I Can’t Speak English

Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Gold Forest English podcast. My name is Jordan and today I want to talk about the phrase I can't speak English.

I've heard this phrase many, many times in my teaching career and in my life. Students of English will say, I can't speak English, but that's not true.

So let's talk about this phrase, talk about what the problems are, and talk about the better alternatives, what you should say instead of "I can't speak English." The problem with "I can't speak English” is that the meaning in English is, I have zero ability. I have zero English, absolutely nothing, completely zero. And for most students, this is just not true.
You can have some very basic conversation. Maybe you can say your name or where you come from. You can talk about maybe your favorite food. Very basic sentences. This is speaking English. It's not true to say, I can't speak English.
Lots of different cultures, like Japan, have a language element where people will downplay their skills and ability. People will talk about their skills and make them smaller in in English, we've got the adjective humble and humility. This is an adjective to describe people who are not showing off. They don't talk about their skills, that are very big. A humble person makes their skills small, they talk about their skills in a small way. And many cultures, like Japan, have this language element people will make their skills smaller, and it's also present in English. However, a big part of English culture is connected with not being too negative. We don't want to be too negative.
So saying that you have zero English, it feels very, very negative. It feels like I don't want to try and talk to you. I don't want to make any effort for this conversation. I just want want to stop talking. So it can feel like very, very negative and it can stop conversations.

Much better phrases: let's talk about these better phrases. We could use a phrase like:

• My English is basic, but I'm still learning.

• I can understand a little English, but it's difficult.

• I'm still studying English. I'm just a beginner.

• I can speak a little bit, but I need more practice.

• I'm still improving my English.

So all of these phrases are focusing on the positive. I do have have some English skill. I can use some English. Maybe it's small, but I can do it. There's the positive verb. I can speak. I do have, I am studying. I do understand. These are positive verbs. The opposite are the negatives. I can't speak English. I can't do it. I don't know it. These are negative verbs. And in English, we always prefer to use positive verbs when we're talking about our abilities and our skills, it's more positive and it's more showing cooperation. I want to try. I want to make some effort. I'm not just ending the conversation. “I can't do it. Don't talk to me. Goodbye.” That doesn't feel very polite in English. It's not very natural.

So, instead of saying the negative phrases about you can't do it, you don't know it, use positive phrases and you can use words like a little. I can speak a little English. I can speak English, a little. That's very natural, very good, very polite and strong English. That's great. We can also use verbs in the present cont continuous, using ING, the verb ING. So saying things like I am still learning English, I'm still improving my English, still learning, still improving. I'm using the present continuous with ING to say that my studies continue, my studies have not finished, and I'm also using the word still, which gives extra feeling of continuing and not stopping. So these are very positive phrases. I'm still learning English, I'm still practicing, I'm still improving. We can talk about our skills and our studies in the present continuous. This is very polite and it's very positive English.

So native speakers of English will always appreciate and respect people that make some effort and try to speak. Making perfect sentences doesn't matter. It's not a big problem to make mistakes. The important thing is that you try. English speakers will always really respect and value your effort.

So next time you're having problems with your English, don't say these negative phrases. Use positive phrases instead. It's got the same meaning., but it sounds much more natural and it sounds more confident. It shows your ability and it shows that you want to talk. You want to get better. So it's a much better style for you to use.

All right. As always, I have a long blog post on the website, goldforestacademy.com, and in that blog post, I talk about all these different examples, the very good sentences to use and the not so good. sentences to use, the things that you should avoid. And I talk about why they are better. And there's some practice as well, some practice questions. So if you want to know more about this topic or just read the different phrases that I've talked about in this episode, please check out the blog post. I'm sure it will be very helpful for you.

Alright that's it for today's episode. Thank you very much for listening and I'll see you in the next episode. Take care. Goodbye.