Do you feel nervous and anxious when speaking on the phone in English?

When somebody calls you in English, you're stuck, you're nervous, because you're not confident speaking on the phone in English.

Or when you have to call somebody, be that for work purposes or for personal purposes, you don't know how to communicate what you want on the phone.

Friends, there is no need to feel nervous or anxious talking on the phone in English!

In this video lesson, I will teach you how to improve your confidence speaking on the phone in English in two situations.

The first being when you are receiving a call from somebody and the second being when you have to call somebody to get something done.

Friends, please note this is not a vocabulary lesson.

These tips will help you speak more confidently on the phone, they will enable you to communicate more effectively while you are on phone calls and enable you to get what you need to get done while you're on the phone.

Friends, before we go through these tips, which you can use to improve your confidence speaking on the phone and enable you to get things done, I would love to hear from you!

Join the discussion in the comments below this video and tell me do you ever speak o the phone in English?

So do you use Skype? Do you use landlines? Do you use your mobile phone? Do you use WhatsApp?

Do you communicate in English on the phone?

Tell me in the comments is it for work purposes, so do you have to talk on the phone for your job or is it for personal purposes?

Maybe you are chatting to friends in English, maybe you are booking an appointment, whatever you're doing, tell us in the comments below this video.

Now friends, I do understand that when you're receiving a phone call from somebody in English, you may be panicking because your level of English is not high enough.

Use these tips to calm down and to communicate better on the phone.

Friends these tips I'll be sharing with you I've used, using my second language. the Croatian language, and they work!

Be positive while we're going through these tips, as I know they will help you to communicate to speak more confidently on the phone.

Let's begin by looking at the first situation, that being when somebody calls you.

Now, before you answer the phone call.

So you hear your phone ringing (bring bring) in the background and you're starting to panic.

Before you even go to answer the phone, what I want you to do is to smile.

Okay, why do I tell you to smile?

Smile and laugh. You want to answer that phone call on a positive note.

As English is your second language and you're probably nervous and anxious because you're not confident using the English language, let alone on the phone.

You want to break the ice, but you need to break the ice with yourself.

The best way to do this is to smile. Smile and laugh a little bit, so that when you answer that phone call, you answer it happy.

You're happy and you will not sound nervous or anxious.

By smiling when answering that phone call, the other person will notice from the tone of your voice,

They will notice that you sound happy, that you sound interesting and they will be willing to talk to you.

Okay, so you're smiling before you answer the phone call, but what next?

You still have some issues in communication.

Friends, while on the phone call don't worry about every single word.

Pay attention to key phrase and key topics, questions that that person is asking you.

Many English speakers when speaking on the phone, they connect words, they speak very fast and maybe a landline or the connections simply cuts out.

Try to pay attention to those words, questions and phrases that person is saying to you.

Now something that I like to do when I'm talking on the phone, is I like to have a piece of paper on hand and I like to write down words or key phrases.

So some important dot points.

Why do I like to do this? And I suggest that you do the same as well.

Because while you are on that telephone call and you may not understand everything.

You're taking notes, so you're organizing your ideas, and towards the end of that phone call, you can ask questions back to that person you're speaking to.

Remember friends, you want to be able to speak confidently, you want to communicate and you want to get stuff done over the phone.

Asking questions back to the speaker is a great way to make sure that you've fully understood what they're saying and that you're doing what you need to do on the phone.

You're getting that stuff done.

So for example, I may be calling my dentist and I don't really understand my dentists accent or they're speaking, they are using strange words,

but I want to make at appointment at 12 p.m. tomorrow.

And the dentist said, "Bla, bla, bla, 12:00" and I'm like, "Huh?" I'm stuck.

But I wrote down 12 o'clock and I will ask a question back to confirm that I've fully understood what that other person was saying.

So I will ask the dentist, or the other person on the line, I'll say, "Okay, just to confirm is the appointment at 12 p.m?"

This way, friends, by asking questions back using those dot points that you've written down, you will avoid miscommunication on the phone and you'll get what you need to get done.

Now what about when you need to call somebody, and you need to get some information, or you need to make an appointment or do something?

In these situations, when you are calling somebody to get something done, I suggest that you plan your phone call before.

You don't have to plan how your whole phone call.

I'm not talking about planning every single sentence or word you're going to say, but write down the questions, the information that you need from that speaker.

So for example, if you're trying to reserve a table at a restaurant, write down, okay, maybe when do you need to go?

"I need to go at 1 p.m. I want to sit by the window. I want xyz."

Whatever you need from that phone call, write those questions down before you even go to make that phone call.

Also friends, if you're nervous before making that phone call, again, smile.

I know this. I've said it a few times, but by you smiling, maybe laughing a little bit, tell yourself a joke in your head before you go to answer or to call somebody in English, you will portray yourself as being happy and interesting on the phone.

This will enable people to listen to you over the phone, but also give you that information that you need.

Now friends, in both situations, be that if you're calling somebody or if you're receiving a phone call, what I want you to do while you're speaking on the phone, is to open your mouth and speak slowly.

Now why do I say this?

English is your second language and when you're on a phone call, there may be some interference, be that because of the network, whatever it is.

But sometimes I can't even understand some native speakers on the phone, because of bad signal!

This really frustrates people, these bad network and signal issues. I know it frustrates me all the time,

but even if I'm on the phone with a native English speaker and we have bad network, bad signal issues, I speak slower. and I speak clearer.

Why? Because I want to get what I need to get done over the phone.

I want my message to go across.

You should be doing the same.

While you're on the phone I suggest that you speak slower, and you open your mouth, so that you are clearly pronouncing words and so that the other person can understand you.

Also you shouldn't be speaking with a soft voice. Speak loud!

Now when I say speak loud, I don't mean shout on the phone. Don't shout while you're in a phone call but speak loud, open your mouth, pronounce words clearly so that the other person can understand you.

A lot of the time when we are in phone calls, there may be other factors which may hinder your communication.

This could be because of bad network, bad signal and this is really frustrating.

But it's even more frustrating when you're on the phone with somebody and they're speaking softly and they're not pronouncing words clearly.

To overcome this, open your mouth! I know you can do it.

Open your mouth and say words clearly, out loud and don't speak very fast.

While you're in that call, you're calling that person because you want to get something done.

By you having prepared before that information you want to ask, you've already done a lot.

You're already smiled, so you've already came to that call on a positive note, but it's not enough to be positive and to be speaking very fast and using a strong accent which the other person can't understand.

Calm down a little bit, speak slower, open your mouth so that you can speak more clearly so that person can understand and so that they can help you!

Friends, I would like to highlight these tips work as I use them on a regular basis.

Use these tips [to] improve your confidence speaking on the phone in English and avoid miscommunication!

Have better and more meaningful phone calls using the English language.

Friends, I would love to hear from you!

Have you used any of these tips? Are you speaking on the phone at the moment and why are you speaking on the phone in English?

Is it for work purposes? Is it for private purposes?

Join the discussion in the comments below in this video.

If you like this video lesson, you'll also love other lessons here on my YouTube channel.

Check out this video lesson here to learn how to speak English like a native English speaker.

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Thanks for being here, thanks for watching and I'll see you in the discussion in the comments below this video.

Bye for now.