10 Tips on how to be confident to speak in English

Scared? People always mocking you? Trouble grammatical errors? Well, don’t worry because you’re not alone :) In this entry, I’m glad to share some tips that I thought might be beneficial to all of you especially for the new English Learner on how to be confident to speak in English.

1.     Try to get out from your comfort zone. What I mean is try to do something that you are not used to become your habits. It’s weird and sometimes could be difficult to listen to English radio because you have to focus on it so you will get what it’s all about. Keep practice until you nailed it.

2.     You can also practice by watching English movies without having subtitles laying at the bottom of the movies. It’s quite difficult at the beginning but trust me, this method really works. Interesting but not too heavy movie like ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ would do.

3.     Like it or not, you have to practice to speak in English regularly. When you know the new words, use it right away so it will stay longer in your memory. At the same time, it can enhance and enrich your vocabulary. 

4.     Everyone is afraid to make grammatical errors. Well, in order for you to be able speak fluently in English, don’t study grammar too much, even native English speakers make grammar mistakes. Fluency is all about being able to communicate well. I don’t simply mean that grammar is not significant, just don’t overthink about it or it will complicate you even more. Remember, always do what you’re afraid to do.

5.     Most important is do not afraid to make mistakes. Yes I know, sometimes it could be difficult to put all those rules that we had learned and words together into simple sentences. Past tense, present continuous tense, past perfect tense, all of that have their own rules. Don’t let the fear of saying something wrong stops you from speaking at all.

6.     Everyone could be your teacher. You can’t only rely on the textbooks to understand grammar and your English teacher to practice speak in English. Anyone who can speaks English well can help you to practice. Find friends that will not underestimate your English level but the ones who will pat your back and say ‘when you need help, you can always come to me’. 

7.     Read, watch and listen to English in many different context. Read more English novels, English cooking books to help you understand better about English. Watch English movies like ‘The Last Song’ and ‘The Best of Me’ so you can learn how to pronounce certain words that you’re not familiar with. Listen to English songs more frequently and if you don’t understand it, look for the lyrics. This way may helps you to develop your senses so you will gain more confident and motivation to speak in English. Nothing you read, watch and listen to is useless.

8.     Find way to increase your vocabulary. A mind full of it will never come to you by simply sitting and doing absolutely nothing. You want it, then you have to work for it.

9.     If you shy and felt intimidated when spoke in front of the audience, you can practise to talk to yourself first. Many people built their self-confidence by talking in front of the mirror because only mirror will not laugh at you when you make mistakes. There’s no pressure to be perfect and the best part is nobody will hear your mistakes.

10.      The key to be able to speak with confident in English is don’t give up, keep yourself educated and never stop learning. If you’re not willing to learn, no one can help you. But if you‘re determine then no one can stop you.

An advice from me, no matter how many mistakes that you make or how slow you progress, remember, you’re always ahead of everyone who isn’t trying :). Mistakes are proof that you are trying. Fall down seven times, stand up eight. Best of luck!

Top 10 challenges in acquiring English

WHY ENGLISH IS SO HARD?

You may find a lone mouse or a house full of mice,

But the plural of house is houses not hice,

The plural of man is always men,

But the plural of pan is never pen. 

If the singular's this and the plural is these,

Should the plural of kiss be ever called keese?

    These days, due to global trend of internationalization, the ability to communicate well in English is needed as an essential skills. It is becoming more prominent because it reflects a person’s personality, self-image, knowledge of the world, ability to reason, skill to express thoughts in real-time. If they nailed the English language successfully, this will simply place them in a better position to secure work or communicate effectively.

     English language is popular around the globe even all walks of life had been using it but this doesn’t necessarily mean it is a simple language to master.There are many challenges that people faced in process of learning and acquiring English. For this entry, i had highlighted 10 top challenges that faced by me in acquiring English. 

1. Encouraging errors.

    People often felt intimidated, embarrassed or judged. The same goes to me. Having those feelings inhibit the new learner like me to feel more comfortable expressing myself in English. 

2. People surrounding.

    Having narrow-minded people around can be tough especially when I am in the process of  acquiring the new things like English. People keeps mocking me when I speak English which sometimes can be very frustrating. Remember, if you can’t give support to someone, then please don’t ever make them down. 

3. Do not have suitable materials.

    It's difficult to find any suitable materials in the market. For example, just a few english novels at the bookstore are suitable for beginner while the rest are for advanced learner. Not to forget, it takes a long time to digest what I have read. Having to repeat all again in order to understand the story better just make my passion flew away.

4. Fail to understand.

    When I attended English class, normally every single English teacher will teach in English. However, not all of what the teachers said I had exactly understand it crystal clear. At last, I just sat at the corner alone and wondering why everyone could talk and understand English better? Why it couldn’t be me?

5. Do not know how to express the ideas.

    Lack of vocabulary is the main problem for the new learner like me. I simply become frustrated when I have an amazing story line but I cannot adequately express it in the sentences in English to make it more interesting. For example, I always use big instead of huge and beautiful rather than gorgeous.

6. Insufficient knowledge.

    I am in a real trouble because I have really poor English grammar and pronunciation. I just don’t understand how it works. Past tense, present tense, when I have to add ‘s’ and when i shouldn’t add ‘s’? Ahh....so complicated:’( Common mistakes that I had always wrote in the past was ‘She cycle in the evening’ when it should be ‘She cycles in the evening’!

7. Having not supportive friend.

    Well, it's hard to find true friends who will always be with you through thick and thin. Living in the city in which everyone spoke in their native language make it impossible for me to speak in English with them. When I spoke in English, they will laughed at me like I just finished tell them the most craziest joke ever.... people are often unreasonable. Forgive them anyway J

8. Do not exposed to the English language.

    It’s like a habits for me, when I switched on the television, I will only watched malay movies. Why bother to burden myself watching English movies when I couldn’t even understand what they said? They spoke in the full speed and the worst part was it’s not clear at all what they had said.

9. Direct translating the mother language.

    Well, living in life lack of vocabulary was hard. It’s when the teachers asked me to make a perfect sentence and I seems cannot find a right word to write it down. How can ‘berat mulut’ i wrote it as ‘heavy mouth’?. Wow, it’s undeniable that my English level at that time was super terrible hahaha.

10. Easy to give up.

     I don’t have strong determination which is needed the most in acquiring English. My level of confidence instantly drops when I meet someone who is better in English. I know that giving up is the key to the failure but I don’t know how i just let it happened.

     Until this very time, I still in the progress to improve my English to make it better from time to time. Although I’m having a tough time facing all of these problems, I know I will be succeed at the end of time. Well, patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet. We just need someone to hold our hands in life’s toughest moments. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for someone’s help. You don’t need to suffer alone….

The new me :)

Hello & good evening everyone! *waving hand*


How's everybody? Hope all of you in the pink of health. Just to let you know that I just attended semester 2 and now I'm writing this in my one and only  foreign language class at TATIUC :). When the new semester comes around it seems like the perfect time for self-improvement. Isn't?


Well, I was only an ordinary girl living in an ordinary world. I'm a romantic person(not what yours thinking) in my own ways. I love to hug people, telling the people around me how much I love them so they know how much I appreciate their present. Sometimes, I found this habits of mine so childish but still I wanted to do it.

Oh, I also love to sleep late at night watching masterchef although I'm not quite good at kitchen and wake up very early in the morning, I don't know how I managed to do that but yeah I still survive till right now.

I have tried everything from being a less talkative to start my homework earlier to give up twitter and instagram. Each time after about a month (at most) I have given up. Why do I even bother? I don’t feel that bad when I break my resolutions but sometimes I wish I could do better.


I will be turning 18 just around the corner (29 nov) and it will be a sign of maturity. Unfortunately, I still live in my old lifestyle. I guess this is the huge turning point in my life to make myself become more noticeable and highlighted in the good ways.


Being a doctor was my childhood dreams. When I saw someone hurt or bleed, I want to be the one who can cure them because I can't simply say no escpecially at their most vulnerable state. I already promised to myself that I will become a great cardiologist. Great cardiologist means I need to give the great effort in everything  I do now if I want to keep that 'great' forever.  I know that I will be facing a lot of difficulties in the future to achieve my dream but I will survive. Yeah, life is not always about sweet and candy right? :)

In this new semester, I know that I will experience a great deal of stress where I have to brilliantly balance my studies and my social life and also have to ensure that i spend a great time with my family. The demands of doing many different things with very little time can be overwhelming. Yes I will be more exhausted because there just does not seems to be enough time in one day. Phew~

Even though I’ve always failed 'my very not ambitious target' every year but I promise myself that this time will be different. There's no more times to play pranks, no more worry about the little thing called love and make fun. I will make sure that i will become more discipline in studying and keep myself clean at most of the time.

Wise word says that fun increase after the real hard work and we will tend to enjoy more than those who had been lazy and wasted their time for useless things.

I will be the new me, full of spontaneity, be courage, more cheerful, update from time to time, be brand new and the most important is will spread the positive vibes only :)

Xoxo, umira.