Most people aren't even perfect in their native language but for some reason, we think we should be perfect in another one.

Language is for using, not for being perfect. Mistakes make perfect. Keep trying.

"Don't focus on yourself, focus on the results you want to achieve". It's a really good advice

1. "Don't focus on yourself, focus on result that's you want to achieve." 2."English not art to be masterd, English just a tool to use to get result." These are best advice for me to changing my English learning life. Thanks.

"English is not an art to be mastered; it's just a tool to use to get a result." Perfect!

"You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending"

"English today is not an art to be mastered. It's just a tool to use to get a result." Thank you for your sharing. It's really helpful for me

English is not an art to be mastered, it’s a tool to be used . Well said 👏🏻

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your awesome messages! The main reason I wanted to do this talk was to help you and others like you all around the world to feel the confidence you deserve to feel. I know that you've spend years and years studying English at school, and all you really wanted to do was speak, communicate, listen and understand and have others understand you. TED gave me this opportunity to tell you just trust yourself, whatever your level is, because with the right attitude you have what it takes right now. Please feel free to reach out to me if you need more support. Thank you again for watching.

"When speaking, don't focus on yourself, focus on another person" -> Thanks for your advice :)

10:07 "This language belongs to you. It's not an art to master, it's just a tool for you to get the result." Amazinggg!! This idea actually changes my mindset in my journey to learn languages.

I have learned English for 11 years, but now i cannot communicate with ppl fluently. At my school, i were taught only grammar and vocabulary, so my listening and speaking skills were so weak. As I become a freshman at a university specializing in languages, i think that i have to try my best and i'll practice English more. Thanks for your motivating speech. I love this so much!

She is really right. Many people focus on their pronunciation and grammar. They don't focus on the listeners. Languages are to communicate not need to be flawless.

I learned English by myself because I liked it,I didn't care about grammar or being perfect I just talked and talked until I learned it...I'm learning Korean now 😄 trust yourself I'm sure you can do it

From that video i can get conclusion, if someone want to speak English language fluently don’t be afraid to show you language skill and stop worrying about how you sound. It’s okay to make a mistake, it’s makes you better when you learn it

Don't focus on yourself, focus on the person you're having a conversation with. It's not about you, it's about them and the message you want to come across.

This is not about languages; this is about life attitude.

awesome .. "here's the one thing you can do , when you speak, don't focus on yourself , focus on the other person and the result you want to archive"

"Language is not an art to be master,it's a tool to use to get result, that tool belongs to you."..we studied in linguistic that language is a means or tool of communication we express our emotions, feelings, and thoughts through it.

I watched it like 3 years ago... and now, I am learning Japanese, I can say... this video is not about language, it's about confidence.

Schools taught us alphabets TED is teaching us facts

" English is not an art to be mastered ,it's just a tool to use to get results " Thank you so much for this quote !

I can understand everything in the video without translat anything in my mind to my first language I'm so proud 🙏

Iam a non-native English speaker and I am in English learning process. And this is my first video of TED helps me relize that t can fully understand without subtitle ♥️. Thanks a lot.

I am thirty years old. From vietnam. I have been learning english for a long time. i started learning english when i am in high school. But my english was not improved very much. I have ever thought about giving up learning english. Until two years ago, i found the greatest method to learn english. My english is improving every single day. That method is to watch videos and films in english as much as possible. Today i still do not believe that i can say and listen english . that is a miracle for me.

Its important fact: When you speak, don't focus on yourself, focus on the other person and result from you want to achieve.

I'm a Malaysian English-learner, this video is really helpful for me to improve my confident ! Every time I speak English to my friends, I always like"Is my expressions well? Did I have any grammar mistakes?"I just cannot control myself to not be thinking negatively.But after watching this video ,I will definitely change myself to be a more confident . Terima kasih!

No one will judge your English is good or not when you speaking. English is just a tool for communication. Don't be afraid to express.

I am Chinese, the same as most of other chinese students. We have learn English for more than 10 years. But we still can't speak or write Englisn. Because we are afaid of mistakes. Now because of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia, I can't go back to work. I have stay in hometown for 30 days. so I decided to catch this opportunity to improve my English reading and writing skills. Inspired by the Japanese friend, So I try to write down this words in English

She is absolutely right. Fear of being judged don't let people speak their hearts out.

I'm studying english daily, but I need to be more confident when I am speaking.

As a English language learners, this speech encourages us to speak in English with confidence emblem though we make mistakes. Thank you for your speech.

This can be applied to almost anything you want to learn. Don't be afraid of mistakes and have fun learning.

I'm from Indonesia. I learn english since i was in elementary school. I can remember a lot of words, but can't speak well. The teaching method in my school or course don't teach us how to confident to speak and write in english, they teach us how to remember a hundred words in a week and what's the grammars. Till i'm in the last year of high school, i found a course that really teach me how to speak confidently I also learn how to write and speak in english by give comment and watch/ listen something from internet 😂 Sadly, my friends affraid to try. I always ask my friend to practice speak english with me when they told me they wanna improve their english but, we never do it because they too afraid that me or somebody else will judge them. I think this situation not only happen in my circle, I hope people can't stop to feel judged or judging someone who try to learn other leangue. My grandma ever said, you only practice how to speak, it can't kill you, why you being afraid 😂

This is the natural way we need to learn English in the academy. It's hard for a student don't get bored when a teacher's speech is about grammar or theoric. So, I've been grateful to you and this channel.

This gave me lots of confidence. Language is not about perfection, it's about communication and there's no such a thing as right language or wrong, it's all about acceptable or unacceptable.

English today is not an art to be mastered it's just a tool to use to get a result and that tool belongs to you. Love this. Well done!

Okay people, here is a long list of methods I've used to learn any new language. I hope this helps! -text/talk to any chatbot in target language(also helps if you're shy to talk to ppl) -Watch UKpostsrs in target language -read in target language(books, children stories, news, poetry, quotes) -listen to music in target language -have conversation with yourself in target language -change phone language -watch cartoons in target language -watch tv series/ movies in target language -write stories in target language -write songs/poetry in target language -watch podcast in target language -think in target language -pretend to be the first humans to speak language (E.g. look at the clouds and pretend you gave it the name) -play games in target language -associated words with feelings -associate words with pictures in your head -watch daily conversations in target language on youtube -listen to songs in target language -apply target language to hobbies/interests(e.g workout videos in french, guided meditation in Spanish, art DIY with German instructions) -write journal in target language -use analogies -find interview/get to know me questions and answer in target language -exercise to videos in target language -watch tutorial videos of any kind in target language -use captions in target language if available. Good luck!!!

I really love the message of this talk. That being said, I think it's also worth mentioning that there's a segment of the population for whom doing anything they're bad at is very very hard. To use the video game analogy: if they had been playing this game for a while and they keep being bad at it, they will stop because they don't have the capacity or the tools to deal with failure. If your self-worth is *wrongly* tied with what you produce, you will feel terrible being bad at a video game or speaking a language. Unless this is addressed or, at least, acknowledged, no amount of uplifting ted talks will make someone change their attitude towards long-term progress vs. chasing the instant gratification of doing something right this one time.

I once heard a Malaysian kid asking his dad in Malay, "Dad, what does "a" mean?" "It means 'one', son," replied his Dad. I snickered a little to myself at that definition- That's not how we native-English speakers would define it at all! But then I realized that the father's definition was very practical - Unlike English, the Malay language does not have any articles (a, an, the). Defining "a" as "one", however imprecise, was really all his son was needed to get by. It made me realize that languages are just a tool; being practical and functional is much more important than being 100% grammatically correct.

"English is not an art to be mastered; it's just a tool to use to get a result." schools: I will ignore that

As a Malaysian, she express the accurate situation in Malaysia while speaking English, we just scare our grammar is wrong, our accent is weird, and afraid of speaking English. Now I know that I should focus on the results and effectiveness of English communication, Thanks Marianna!

I am from Vietnam. I have listened this speech many many and many times. It is really encouraged me a lot. Thank for giving me motivation to be more confident when speaking a language is not my mother language.

The fact of being successful in something that we are interested in learning implies that we put enough interest and work on it in a way that makes us feel that we can move forward without any problem and knowing how to adapt to any situation that may arise also influences this.

Unfortunately, the IELTS examiners dont feel that way

That's a fact. When I talk to someone without doing something else at the same time, i get nervous, I'm afraid of making mistakes. But whenever i talk to someone while i play, i don't care about my mistakes, i don't care, i just talk and i can see I'm much better at talking when I'm playing than normally.

I'm very high level in English and I'm always confident speaking to native English speakers. Actually, I LOVE it.

she said ''English is not an art to be mastered, it is just a tool to use to result'' that is true I agree. I have been learn English for 10 months I will speak fluency soon InshAllah prayin to me guys

She’s describing Jackson from GOT7...people say it doesn’t matter that he makes mistakes when he’s speaking Korean because his attitude is just “whatever” and he’s not afraid of speaking. He also has no problem getting his point across. I admire that so much and its a goal for me😂

I studied the English language for 12 years during my whole childhood education and still I wasn't able to communicate, let alone write a single coherent sentence. It all changed when I made a friend from the UK and she kind of made me comfortable with speaking English. Before I realized it, I graduated college (Bachelor's Degree) and when I gave my interviews for Software Developer jobs (they are usually held in English), I was speaking more fluently and comfortably than my interviewer which was so surprising for me because even now, I don't know a single grammar rule and yet I can clearly process my thoughts in English. It has become more of an intuitive thing rather than something that I need to study for or something. After realizing all of this, I have decided to start learning Italian and I am going to replicate this whole process again so wish me luck xD PS: I have started providing English content writing services and it's been awesome since then. My clients are usually from English speaking countries and they are happy with what I provide. I never thought I would get so far in English so if you feel stuck, always remember you can do it

"English is not a art to master but a tool to use to get result "...👏real and true meaning of English is clearly explained..quite impressive speech ..

I have been an English teacher here in Brazil for over 20 years, and I have always been very hard on myself. I taught for many years without being fluent. Seeking fluency was one of the biggest demands in my life. Nowadays, I still put a lot of pressure on myself and feel that I am not 100% there yet, even though I understand English well. Sometimes, I berate myself for not remembering many words. This can sometimes trip me up, but I have been trying to overcome it in my life. I hold myself to high standards! However, one of the things that I am most proud of is that wherever I go and even though I am still working on it, I receive nothing but praise.

"your brain ok or not?" very inspirational quote :)

I'm Russian I understood her speech 😅she is so right she is amazing and funny person !

That is so true Marianna Pascal, thank you for your beautiful speech. 6 years ago, I was struggling to learn English, and unfortunately, I didn't have money to study it before. After college, I started studying English, but the pandemic came and I had to change some techniques to keep learning it. So, basically, I put everything in my life into English, it wasn't a problem for not understanding 100%, I was virtually doing my exchange program, focusing only to increase my vocabulary and being in touch with someone in English. The results still coming and I still practice English every day by listening to USA radio, podcasts, music, playing guitar and following the lyrics, and so much more things that I love using English as a tool. I know that I have so much to learn but this is something amazing to keep in touch and learn from different cultures.

I can totally relate to what you say! You just blew my mind! ‘English is not an art to be mastered, it’s just a tool to get a result’, this is so powerful. I need the confidence like Faizal has, and I’ll try to do my best working on it. Thank you for sharing!

I speak 5 native Indian languages. Whilst in the learning process, a lot of people laughed, mocked, even ridiculed me for not using the grammar, the tune, expressions, so on and so forth. But in time within a few years, i was able to interpret, translate and even make business deals with people. And when these once critics saw me doing all well, they're speechless and hiding in pure jealousy. What I'm trying to say is that learning a language is all about mistakes and confidence. And yes, Ma'am just pointed out the importance of focusing on that person whom we're talking to. That added, you'll fare in learning a new language. People will judge you and that's okay. All the best. Thank you for your time reading this.

She's exactly right Communicate with confidence,dont be afraid of being judged

Until recent time I just know that English is language to communicate, but this made me realise how exactly it is a tool. Thank you.

Amazing stage presence and oratory skills…truly shows that she practices what she preaches. She is not afraid to make mistakes when communicating with others (in fact, I didn’t notice a single stutter or mistake in her speaking!), and in turn, her public speaking is immaculate. Amazing presentation❤

I'm Brazilian and I live in the United States, after this video, I will never be afraid to speak english, she's right what is most important is to be understood, the result of what you want to achieve. Thank you for this great video!

I watched from Japan. I hated English because learned academic English. I will learn conversation English from now. Thank you grate video!

Very impressive! I have been learning English since I was 7 years old, yet I'm still really anxious whenever communicating in English. Surprisingly, this speech gives a whole new perspective about speaking and using English. thank u for this precious advice

Also, don't let others bring you down. I went to Ireland and I could communicate well, everyone understood whatever I said. What happened since I came to US? People were so picky with my english and became very insecure about it. Of course it didn't happened with everyone here but it did hurt my speaking progress a bit. Anyway, don't let that stop you!

The higher your level in any language the higher your concern and need to speak it flawless. When you know your level is low you know the other person is not expecting much from you...

Thank you for letting me realize the important things :) I'm Japanese, and I'm abroad in Australia now to study English！ I'm still learning English every day. Recently, I lost my confidence because I sometimes can't understand what the people are saying clearly. Also, I embarrassed when I couldn't say what I'm thing in proper English :( Then, I thought my English level is very very terrible. However, I realized that English is just a tool to communicate, when I watched the video. I realized how nice to communicate in English with foreigners who live in all over the world ！ In the future, I have to totally focus on the person who I'm talking to. Just believe in myself:) Just speak！Have a go！

Totally agreed! I haven't a degree, but I never worry when I'm speak English, just try my best to explain the message to let the others to get what you would like to say, it's very simple. Language is not a chance to judge by the others, it's a tools for communicate, so don't be dread, just show your confidence!

When you speak , don’t focus on yourself Focus on the other person and the result you want to achieve…..

Focus on the person you're speaking to. Focus on clarity. Don't worry too much about the mistakes you've made or you'll make. Treat English like a tool. As long as you can use the tool right, don't worry about mastering it.

I got the point, When u speaking English "don't focus on yourself but focus on listener" *Noted*

Omg! She's read my mind! I've always been afraid to have a conversation in English with others.. I'm afraid of making mistakes like grammar mistakes that might let people notice my actual english level is low..as she said,i always focus on myself for pretending like a English native speaker.. Excellent talk! It's really inspired me a lot! Much appreciated!

What a great speech. Treating language as a tool and not something to master. Focusing on using it, not not trying to mess up. Brilliant! 🔥

English isn’t an art to be mastered, it’s a tool to use to get the result. 👌👌☺️👍👍beautiful

I'm a medical student in Viet Nam. I've studied English since I was 9. But day in and day out, my English level isn't improves. It stuck at a very low level. I'm so shy, extreme fear, and sold on. When I take part in some social activities at my university, I realize that I would improve my English, and I believe I can do it. I try to a lot of methods to do that. And when I watch this video, I really understand what she said, It gives me a lot of movitations, a lot of confidence. I practice every day, listening, speaking, writing, all over the day, all the time. it become my hobbies, it become to a part of me life. I've never been better. Thank you very much

I will definitely share this video to my friends and younger ones who treat me as their older sister. The speaker literally describes me. The moment my brain shutdown I cannot think anymore. I get nervous and anxious as I think people judge me. My english in my mind is almost perfect but I can't even say it loud. I am not Malaysian but still part of SouthEast. Most, if not all teachers, taught us grammar first before speaking and listening. Thank you for this video.

I'm Malaysian, and this is one of inspired speech for me to keep going to using English, because it is a tool. This change my perception towards English.

This is called the Growth Mindset, the focus is on progress rather than perfection 😁 Thanks for sharing!

I love this talk. I agree, learning English should be fun. It’s okay if it’s not perfect. I love English and I learn it not for the perfection, but for the human interaction.

This is the BEST TED TALK EVER on how to learn language. Thanks, Marianna. You really solved one of my biggest challenges that I face while speaking and the ones that bring my confidence down. I watched this talk 4 times in a row to absorb each and every hack that you shared towards the end. I was actually looking for an answer to the question in my head, that was, why in the world do I start feeling nervous at a point into any conversation, no matter who is in front.I unlocked the answer today. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Amazing speech! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about speaking in English. Now it makes me change my attitude towards English a lot. I used to focus on myself too often, which led to a lack of confidence when I spoke with native speakers. Fortunately, just after listening to this video, I learn how to make English as it is interesting and enjoyable, not in the old and forceful way!

One more tip I would like to give off. Don't try to sound like a native speaker if you know that you cannot because if you try so hard, maybe you'll end up making no sense at all. I am not a native speaker and I notice this a lot from me myself. Whenever I communicate with my friends who are natives or whenever I struggle to write an essay or a report, I always want to sound as native as possible. I may want to use a lot of slangs, expressions, idioms, everything that could make me sound like a native speaker. However, after I've finished my talking/text and I reflect/look back at it, I realize that I don't even understand the information that I have given off and I end up re-explaining the idea in simpler language. "Cố quá thành quá cố", an expression in Vietnamese, my mother tongue :), that explains these situations. However, this doesn't mean that you could slack off and not try to improve your English, especially if you're surrounded by an English-native-speaking community like the one I'm in now (and I'm still struggling with my daily conversation in English). So, try your best, try your hardest, but not to hard or you'll end up making no sense.

my problem is that i can understand every thing whene anyone talking but whene i try to talk , i have some difficult ..whos like me ?

From this video I just came to know that English is just a tool to get a result which is just a language that we need to use it. This is crucial to all to communicate in English which helps us to develop our standards in society & to achieve success in every levels of our life. Thanks for this video✨👍

I'm speaking from Campinas, Brazil. I have many difficulties to understand and speaking English. Your explanation was very good. The language English is of whole world, doesn't matter the nation.

ENGLISH IS NOT AN ART TO MASTER BUT A TOOL TO PLAY WITH.

i was learn english about 10 years but until right now. I don't know how to start speak english. I always dread to start and waiting to be a master. But, today I realize I was wrong. English is tool to communicate and focus on other people to get result. I think my english so bad, but in this time I don't want to apologize because I just want to talk with you. Thank you Marianna, this video is very good.

I'm Narita Malaha from Indonesia, thank you for your great video and inspiring high spirits not to give up learning a foreign language easily.👏👏👏🙏👍❤️

I have seen this presentation at least 50 times and still find it so valuable and downright fascinating. There is so much truth in it. Marianna is a brave and smart person! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and ideas with us!

I'm a TED university student in Turkey and I feel under pressure in school because of my teachers. They judge us a lot so I am afraid of to speak english but after this video, I'll try to speak more English. Thank you 💙

As an English professor teaching ESL at the high school level for the first time, well, you just blew my mind with this. You NAILED it!!! I cannot WAIT to share this with my students, and to figure out ways that we, together, can speak English/Spanish like we are playing a video game...Fearlessly and focused on the recipient, not ourselves. My students are practicing English and I'm practicing Spanish and this video, your ideas, are a game-changer. THANK YOU Marianna Pascal!!

loved this quote "English is not an art to be mastered; it is just a tool to use to get a result."

English speaking is so easy to find out how people are speaking and pronunciations by the way it’s hard for those who don’t practice to learn and speak but the most important focus is that we should be careful about what they are saying and what’s the topic did they speaking. Ma’am you’re absolutely right to mostly focusing on other people’s speaking skills.😍😍🙏

*I do speak 5 languages.* And I couldn't help myself from relating to this video on everything she said... While learning all of the languages that I do speak today, I had the same fear she's talking about every single time, but eventually I overcame it. What I did in order to do so was to find my self a friend that was native on that certain language that I was aiming to learn (I found myself using this tactic more than ever especially with English) and just talk to them about anything that came to my mind at the time. In the beginning like any other beginning it was always difficult, but I knew that they wouldn't judge me for trying, so I kept going, until eventually I gained the sufficient confidence and courage to the point that I didn't even cared anymore if I committed any mistakes or not. And from that point on, there is only one way to go, and that's improvement! Turns out I already had the vocabulary and the knowledge but I was lacking the confidence. I made a major improvement in these last few months and the video on my channel is a prove of that, in case any of whom might read this comment want to check how bad my English used to be and compare it to this comment which took me like 3 minutes to write.

Before watching this video, I thought that grammar is very important in English, but I learned that you don't have to worry about only grammar when speaking.

I wanna send you a big thanks! Thank you for your supporting and motivating all of us who are trying to learn English, which not our mother language. I have been learning English since I was 15 and now I'm 26. After more than 10 years of learning but just focusing on grammar and tons types of test, now I fall in love again with English, wanna say thank you so much.

this video helped me understand every word but I still feel that I am not good enough in English and I feel shy talking to people who can speak English better than me but now I will try to be more confident. I agree, learning English should be fun. It's okay if it's not perfect. I love English and I learn it not for perfection, but for human interaction. This video is very good, it helps me to be more enthusiastic about practicing my English. The first point we all apply from this video is that we have to be confident even though we have a low level of English. It's such a helpful speech that makes learning any language so much easier.

Whenever you speak English, don't focus on yourself. Focus on the other person and result that you want to achieve!! The best advice for English learner to obtain confidence! thanks a lot :D

What an encouraging speech. I've been learning Mandarin from about 5 months and was inhibited to speak it with native speakers. Immediately after listening to this talk, I called up two native speakers from China via WeChat and I spoke with them the first time in Mandarin. I did a pretty good job. :)

I really appreciate of what your saying. For many years I have low confidence of speaking English to someone, just because I had fear to judged by someone who more expert than me. My ability to speak English is growing slow.. however I can understood people talk in English is pretty well 🙂

True story. I was teaching a child English and he had to take a speaking test. He spoke maybe 2 words in Enlgish, but I knew exactly what he said. I had to give him low marks for accuracy, but he had some of the highest marks for communication.