Beth

It depends on your risk tolerance.

Are you a sprinter or a marathon runner?

The sprinter wins the job interview.

The marathon runner might win the career, but they have to survive the start.

That's the ultimate question, isn't it?

The sources suggest it's not a fixed target anymore.

It's a moving definition.

What if the alphabet keeps changing every three months?

What does it actually mean to be literate?

Are we really learning to read or are we just memorizing the shape of the letters before they vanish?

Absolutely.

Keep swimming.

Yes, I learned 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 6 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 worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Yeah, I'm sure that's a situation lots of people can relate to. Hanan's results on her English assessment were pretty good, but she was still pretty nervous to speak in English, for example when ordering a coffee in English. The modifier pretty means quite or a bit. Georgie says that Hanan's experience is something that lots of people can relate to. If you relate to a situation, you know what it feels like, usually because a similar thing has happened to you.

So lots of people feel nervous speaking another language, even if they're good at it, like Anan. We can call this speaking anxiety. Anxiety means an uncomfortable feeling or worry about something that is happening or could happen in the future.

You might feel confident and intelligent. But when you speak in a new language, you make mistakes and feel less confident. You can't show people what you're really like. And this is frustrating. But as we tell people all the time at BBC Learning English, mistakes are normal. You have to try to speak even though you make mistakes. And mistakes can be a good thing. They can help us learn.

And if you want more tips to improve your speaking, listen to the Beating Speaking Anxiety podcast. There's a link in the notes below this episode. But Beth, I think it's time for the answer to your quiz question. Yes, I asked you how many words does the average English speaker use in daily communication?

Today, we're not just exploring a concept.

We are really wrestling with a dilemma that I think is going to define the future of human freedom.