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Published: Aug. 12, 2015, 3:45 a.m.

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What is the hardest thing about making new friends? Is it the culture? Is it the language barrier? Is it the fear of making a mistake and appearing foolish? The hardest thing is often that first step and taking a chance. In my experience traveling around the world, most people are feeling the same as you. They want to meet you, and speak with you, because they want to learn about other cultures and countries and they also want to practice their language skills.

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The next time you have the opportunity to meet a new individual, and a potential new friend, don\\u2019t be afraid to make the first move and say, \\u201cHello, my name is _______, how are you today?\\u201d You might be surprised at how ready people are to engage in conversation and meet new people as well.

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While on your English language journey, be sure to visit gonaturalenglish.com and grab your free eBook, introduce yourself to your American English teacher, Gabby, and strike up a conversation.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7E1VqhSkxg

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Episode transcript below:

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Hey There! Welcome to Go Natural English.

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How are you doing?

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In this English tip, I\\u2019d like to talk about the topic of making friends with Americans.

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Is it difficult to make friends in the United States or with Americans abroad?

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A lot of English learners really want to make English-speaking friends, especially American English-speaking friends if this is the dialect or the culture that you want to know more about but how do we do it, how do you make American friends, and is it difficult?

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Well, I would say the answer is it just depends how you think about it and how you behave.

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So, yes, it can be very difficult if you are a very shy person or a very doubtful, or timid, or fearful person.

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So, in order to make it easy on you to make great American friendships and to connect with native speakers, you have to change your mindset and you have to change your behavior.

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So, think about how can you be a more positive person.

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Always think positively.

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It\\u2019s easy to make American friends.

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I have a lot of interesting things to talk about, and I have fun with new people I meet.

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These are the kinds of thoughts that you should be thinking if you want to make American friends.

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Now maybe, maybe it might be difficult because there might be cultural differences so how do you make American friends, or where do you make American friends?

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Of course, a lot of people make friends in the workplace.

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Now, I\\u2019m talking about adult English learners, right?

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So, if you\\u2019re in school or in a university, you\\u2019re lucky because it\\u2019s easy to make friends with your classmates, but if you\\u2019re not in a class or you\\u2019re not working, or you don\\u2019t work with native English-speakers, then how do you make friends?

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Well, if you live in an English-speaking country then the best way to make friends is to get involved with an activity \\u2013 a sport, a club, or maybe a religious institution where you are repeating the activity at least once a week so that you see the same people over and over and that way you can establish a connection with those people using English.

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Now, if you don\\u2019t live in an English-speaking country, then use the Internet.

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Use social media or even a language exchange site to meet native speakers, and that way you can also meet repeatedly because a friendship is built over time.

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You have to build trust \\u2013 get to know each other and build rapport.

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So, a friendship doesn\\u2019t happen from just one meeting \\u2013 usually.

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Usually it takes time so just remember to \\u2013 as we say \\u2013 put yourself out there, which means that you need to take action, be proactive.

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You need to be the person to say \\u201chello, how are you\\u201d, \\u201cmy name is Gabby\\u201d, \\u201cI love to learn English\\u201d, I love to travel\\u201d, I love to listen to music\\u201d,'