speaking English fluently

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david11

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Tamil
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
Hi teachers,

My English is not bad but it is not up to the mark.

I want to develop my spoken English. I know that the only best way is to speak with people who know English but my problem is that I do not have anyone to speak with.

I can speak with unknown people like in library or shopping mall but I fell shy to speak with them without having the confidence that I could speak well.

so, is there any way to develop my spoken English at least till I gain confidence to speak with others.

some people ask me to speak in front of mirror but after that I may be able to speak about particular topic but will not be able to develop my conversation skill.

please give me some advice.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Hi teachers,

My English is not bad but it is not up to the mark.

I want to develop my spoken English. I know that the only best way is to speak with people who know English but my problem is that I do not have anyone to speak with.

I can speak with unknown people like in library or shopping mall but I fell shy to speak with them without having the confidence that I could speak well.

so, is there any way to develop my spoken English at least till I gain confidence to speak with others.

some people ask me to speak in front of mirror but after that I may be able to speak about particular topic but will not be able to develop my conversation skill.

please give me some advice.

If you have a sophisticated enough computer system, you can look for an English-speaking penpal who is prepared to talk to you over Skype or Windows messenger or iPhone ...

Of course, you would have to have some personal qualities that would motivate your penpal to want to do this over a period of time. There is a penpal subforum here, and you could look for other websites that advertise for penpals.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Hi teachers,

My English is not bad but it is not up to the mark.

I want to develop my spoken English. I know that the [STRIKE]only[/STRIKE] best way is to speak with people who know English but my problem is that I do not have anyone to speak with.

I can speak with unknown people like in the library or the shopping mall but I [STRIKE]fell[/STRIKE] feel shy [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] about speaking with them, without having the confidence that I could speak well.

So, is there any way to develop my spoken English at least till I gain confidence to speak with others.

Some people have [STRIKE]ask me to[/STRIKE] suggested that I speak in front of a mirror but [STRIKE]after[/STRIKE] although that [STRIKE]I may be able to[/STRIKE] may help me speak about a particular topic, [STRIKE]but[/STRIKE] it will not [STRIKE]be able[/STRIKE] help me to develop my conversation skill.

Please give me some advice.

First, please see my amendments to your post, marked in red.

Unfortunately, it's true that the best way to practice your English is to talk, talk, talk and talk more. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes. You need to take part in conversations in order to gain confidence and you will also learn a lot from the people who you speak to. We really don't care if you make mistakes when you're speaking English - we understand that it's a foreign language and that it's impossible to get everything right.

Spoken and written English are very different. We correct errors here because when you are writing English, you have time to check your writing, make sure it's correct and change it as many times as you need to until you are sure you have done the best you can.

When you're speaking, it's all spontaneous. Speaking in front of a mirror is good practice for public speaking (ie speeches) but not much help for conversation.

I believe there are some teachers (and websites?) where you can arrange to speak to native speakers on the internet, using Skype or similar. This probably won't be free but it's very good practice. However, I would still recommend doing what you say you can, but are afraid of. Speak to anyone you can find who speaks English. Strike up random conversations. Even a couple of minutes is better than nothing!
 

Ouisch

Key Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Chiming in to agree that conversing with another English speaker is the best way to learn not only fluency but also phrasing, cadence and rhythm. If I'm speaking to someone on a "help line" I can always tell if the call center is based in, for example, India because of the rhythm and inflection of the speaker. Even if their English pronunciation is near-perfect they are still difficult to understand because they frequently emphasize the wrong syllables and their voice goes "up" (that is, goes into a higher pitch, as if they are asking a question) in unnatural places during a sentence. When I used to speak regularly with employees at Volkswagen Mexico who were fluent in English, I noted that they tended to lack the "proper" inflection; their pronunciation was very good, but overly precise, and they didn't change the tone of their voice when asking a question - it sounded as if they were making a statement. (Mind you, I am not trying to be overly critical; all of the aforementioned folks spoke very good English with proper verb tenses and prepositions, etc. I'm just pointing out that there are certain nuances in spoken English that make the speaker sound more "natural" and easier to understand.) :)
 
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