So now you should have a better idea about how this is connected.

Drinking alcohol lowers people's anxiety. This lowers our filter and we become more relaxed

and comfortable when it comes to speaking. Even if we're speaking a foreign language.

However, there are some serious drawbacks to drinking and learning. Let me give you three.

Number one. Any positive effects you feel alcohol is giving you from speaking is only

temporary, and the last thing you want to do is to rely on alcohol to speak.

Number two. Grammar and pronunciation mistakes that you make while drinking may

become ingrained bad habits that you might continue to make when you become sober.

Number three. Drinking is just not a very healthy activity. And the bottom line is that the

seemingly positive effects that you think you might get from drinking alcohol are not due to

alcohol whatsoever.

They're due to the confidence in your own speaking ability. That means that everything that

you need is already inside you. You just got to let it out.

Here are four ways that you can lower your anxiety to help make you a more confident

speaker.

Number one. Don't expect perfection from yourself. You need to realize that you're going to

make mistakes and that is perfectly okay. It's part of the language learning process.

If you're speaking to somebody and they correct you, then try to keep that in mind and you

move on.

And if you're speaking to somebody and they don't understand you, then you know that's

okay as well. It's going to happen. Just try to express your thoughts or your ideas in a

different way.

Number two. Don't let your nervousness make you even more nervous. Try to channel any

nervousness into another emotion like excitement. Because every time that you speak, (you know) you're getting to practice. You're getting to use the language because that's how you improve and continue learning.

Number three. Avoid translating all of your thoughts. Don't try to think of every single little word that you want to say before you actually speak. Just (you know) think of kind of the idea of what you want to say, that's perfectly fine, but then just try and say it. And let it come out naturally and unrehearsed.

Number four. Identify what you think makes you anxious. Because when you have a clear understanding of what makes you anxious, then you have a better chance of reducing anxiety.

So what you can do is just take a journal. You can write this information down and then go back and reflect on why it's making you anxious and then it will help you in the future reduce that anxiety.