Improving spoken english: 20 tips!

[Cutler4Life]

The following tips helped me improve my spoken English and overcome my hesitation in the language. Hope they are useful for you too.

Don’t worry about making mistakes because you will.

Be patient. This isn’t a one day process.

Learn certain phrases that can be used in multiple situations.

Learn how to greet someone properly.

Talk slowly and carefully. Don’t rush through your sentences.

Restrict yourself to simple sentences until you gain confidence.

Watch out for your pronunciation. Many online tools will tell you how to pronounce a word correctly. Check one of them out when you’re in doubt.

Carefully observe how proficient speakers of the language pronounce words and frame their sentences.

Ask your friends, relatives and anyone you can to point out your mistakes and correct them.

Speak to them in English only. Practice is a must.

Record yourself reading one article aloud every day. Focus on pronunciation, speed, clarity and emphasis.

Many online sites offer you the opportunity to voice chat with another user. This is an effective way to practice.

Learn at least one new word every day and use it as a part of your conversation with people. By the end of the week, you should know seven words really well.

Learn new words everyday

Read at least one article of your choice aloud every day.

Watch English movies with subtitles.

Watch English shows.

Read books and magazines.

Keep a pocket dictionary handy for any word you may need to know the meaning of.

When you hear a new word, try to find its usage and its antonyms.

Best of luck!

[Judhie]

Awesome! I just read the entire list and I'm really glad I did. To be honest, I don't think all of them can be effective for me but I'm sure it will work out for others. For now, the most effective way that helped me that's included in your list is watching English shows and reading books and magazines. It's always the best because I can really remember the words and phrases there that I can use in conversations and apply in my English exams.

[Fabrice]

I've heard that reading books is super helpful in learning english grammar. That's why I decided to read my favourie books in original versions. I will start from Joseph Hellers Catch 22. I wonder how many jokes I missed because of a poor translation to polish!

[LinguaFranka]

Just be aware that reading books can be slightly confusing depending where the author is from. There are many UK words that are spelt and pronounced differently in the USA for instance "Aluminium" in the UK (pronounced Al-yew-min-ee-um), "Aluminum" in the USA (pronounced Al-oo-min-um). There are many other examples too, Google 'how to say tomato in England and the US!  :grin:

[Fabrice]

Oh yeah, good point. I have a friend in USA and I can hear how she pronounce "water", "can't" or "data".

[mleocasas]

I'm a native English speaker, but I know if I tried to read books in the foreign languages I'm currently studying in I'd be super confused! But, that being said, I think it's great that so many people are dedicated enough to struggle through that to grapple with a new language.

For me, when learning Spanish, I spent a lot of time watching Spanish American television and trying to piece together the conversations in context. I think it helped me a lot in understanding the flow of everyday spoken Spanish, and a as my vocabulary and accent improved I was able to speak more naturally because of it. Based on that, I'd recommend anyone learning English to try and be perceptive to conversations in English going on around them, and if there aren't any going on around you, start makin' them happen!

[Medza]

Definitely a very good list, I would just want to say that you should be careful with movies and TV shows because often they will use a certain regional accent and also use local dialect. In particular British TV shows will contain a lot of words that are not used in America, so just be careful with what you're picking up.

[cinderr]

Being old-school or maybe just old, I  still rely on my dictionary. I think I have one in almost every room and I really love them! Faithfully, if I find or hear a word I don't know (and I love that), I immediately look it up! Looked up polyglot tonight for this very site.

This is a good tip--thank you.

[pcgamer]

Sometimes, you just need to keep practicing and be persistent in your approach.

[stutin]

Hello Cutler4life, it is a great huge post about learning spoken English, your effort for sure is counted. Well, I learn my spoken English by listening. For me this language has been ringing in my ears ever since I was a young girl of 5 years. We had many missionaries visit us all the time and hence there presence helped me to learn Spoken English. I think one of the biggest tip in learning any language is 'Listening', this tip works wonders for many, in fact I teach English to Indians here and they learn it while they hear me talk....

[sayitwell]

I advise listening to the radio to improve your spoken english.  Listen to talk shows, not music on the radio.  You can also listen to podcasts online.  The radio never ends so you can listen all day and night.  I also recommend starting conversations with strangers and practicing that way.

[pojokers]

This is a fantastic list. I think it can be used with any language really. I can pick through all of these and improve my French with it. Thanks for sharing.

[kitkat0124]

These tips are really helpful. Learning can be frustrating at times. I guess patience is really a virtue. Although I know that sometimes it's easier said than done. I just noticed that sometimes the subtiles or the translations are different from what it really means.

[Alfonso]

yeah, and this goes for learning any new language.

[mareebaybay]

Learning English is such an easy language to learn. I think English is so easy to learn because it is integrated into a lot of cultures. Compared to my culture where we speak little to no Chinese.

[ashwinr1]

Wow! That is a wonderful post indeed! Thanks for the tips and I hope I can put them into practice. They key thing for me is not to fear the language and speak slowly!

[jodiann12]

Reading books and periodicals in English would also help you to give you feel of the language in written form so that you will feel more comfortable writing it, too.

[LauraM]

Learn at least one new word every day and use it as a part of your conversation with people. By the end of the week, you should know seven words really well.

Learn new words everyday

Keep a pocket dictionary handy for any word you may need to know the meaning of.

When you hear a new word, try to find its usage and its antonyms.

All 20 tips are excellent -- for learning English or any other language --  and collectively they are even more effective as they help you to become immersed and stay immersed.

I singled out these tips in particular because they require an active engagement of one's time and efforts.  Learning words and setting a daily goal is so important.  As you point out, with just one word a day, that's seven words in a week.  In six months, this is more than 180 words!

I always found carrying a small dictionary around and using it on the spot with new and unfamiliar words was very  handy.  These days, we can use our phones and that makes it even more handy and convenient.  I think the daily discipline of looking up words that we encounter and making a conscious effort to learn the meanings is very important. 

[MyDigitalpoint]

Yes Cutler! For sure these tips will help, thanks 

I found in the following quoted key points the main problem to improve my English conversations, and probably what keeps me stuck at the poor spoken English level I am now.

- Don’t worry about making mistakes because you will.

- Talk slowly and carefully. Don’t rush through your sentences.

- Restrict yourself to simple sentences until you gain confidence.

- Watch out for your pronunciation. Many online tools will tell you how to pronounce a word correctly. 

- Record yourself reading one article aloud every day. Focus on pronunciation, speed, clarity and emphasis.