Why You re So Slow to Answer in English

What can I get for you today? I, uh, would like... If that kind of moment happens to you when you want to speak English, the problem is probably not your English. You're just taking too long to respond. And the good news? You can fix that. In today's video, guys, I'll show you three ways to answer faster in English so you can start speaking sooner and, most importantly, so you can become a confident English speaker and you can be relaxed in real conversations. Let me tell you something. Fast speaking doesn't come from knowing more. It comes from using what you already know quickly. Hi, guys. Thank you so much for watching Wanna Speak by Veronique. My name is Veronika. I am originally from Poland. I speak three languages fluently, Polish, English, and Spanish. I'm a digital nomad, meaning I travel full-time and I live out of one suitcase. On this channel, we learn smarter, not harder, and we learn how to live in English. Let's have a look at the first reason this happens. The problem is that you take too long to respond. A lot of people do something like this. Someone asks them a question and instead of starting, they stay silent and try to build the whole sentence in their heads. To us, non-native English speakers, that feels safer because we want to be prepared. We don't want to make any mistakes, right? But it makes us slower and I want you to know that you are not alone. I also faced all these problems myself. I come from Eastern Europe, so I really do get your struggle. But I also found solutions. I discovered that in real conversations, you don't need to have a prepared, long, complex sentence first. You just need a simple, simple way to begin. So the solution I found personally is to use a fast starter. Here you can see the phrases that helped me get started. So instead of waiting for a beautiful sentence to appear in my head, I trained my brain to begin with these simple words. So let's say somebody's asking you, how was your weekend? And instead of building this very complex sentence with like heavy grammar, I start with one of these phrases. For example, actually, you know, I had a pretty good time or honestly, I didn't feel very well. I was kind of sick and I just stayed home. Pay attention to my grammar. I don't use any complex grammar. I simply used past simple. Don't get me wrong, complex grammar is cool, but not when your brain is loading and loading and freezing and your mind goes blank. You can start with something simple and then you're gonna build momentum over time. And you know the vibe. Once you begin, it's much easier to keep going. It simply starts flowing. It's the same when I record YouTube videos. At the beginning, sometimes I feel super stiff. At the end of my videos, I'm more relaxed. The ideas flow. Because the most difficult moment is to start and warm up your muscles and your brain. Another huge reason people get stuck is because they try to say too much at once. I know that you have a brilliant complex idea in your head and you are thinking about it in your native language and then you start translating and then you try to say all that in English in one go. And this is just too much pressure. That's why the solution is to break this idea into pieces. A tangible example. Somebody asks you why are you learning English? Instead of saying I'm learning English because I want to improve my future opportunities and feel more confident when I travel and speak with people from other countries, you say knowing English gives me a lot of professional opportunities. And the other person is gonna ask you, oh what do you do for a living? It's more natural. Instead of sounding like a monologue, it's gonna be more of a dialogue. Guys, to be completely honest with you, I needed to learn this the hard way and it was very embarrassing. When I first started to speak English, I was terrified of speaking but because it was some kind of like a stress response, when somebody asked me something, I was talking for five minutes and like I just couldn't stop. I'm telling you this so you can avoid this embarrassing mistake. When somebody asks you a question, of course you answer but you don't flood the other person with all of your ideas. In a minute, I'm gonna ask you some questions and we're gonna practice that. But meanwhile, I have another cheat tip for you. You need to train your brain to keep things practical and usable, like straight to the point. So next time you're in a conversation, try to divide your big idea into three short parts. Here I have one more personal example. Actually, it's pretty embarrassing. Anyway, maybe I'm just gonna edit it and cut it out. So when I started this YouTube channel, I had so many ideas that I wanted to say everything in one video and I really needed to master this skill to keep things practical. And sometimes I still struggle with like not talking too much about something or like not going so deep into some topic, especially for my second channel Authentica by Veronica, where I talk about relationships, anxiety, emotions. So I want to show you guys that this is a journey. It's not that we're gonna shift every speaking habit in a blink of an eye. The third reason you can't answer fast? You learn the correct English, not the real replies. What do I mean by that? Am I saying that your answers are not correct? Most probably they are correct. But you are learning in a way that's slowing you down. And it's not your fault. You were trained to learn this way. So most probably you open a textbook and you try to memorize 20 words at a time without any context. Most probably you do exercises, you read, you write, and maybe you even shadow some native speakers, meaning you copy native speakers and you improve your pronunciation. And that helps you with your English in general. But pay attention to this. You never train real responses about yourself, about your life. So can you feel the vibe? These are two completely different skills. You study English, but you don't train yourself to produce it. The ultimate solution, guys, one of my favorite techniques. Practice real replies with voice notes. So you're gonna grab your cell phone, all right? You're gonna open WhatsApp or Facebook or whatever platform you're using, and you're gonna go to voice notes. Or simply, you're gonna open your camera and you're gonna record only your voice. Of course, you can record your face, if you like that. But the voice is the most important thing. And you're gonna answer the following questions with just one sentence. Actually, as I promised, we're gonna do it together. So the first question is, how was your day? All right? No writing, no preparation. You just hit record. I hope you have your cell phone together with me. I'm hitting record on my camera. Actually, it's been pretty good so far. I had breakfast with my boyfriend and now I'm recording a video. That's it. Now your turn. Pause this video if you want and record yourself during eight seconds, six seconds, no more. The next question, what did you eat today? Hit record. So today I had scrambled eggs for breakfast and avocado toast together with my coffee with milk. You see, sometimes when I have to speak fast, some um or om slips. But that's fine. That's normal, that's natural, that's human. Next question, what are your plans this weekend? No thinking, no writing, record. It's actually Sunday and the whole weekend I've been working. I'm working right now and I'm really happy about that. That's it. This response was seven seconds. The next question is where you can dive a bit deeper. Okay, give me a few details but not too many. What's something you're trying to improve right now? No preparation, I hit record. So right now I try to improve my communication skills because that's my job and at the same time I work with clients, I coach clients both in language learning field and in mental health field. That's why I always try to master these two skills. This answer was a bit longer because it was more personal, right? It's not like what did you eat today but it's more about the skills. If a question itself is more of a complex idea, give yourself two seconds to think. My point is be kind to yourself. Okay, we are human beings, we are not robots. Thank God we are not like some sort of chat GPT. Okay, sometimes we get nervous, we get stressed out, and there is a lot of pressure when we speak with native speakers in business meetings, even when we travel, right? This is totally normal, totally human to think longer than you want yourself to think. But with the help of these techniques from this video you can get better and better while being kind to yourself. So at the end I have a very practical challenge for you. I want you to grab your cell phone every single day and prepare yourself, you yourself, one question a day. You can use some of the questions we did today or any question that's going to be relevant, then you hit record and you answer. That's it. Actually the whole practice is less than one minute but it's going to make you more confident because practice makes progress. The more you practice in a safe space, in the comfort of your own bedroom, the better you are in real conversations. Okay guys, thank you so much for watching this video. Let me know in the comments your thoughts, your opinions, your reflections. If you have the same fears or the same blocks as I did in the past, let me know. Next week I'm gonna be opening four coaching spots. I'm gonna accept only four people from this whole YouTube channel to work with me on one-on-one sessions where we're gonna look at your case personally. I'm gonna give you tips that I don't give on YouTube and I'm gonna train you to become a confident English speaker. So if you are excited for that, next week you're gonna be able to sign up. Let's keep our fingers crossed because I'm waiting for Stripe, the payment platform, to review my application. Okay guys, take care. You got this. I believe in you. See you next week in my next video. Bye!