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Do you pause to think a lot when speaking English? /
Is there a lot of silence when you speak English?
Do you pause to think a lot when speaking English? /
Is there a lot of silence when you speak English?
This is common for native speakers too, as can be seen in the number of phrases that serve the purpose of filling silence when they need thinking time like “Let me think” and “If you ask me, I’d say that…”. The first priority is therefore to learn and use a range of such phrases so you can fill silence without often repeating the same phrases and the same sounds.
If you have some idea of what you might have to speak in English about, it can also help to speak about it beforehand, even if it is just on your own. For example, if the next person you meet is likely to talk about the Olympics or the economy, try roleplaying a typical conversation on that topic. It is best to do this out loud, but doing it silently in your head can also be of some use. If you have no idea what you might speak about, it is still useful to get yourself warmed up beforehand (see below).
Does it take you a while to warm up when speaking English?
Does it take you a while to warm up when speaking English?
The best tactic is obviously to spend some time speaking English before your English-language meeting, before your English lesson, etc. Talking about the same topics that you will talk about later is useful for the situation above, but for a warm up it is perhaps even more useful to speak about something really easy like what happened yesterday evening. If you don’t have anyone to chat to about this and/ or can’t speak out loud, you can talk to yourself (including silently in your head). Online chat is also a good second best to a real conversation, as it’s quite similar to speaking in terms of speed and level of fluency. If you don’t have anyone to do this with, you can write both sides of the conversation yourself or chat with AI.
Do you feel that you don't have good English fluency?
Do you feel that you don't have good English fluency?
As described above, the most important tip is to fill all silence. If the reason for speaking slowly and/ or with lots of pauses is because you get stuck on particular words and/ or are trying to translate from your own language, you should try to learn English only through English. This will help you become accustomed to not translating. You’ll also need to look up and write definitions in English, which provides a good model of and practice of “talking around” words that you don’t know when you’re speaking.
The tips above on warming up can also help with fluency.
Do you feel that you can't speak English well when you are tired?
Do you feel that you can't speak English well when you are tired?
This is also seen in people’s first languages, where they tend to mix up words etc when their brain isn’t working properly due to lack of sleep, the time of day, drunkenness, etc. If possible, you should try to be less tired when you have to speak English, for example by taking a speaking exam in the morning, avoiding large meals before speaking, getting plenty of coffee before English lessons, and avoiding online lessons when you’ve just got out of bed (and indeed near your bed). If it is speaking English which is making you tired, you could add breaks, or just practise speaking for longer and longer in English each time until you’ve got used to the length of time of a typical meeting, a typical lesson, a typical presentation, etc.
Do you make mistakes when speaking English that you don't make when writing,
or don't have problems with when writing?
Do you make mistakes when speaking English that you don't make when writing,
or don't have problems with when writing?
This is natural, as even native speakers suffer from slips of the tongue, sentences that don’t quite fit together, etc while they are speaking at natural speed. Accuracy is also often not the most important thing to improve in people’s speaking, even when they think it is. However, if accuracy really is your main priority, useful tips include trying to work on one mistake at a time (spending one week trying to use relative clauses correctly, etc), recording yourself to spot the mistakes and then speaking about the same thing again, and writing about the same topics as you will soon need to speak about (e.g. writing about last weekend if your teacher will probably ask you about that).
Do you have trouble getting a chance to speak in conversations?
(The other people speak much more than I do.)
Do you have trouble getting a chance to speak in conversations?
(The other people speak much more than I do.)
Some people might be used to cultures where there is more silence in which to respond to what other people say, whereas in English the next speaker tends to start straightaway. The extra thinking time needed to speak in English as a second language can also often mean that the conversation moves on by the time you open your mouth to contribute. This means that you need to study and practise interrupting phrases like “Sorry, can I come in here?” and “Sorry to interrupt”. Perhaps even more importantly, you also need to know ways of starting to speak before you know what you are going to say like “I’m not expert on this, but I’d be inclined to say that…”
Do you have trouble finding opportunities to speak English outside class?
Do you have trouble finding opportunities to speak English outside class?
Free and cheap options for speaking English between classes include conversation exchanges, joining Toastmasters or MeetUp ESL (English as a Second Language) groups, or chatting with AI. The cheapest online lessons tend to have problems like getting a different partner each time that you have a meeting and/ or the partners lacking training or experience. However, that isn’t a huge problem if you tell them that you just want to chat to get the chance to speak, as long as you are also getting more structured English study elsewhere.
Stay tuned for news about my new online speaking club!
Are you told that you don't speak loudly enough?
Are you told that you don't speak loudly enough?
This is a common problem, including in people who think they are difficult to understand for different reasons (see below). This can be due to a lack of confidence when speaking English, to which the best solutions are lots of speaking practice and preparation before you have to speak. You can also practice better speaking volume by doing English practice somewhere where you can make lots of noise like in a karaoke booth or in the shower. Although it’s very challenging, speaking English somewhere noisy like a bar can also force you to get used to speaking more loudly.
Do people not understand you when you speak English?
Do people not understand you when you speak English?
First of all, you should check that your spoken English really is the problem, not that you are just speaking too quietly, speaking somewhere with too much background noise, speaking about a topic that they wouldn’t understand in any language, speaking to someone who is bad at listening, etc. If you really are difficult to understand when you speak in English, it is probably because of pronouncing words as they are written not as they are pronounced, mispronouncing English sounds, using English vocabulary wrongly (e.g. getting confused by false friends), having problems with English word order, and/ or making sentences that are too long. Preferably after asking someone to work out which problem you have, you should start studying the most important such points for you. For example, if it is the problem of basing your pronunciation on the spelling, you can study words with silent letters, learn the phonemic script and/ or work on words with the unstressed “schwa” vowel sound.
Do you feel that you don't have good English pronunciation?
Do you feel that you don't have good English pronunciation?
Of all the problems, this is the most difficult one to judge for yourself. If you think that pronunciation could be your main issue, you should therefore get an outside opinion if you can. This should preferably include feedback on exactly which parts of English pronunciation are your weak points. However, pronunciation practice is also useful for listening comprehension, so everyone could benefit from at least some work on English sounds, stress, intonation, connected speech, etc.
Do you feel like you wouldn't be able to answer the questions even in your own language?
Do you feel like you wouldn't be able to answer the questions even in your own language?
This can sometimes be the fault of the teacher, teaching materials, etc, for including questions which are good for language practice but would be rather strange in the real world. However, if this often happens to you and/ or happens with questions that you really have to answer such as those in language exams, you will need to take some kind of action. For example, you could find lists of typical small talk questions, IELTS Speaking Part Three questions, etc, and practise answering them.
Credit: Using English.com
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