How do you feel about making mistakes in English?

30 May 2025 · 1 min

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Short excerpt from a YouTube video by Hadar Shemesh ("How do you feel about making mistakes in English?", May 30, 2025). The speaker reassures language learners that making mistakes when speaking a second or third language is normal and not grounds for judgement; fearing mistakes creates stress, which can itself cause more mistakes (a self-fulfilling prophecy).

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People will not judge you if you make a mistake. If they do, that is their problem. I always say let them take it to their therapist. It's not your problem. You speak in a second language, a third language. You are entitled to make mistakes. So I don't want you to be afraid of mistakes. And when you have the belief that people are going to think that I'm not intelligent, you're actually telling yourself that mistakes are bad. And just thinking that might create so much stress. And that stress alone may cause you to get stuck and make mistakes. So it's kind of like a self fulfilling prophecy.