If you’re pretty good when it comes to reading and writing in English, but you’re still not that confident with your English speaking skills—then you’ve come to the right place today, my friend.
For some of us English might not be our first or native language, but since it is considered a common language that most people from all over the world use to communicate, speaking fluently in English is a great skill to have. And you might ask yourself this question, “how can I improve my English speaking skills better?”.
Because the better you are at speaking the said language, the greater your chances are at opening new travel possibilities, job opportunities, and meeting new people that will help expand your horizon in life even further.
The tips that I’m going to share with you today are mostly self-help tips that you can do by yourself and will help you start speaking in English more confidently—without further ado, let’s get right into it!
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>>>Do you want to hear yourself while rehearsing? A good microphone can help.
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How Can I Improve My English Speaking Skills Better? 8 Ways To Improve Your English Speaking Skills On Your Own
1.) Practice Speaking In English Everyday To Boost Confidence
Confidence is the key to improving your speaking skills in English. And to be confident, you have to have the right mindset.
Just think about it this way, if you’ll ask someone who’s never played a musical instrument like a violin to play one, you won’t expect them to be good at it right off the bat, right?
Being good at playing the violin takes tons of effort and practice to get to a stage where you can actually play it by heart. And well-known violinists are known to have great determination and dedication to learning their skills.
The same goes with speaking fluently in English, especially if it is not your native language.
Daily practicing your English speaking skill, even if it’s just a fraction of your time every day, it will pay off if you’re consistent.
It’s really about practicing over and over again until you have immensely improved your English speaking skills to the point where you are confident without having second thoughts about it.
Try to set the best time for you to practice speaking in English. If you like to do it in the morning, then you may do so. If you like practicing at night, then so be it. Just be consistent with your practice time and you’ll find that your speaking skills will improve gradually.
It’s also best if you can practice speaking in English in an environment where you are most comfortable. If you want to do it on your own in your room, that’s fine. Or if you would like to practice it conversationally with a friend or a mentor that would also be great.
Pro-tip! Practice speaking in English using the mirror technique where you’ll practice speaking in English in front of the mirror.
The mirror technique is a well-known effective self-confidence booster as it engages the subconscious mind to be more confident through vocalizing positive thoughts to your own reflection in the mirror.
This will ultimately help you boost your self-esteem and self-acceptance which will then result in boosted confidence.
2.) Read A Lot And Out Loud
One of the best ways to improve your English speaking skills is to read a lot and to read out loud. If you’re fond of reading not only are you going to satisfy your love for books, but you’ll also get to expose yourself to new vocabulary and correct grammar for different types of sentences.
And it’s not just about reading, it should also be about understanding every word. If there’s a word that you are not that familiar with try to keep a notebook by your side and list them down and study them after.
Try to find their definition and how you can use them in a sentence to broaden your vocabulary.
Reading out loud is completely different from reading only in your mind. Try to record yourself while reading, (I know it can be cringy to listen to your own voice, but I promise it helps!), and this will help you know how you will be able to target those areas that you need to work on.
Like maybe your pronunciation, your facial expression, or the way you are trying to communicate. And you can also video record yourself doing this. By hearing and seeing how you sound and look like you will realize what you need to focus on and what you need to fix to improve your overall speaking skill.
3.) Immerse Yourself In The English Language Itself
Listen and watch people speak English well and fluently, this will help you pick up tips on how you can speak the language fluently yourself as well.
And a fun way to do this is by immersing yourself in podcasts, audiobooks, documentaries, Youtube videos, movies, and even your favorite series! These are places where you can hear authentic and natural English.
By surrounding yourself with that kind of environment and content you’ll be surprised that you’re already picking up a thing or two—like how to speak the right tone, actions and gestures, and the way you need to portray yourself while you are talking in English.
You can also sharpen your English speaking skills by imitating and mimicking lines from whatever content you are trying to immerse yourself into. Try to repeat their lines, and change a word or two and you’ll find yourself speaking English better than the day before you started.
4.) Start Thinking In English
Start thinking in English, write down your thoughts in English, and read them aloud in English. The more you engulf the English language within you the more natural it will be for you.
Translate your thoughts in English, and try to write them down. This can be in a form of a journal and you can keep this all to yourself or even share it with a learning buddy or mentor if you’re comfortable enough.
Try to write down everything in English with your best effort, and you’ll soon realize that your thoughts will become your action. If you’re comfortable with reading them aloud, then you can also do that.
Going back to tip #3, reading aloud will help you improve your pronunciation and discover areas that you need to work on to improve your English speaking skill.
5.) Speak Slowly
In the past, whenever I am to speak in front of an audience or whenever I need to converse with someone in English, I would always find myself hurrying to finish my sentence just to get it over with.
And this would result in me stuttering and getting my words jumbled because I’m trying so hard to sound like I’m confident and that I know what I’m saying. So in the end, not only did I not deliver what I wanted to say, but I also had to repeat everything I said slowly.
And that’s not how I wanted it to turn out. That’s when I realized that there’s no need for me to speak fast because I can do it slowly but surely.
On the contrary, speaking slowly is actually way harder than speaking fast, because you’ll then have to take time to get every word right, set your tone right, and portray yourself while speaking right as well.
Try to taste every word you say while you speak in English. Once you’re more confident in speaking slowly, speaking fast will no longer be an obstacle for you.
6.) Find A Mentor Or A Language Partner
Find a mentor that will guide you through the process or a language partner that you can study with on your journey to improving your English speaking skill.
As helpful as reading and listening to a lot of English may be, you still need to put things into practice and converse in the language interactively. The more you are exposed to the language the more it will be easier for you to be better at speaking it.
If you can find a mentor who is going to be willing to take you under their wing and train you on how to be a better speaker, grab that chance.
If you have a native English-speaking friend converse with them regularly and see how dramatically you’ll improve after practicing speaking with them for a month or two.
7.) Change Your Phone Language To English
If your phone is currently set to your local language, change it in the settings to English. It might be confusing at first, but it will surely set you up for success.
Again it’s all about surrounding yourself with the English language and you’ll soon find it a breeze to talk fluently in it.
8.) Remember that it’s okay to make mistakes
The English language can be a bit tricky especially if you’re just starting out. But try to be not so hard on yourself because the learning process should be fun and not stressful for you.
If you start to stress out just because of it, it will not be productive for you at all and you will probably not improve the way you want to.
Always keep in mind that you are learning because you have a goal, and that goal will benefit you and even open up new opportunities that you might have never imagined come to you!
Stay motivated and try fun activities that you think will best help you improve your speaking skills. Like this conversation practice video! It’s fun and quite interactive as well (you will also get to hone your acting skills on the side!).
So try it out, record yourself, and don’t forget to have fun!
