Beating Speaking Anxiety: 8. I’m scared I can’t be myself
Learning English Conversations
BBC
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 March 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It can be harder to express our personality in a foreign language because we have fewer language tools available and speaking anxiety can make it harder to let our personalities shine.
Learn from experts about this topic and get tips on how to show your true self in English in the last episode of this special series.
Don't forget, you can watch Georgie's explainer videos and see learners of English try different activities to improve their speaking confidence. Find them on our website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/beating_speaking_anxiety
Office English is back for a third series! Search for 'Learning English for Work' in your favourite podcast app, or find the episodes with free transcripts here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/office-english
Our newsletter with our weekly highlights and language learning tips comes out every Wednesday. Make sure you're signed up! https://www.bbc.co.uk/send/u178220599
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.4 | You're listening to the Learning English Conversations podcast from BBC Learning English. |
| 0:11.2 | We'll have another episode of the English we speak soon, but today we're continuing with our special series, beating speaking anxiety, a podcast to help you fight your fears of speaking English. |
| 0:23.1 | This episode is called I'm Scared I Can't Be Myself. Do you think your personality is different |
| 0:29.3 | when you speak English? I was like, whoa, in this language I appear to be really shy. I appear |
| 0:36.8 | to be someone that doesn't know or that is insecure or doesn't have an opinion. |
| 0:40.7 | And I actually have an opinion and have a perspective. |
| 0:44.1 | I am an introvert and I tend to be very self-conscious about what I speak and how I speak. |
| 0:51.1 | The whole situation is such an anxiety-inducing experience. |
| 0:56.4 | It's like you want to tell everyone that I'm actually a cool person, right? It's not like, |
| 1:01.3 | you know, I presented the way I presented it in the second language. |
| 1:09.7 | In today's episode, we're talking about ways you can express your personality in English. |
| 1:22.7 | Hello and welcome to beating speaking anxiety, our special series to help you fight your fears of speaking English. |
| 1:30.9 | I'm Hanan. |
| 1:31.8 | And I'm Georgie. You can find a transcript of this episode to help you learn on our website, BBClearningenglish.com. |
| 1:43.1 | So, we heard from some learners at the start of the program that they sometimes feel like |
| 1:48.0 | they can't be themselves when they speak English. And I also know this feeling from my time |
| 1:52.7 | learning Spanish. I have quite a friendly personality. I enjoy getting to know people, |
| 1:57.4 | but in group conversations, sometimes I'd just be really quiet because I was too |
| 2:01.8 | scared to speak. And I found that so frustrating because I wanted people to know my personality, |
| 2:07.3 | but it's hard when you don't say anything. Well, funny enough, I find myself comfortable and |
| 2:15.0 | confident speaking English, and especially at my job. |
... |
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