Are you scared of speaking English? You're not alone. I am Hanan. And I'm Georgie. And our new series, beating speaking anxiety, helps you fight your fears of speaking English.

Hear from learners and experts and get practical advice about how to improve your

speaking skills. Find beating speaking anxiety on our website, BBClearningEnglish.com.

Six-minute English from BBC learningenglish.com.

Hello and welcome to six-minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Pippa and I'm Beth. Have you ever been scared of speaking in English? In this episode, we're talking about why speaking in a foreign language can be so stressful. So Pippa, do you ever get nervous speaking in a different language?

Yes, I learnt French when I was younger, and I was actually quite good at it, I think,

but I was really nervous when I was speaking French.

How about you?

Yeah, I've always felt like that with Spanish.

I am scared to speak because

I don't want to make mistakes, even though I know it's okay to make mistakes. Well, in this

episode of Six-Minute English, we'll be hearing about how to feel less nervous when you speak

English. And as usual, we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases.

You can practice these with the quiz and worksheets on our website, BBC learning English.com.

But first, I have a question for you, Pippa. So English has around one million words,

but on average, how many words does a typical English speaker use in daily

conversation? Is it A between 2,000 and 3,000, B between 20,000 and 30,000, or C between 200,000 and 300,000? I'm going to say A, 2,000 to 3,000. Okay, well, we will

find out later in the program. Now, Pippa, you said you found it stressful speaking in French,

even though you are quite good at it. Now, someone else who has had this experience is Hanan Razek.

Hanan is a journalist at BBC Arabic

and also host of the podcast beating speaking anxiety.

Here she is telling BBC Learning English presenter Georgie about speaking English.

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