Should we delay speaking?

[Wanda Kaishin]

When learning languages, many people prefer to wait for a while before they begin to speak. Some will wait for months or even years. Some will begin speaking (pronouncing/repeating) the language immediately, but wait for a period of time before having a conversation with a native speaker. Some begin talking to native speakers in the first day. Which method do you prefer and why?

[宇崎ちゃん]

When learning a language, I always prefer speaking over anything else so I start speaking from as early as possible.
Speaking is normally what holds people back most, so if you start with it, the rest will automatically become much easier.
Therefore I find it very important to start with that.

However, that doesn't mean I prefer speaking from the very first day.
I would instead go over some basic vocabs and grammar in the first 2 weeks (and if there's a different alphabet, learn that one in the first 2 weeks too), so I can have a decent topic to discuss without being as dependant on dictionaries as if I would only know "hello", "thanks" and "bye" in my target language.

[JasleenKaur]

When learning languages, i always prefer listening then speaking. Because, i believe if any person can understand well they can easily speak. However  his/her speaking is not perfect but they can speak well.

[waynelam8]

I think its better to start speaking as soon as possible when you learn a language

I come from Hong Kong where everyone starts learning English at a very young age. But we had very few speaking opportunity.

So everyone just focuses on reading and writing and at the end, many people cant communicate with foreigners verbally even they have been learning English for many years.

I was a victim of that too. So now when I start learning another new language, Japanese, I will grab every chance to speak.

[tsubasa123]

21 minutes ago, waynelam8 said:

I think its better to start speaking as soon as possible when you learn a language

I come from Hong Kong where everyone starts learning English at a very young age. But we had very few speaking opportunity.

So everyone just focuses on reading and writing and at the end, many people cant communicate with foreigners verbally even they have been learning English for many years.

I was a victim of that too. So now when I start learning another new language, Japanese, I will grab every chance to speak.

agree. if we dont get ourselves used to speaking the new language, we will become too shy to speak the new language even we have chance

[anna3101]

I prefer to wait until I have enough vocabulary. Enough is about as much as it takes to complete simple daily tasks - like ordering coffee or doing groceries.

If I'm at about A2 level, I will try to speak. But not until then. For me, it just doesn't make sense to start earlier because I simply don't know enough grammar and words to construct anything coherent

[Wanda Kaishin]

I'm actually quite amazed by the turn around on this philosophy. 10 years ago most people on the forums would say they prefer to work on their passive skills until they reach a certain level of comfort, and only then begin to speak. The forums were full of people who would wait years before starting to talk.

Back then I was considered to be a bit strange for my early conversation philosophy. I was encouraging people to start conversing early well before Benny became popular. But now I'm pretty average. I start pronouncing and repeating sentences from day 1. I like to have good pronunciation before I start reading much, because reading before you have good pronunciation actually fossilizes bad pronunciation. This is the key to a good accent imo. That being said, I don't start to converse with native speakers until I have a reasonable amount of vocabulary and grammar under my belt. When I start to converse, I go 30 min in L2. So it takes a while to acquire the level to do that; about 2-3 months if I'm studying intensively. I write down all the unknown words/sentences my partner uses, and all the words I wish I'd known during the conversation, or words I forgot, and review them all before I have the next conversation. I try to do this every day, and usually bump it up to 60 min after a month or so. 

[Chris_A]

I think speaking a language out loud when learning, is a really good way to learn a language. As is speaking with other people who know the language and native speakers. Delaying speaking is not a good idea, in my opinion.

[anna3101]

I'd say there's a difference between speaking and just repeating words or saying phrases out loud.

Speaking requires some vocabulary and grammar. I really don't believe in "speaking from day 1", if by speaking we mean an actual normal conversation.

[Wanda Kaishin]

6 hours ago, anna3101 said:

I'd say there's a difference between speaking and just repeating words or saying phrases out loud.

Speaking requires some vocabulary and grammar. I really don't believe in "speaking from day 1", if by speaking we mean an actual normal conversation.

Agreed. I know it's trendy now, but I can't help but feel sorry for the poor native speakers that have to listen to someone with such inadequate skills.