Tips for Speaking

[englishhelps]

If you're going to speak in front of an audience as a speaker, make sure that you know your material by heart! Don't rely too much on your prepared materials. You should know the subject by heart which will give you more confidence.

[englishhelps]

If you're going to speak in front of an audience, have idiot cards instead of having your whole speech in front of you. Idiot cards or cue cards work best in small index cards. Just write down the topics and guides of what you're going to talk about. Not only will it look more natural, it can develop your speaking skills as well.

[englishhelps]

Here are some tips by me to you for a good speaking skill. To speak fluently, first you should have confidence in yourself for a good start. And then choose any topic and start writing on that topic first and then take a recorder and start saying what you have written. Then you hear it and notice where you are in fault and then improve it.

Great tips. If you don't believe in yourself, why should your listeners believe in you?

[mariaa]

Hello,
I have read your suggestions regarding English speaking. Its very good suggestion. But i want to add something. One should speak in English all the time. Start talking with friends, relatives and colleagues.

[englishhelps]

Yes you're right. Practice makes perfect. :)

[jamesmartyn]

Careful transitions are an important part of preparation. A transition is a bridge from Point A to Point B - a connection between two points. If you learn to use specific transitions, you will improve the fluency of your speech as well as avoiding the verbalized pauses and unnecessary words. Good transitions demonstrate a command of language, thus enhancing your credibility.

[syakirah]

sometimes im afraid to talk in english because im scared if i make mistakes... and i cant speak well infront others... but, when im talking to myself i can speak well... so anyone can help me,,, pleazes...

[syakirah]

however, my vocab is still lacking and sometimes i cant figure out what word must i describe during my conversation, huhu... and when im studying vocab, the vocab that i learn can't be used in the conversation... anyone,, please helpzz mezzz.....

[PureGuava]

In front of an audience, if the occasion allows it and/or it is quasi-informal, try bringing a little levity:

"You will have to excuse me, English is not my native tongue, so I might pronounce some words poorlier." <pause> "I know, poorlier is not grammatically correct... it's worstest." <pause during laughter> "That was a freebie." <smile then start speech>

[maamstmas]

Hi, Guys
thanks my brother for your tips,
they are very important to learning speaking,
but if i leave in Arabic country all of theme only speak Arabic language, what can i do?

[anneparker]

Really needed these kind of tips for speaking English , i am really into to speaking English. Well, when i will lead to the success then i will help to others .

http://www.answers.com/topic/lead-10

[clevermae]

Improve your Learning Skills! Learning is a skill and it can be improved.

Your path to learning effectively is through knowing:

-yourself
-your capacity to learn
-processes you have successfully used in the past
-your interest, and knowledge of what you wish to learn

Don't be in too much of a hurry. You're setting off on a long journey and there'll be delays and frustrations along the way. Sometimes you'll be in the fast lane and other times you'll be stuck in traffic, but there will also be lots of interesting things and interesting people along the way.

[Matian]

The main reason why we English learners fail in conversing efficiently is that we are in a dilemma that what if we say something that doesn’t make sense or sometimes we are just feel shy to speak to someone because we don’t know how to strike a conversation or something like that.

Here are few tips to improve your speaking skill in English:

1.Build your confidence: The first thing is to have confidence in yourself and in your speaking. Not having confidence is just a mental blockage and try not to be shy.

2.Try NOT to translate: If you translate the words from your Mother tongue, The order of words is completely different and you will be both slow and incorrect by doing this. Instead, learn phrases and sentences so you don’t have to think about the words you are saying. It should be automatic.

Another problem with translating is that you will be trying to incorporate grammar rules that you have learned. Translating and thinking about the grammar to create English sentences is incorrect and should be avoided.

3. speak out loud: when you study, don’t just listen. Speak out loud the material you are listening to and practice what you hear. Practice speaking out loud until your mouth and brain can do it without any effort. By doing so, you will be able to speak English fluently.

4.Practice: Without practice, nothing can be achieved. You must practice what you learn – new words, grammar and some of the phrases I mentioned.

5. Don’t speak too fast! It’s important to use a natural rhythm when speaking English, but if you speak too fast it will be difficult for people to understand you.

6.Expand your vocabulary: What you need to do is watch English movies with subtitles. As soon as you see and listen a new word, write it down and look for its meaning in a dictionary. Look on the internet to find sentences with that word. Pronounce the word many times to make it second nature. Review the words for two weeks at least and they will be a part of your vocabulary.

You got to watch a movie and boosted your word knowledge at the same time. Reading novels is another great way to learn new words and their use in different situations. So pick up a nice and interesting novel from your local library and start the learning process right away

7. surround yourself with English: You can do this by making rules with your existing friends that you will only speak English. You can also carry around an iPod and constantly listen to English sentences. As you can see, you can achieve results by changing what your surroundings are. Submerge yourself in English and you will learn several times faster.

8.Find native friends and speak with them: there so many sources for chatting through internet which make you able to communicate with people around the worlds,so you can be connected and speak as much as you want.
have fun :)

for improve the other skill you can refer to my website
http://www.englishbyidioms.com

[ChenYanRu]

I study English beginner
I thought that many and the human practices the dialog to have the help very much!
:)

[easylsl]

Thank You for your advice
i don't have anyone with whom i can interact in English. i will surely take the help of ht ips provided by you to improve my speech :)

[newmohsen]

I think the best Idea is that try to speak with people on skype, so if u like add me there my ID is mohsen_hoseini

[cursosen]

Speaking of any language is an art. The most of the people learn speaking any language with help of coaching classes, through tv, radio etc.

[neelus]

Everyone here is providing excellent tips for speaking English.I feel that practicing English with books or materials wont help to speak perfect English.So i have started practicing English with videos http://www.youtube.com/user/twominenglish practicing speaking with videos helps to learn English fast.

[JustinEng]

Wow, some great ideas here indeed.
I think that if you want to improve your spoken English, it would be a good idea to practise speaking. Repeat the conversations in your favourite movies to help exercise the muscles in your mouth and try to start slow and gradually build up speed.
Another idea is that if you want a partner to talk to but you live in a non-English country, try to find one on a website like http://www.livemocha.com or perhaps http://www.meetup.com.
I hope that helps

[Sabrina]

Great ideas everybody. Thanks. I stumbled in to this while looking for sites which helped you practice spoken English with native speakers.Pls share know any other options. It seems like there are not many good options.

[Sabrina]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, and I'm a non native English speaker, trying to improve spoken English

Firstly, thank you so much for all the ideas. I learnt so much.

Question to everyone - How much do you think grammar is important when learning to speak English? I think that thinking too much about grammar will slow your fluency. I want to hear what others think

I'm looking for a spoken English program where I can speak with natives - not learn grammar or words but just speak as much as I can. Do you know any such program on the internet?

Thanks!

[Sabrina]

I found two websites that provide spoken english practice with native speakers.

One is called Spoken English Practice. http://www.spokenenglishpractice.com Looking at the site, they seem to have been in business for sometime now.

The other one is English 1 on 1. wwww.eng1on1.com

Pls share if you have had past experience with these sites.

[TrietLe]

Hi,
Question to everyone - How much do you think grammar is important when learning to speak English? I think that thinking too much about grammar will slow your fluency. I want to hear what others think
Thanks!

Hi Sabrina,

I cannot agree more with you. Focusing too much on grammar
at the start will definitely slow down your speaking progress.

Maybe you could glimpse some insights from my students' stories:

All my students, aged between 10 to 16, are excellent at grammar because
that's what they are being drilled at schools.

However, when I first started teaching them, speaking was their nightmare. They
could not utter a decent sentence. I think they were too afraid of making
the wrong sentence structure.

As soon as I forced them to speak English in any ways they want, words
flowed out their mouth. It's not perfect, but at least, they could communicate.

In the beginning, I didn't focus too much on grammar. Over time, when they made
grammatical mistakes in their speech, I fixed them.

Interestingly, at that point, it wasn't that difficult for them make the change.

So, in general, grammar is undoubtedly crucial for clear English communication, but
I don't think it should be your priority when you first learn to speak.

Good luck.

[Faizah]

Thanks for these great tips! I 'be been learning and teaching English since along time & I still believe that speaking is one of the most important skills in learning English. I would like to share with you some techniques I used to improve my speaking & I wish you ll find some of them helpful:
_ build your confidence and never feel afraid of making any sort of errors.
_ Think in English when speaking as this will help you generate the ideas more easily and make the right connection if needed.
_ Increase your list of vocabulary. You can't talk if you donot have the adequate amount of words needed in every situation.
_ Record your self while talking . This may give you a chance to hear yourself and find out the areas where you need improvement e.g. Pronunciation , grammar, intonation....etc
_ Increase the amount of time you practice English using different skills :listening, reading.....
_ If you donot have acess to talking with native speakers, you can watch their vedios and other authentic materials especially those that are related to teaching & learning English as well as talking about different topics you are interested in.

[LanguageBox]

Hi, here is a tip that I consider very helpful when you need to practice speaking but there is no one to speak with. I learnt Greek this way but it does work for any language. Talk in front of the mirror. And talk aloud. You can start with any topic, from how to buy a ticket for the subway, giving and asking for directions, ordering food and s.o. Make talks and dialogues ... do it aloud, don't keep it quite, it's not gonna work if you don't say everything aloud. Say that you started a dialogue for asking and giving directions. You take both parts of the dialogue and you keep it alive for several times. Try to improve it, add new words, make the sentences more complete every next time. Also, try to give a voice to your thoughts. When you are walking in the park for example and you are thinking of something, try to do it aloud. For example, "Now, when I get to the end of the par, I will need a small rest. I will find a bench and I will sit for half an hour. Later, I will go to visit my sister. She lives nearby and once I am here I need to visit her. Shall I call her before or shall I go straight." and s.o.

[Kitsich]

2.Try NOT to translate: If you translate the words from your Mother tongue, The order of words is completely different and you will be both slow and incorrect by doing this. Instead, learn phrases and sentences so you don’t have to think about the words you are saying. It should be automatic.

This is really a very important tip that many don't use.

[HollyJ]

Hi,

I've seen some good advice in this topic. The only thing I can add is that when you don't have people around you to practice with, you must create, or make, practice opportunities. Your speaking will not improve without practice. So read this topic, read other resources, and make notes about practice opportunities that you can create for yourself.

Record yourself before you begin the new practice. Then, after maybe 2 months, record yourself speaking again. Listen to both recordings and see if you notice progress. It is important to focus on what you do that is correct, and not only on what you need to improve.

Holly

[Saldose]

Hello everyone!
I just wanted to add some details. I tihnk it is rather obvious but anyway. You are likely to make a mistake when you have a fear of making it. The main tip for me is to try to talk without being nervous. I have been learning English in this academy in Madrid http://www.soloidiomas.com/ and I clearly undestood that the group communication is the perfect way of learning a language. Discussing something interesting (a movie or a series' episode) may beat your fears and provoke you to talk more. I liked visiting my classes and thanks to this practice I stopped getting shy when it comes to speaking.
Which is your best way to get fluent in a foreign language?

[ritzkevin]

Hi, everyone!

It would help to warm-up and take a deep breath before you speak. It will help you feel more relaxed. It can also minimize your mistakes.

[Amelie]

Hi i just registered and i agree with you guys, i always watch tv, hear music to improve my english, but if you learn a new word and you don't practice every day you will never going to improve your english... i really thank you for the tips.