally. I’ve seen it happen over and over with my personal students. Students in the past. Even students now, they just naturally start speaking English because they’re comfortable with me and their confidence improves.
So I want you to think whenever you’re speaking in English, if you start feeling a little bit insecure, a little bit nervous, stop, say, wait a minute. I can do this. I can do this. I’m intelligent, I’m amazing. I’m learning another language. And watch your confidence improve and the English will start to flow just a bit better.
Because remember, confidence comes before fluency. I really hope this story encourages you. I’ve been where you are and I know the importance of being confident in yourself. Alright, I will see you next time. Have a wonderful day, have a wonderful week, and as always, remember to speak English.