BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

You're listening to the Learning English Conversations podcast from BBC Learning English.

We'll have another episode of the English we speak soon.

But today we have a special podcast for you, beating, speaking anxiety,

a podcast to help you fight your fears of speaking English.

We'll hear from learners, speak to experts and give you tips to improve your speaking.

And each week we'll talk about a different fear. Our first episode is called I'm scared of making

mistakes. Do you get anxious when you speak English? You're not alone.

I guess I'd say that my experience speaking English is full of dread and regret. I don't know why,

but I cannot find the courage to speak to someone.

For me, it was very important to be good in English,

and I was like thinking what people will think about me

when I'm speaking wrong way or my pronunciation is not correct.

Imagine that if you are able to sound very intelligent, very wise, very smart in your first language,

but then in the second language, you are not able to do that.

It isn't about perfection and it isn't about necessarily being very fluent.

It's about communicating well.

In this special series from BBC Learning English, we'll be helping you understand speaking anxiety

and improve your confidence in English.

Hello and welcome to beating speaking anxiety.

I'm Georgie, an English teacher and presenter at BBC Learning English.

And I'm Hanan, a bilingual reporter for BBC Arabic and presenter of the Arabic educational series Ders.

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