Have you ever wondered why you understand a language but cannot speak it? If yes, you are not the only one. Many learners go through this. No need to worry as we have a list of reasons why you may understand a language but cannot speak it. Moreover, we have prepared many tips on how to start speaking!

The main reason is that you’ve not been practicing speaking

Spoken Production and Spoken Interaction

Let’s start right off by clarifying one thing. There are two different speaking areas, Spoken Production and Spoken Interaction. So again, there’s no right or wrong. Still, it’s easy to get frustrated when we’re intensively practicing spoken production with the expectation of improving spoken interaction. 

Spoken production focuses on monologic speech, which emphasizes a person conceptualizing an idea, constructing it with the elements of the target language, and producing new sounds. Examples of this speaking area are pronunciation practice, oral repetition, oral presentation, or narration.

Spoken interaction focuses on dialogic speech, and the emphasis lies on fostering the learner’s ability to communicate and express experiences, emotions, and opinions based on another person’s responses. It includes the area of spoken production indeed but adds the element of reaction. This area contains dialogues, role-plays, debates, interviews, speed dating, video or phone calls, discussions, and meetups.

We want you to make progress! We want you to speak courageously in English, Spanish, German, or whatever target language you are learning!

Practicing speaking in a new language is like playing an instrument. Also, it’s not until you start using the device that you produce sounds. 

If you’re using your facial musculature but not conversing with another person, you are just practicing spoken production. To put it – you should talk and interact orally with others to improve your speaking fully.

Many language learners look for opportunities to practice speaking but struggle with them. 

15 Tips to unlock your speaking 

Practice spoken production

#1 – Read and share aloud: 

You could find digital or printed books, magazines, or articles about a topic you’re interested in. Then, read aloud and make pauses to share your comments or thoughts. 

#2 – Imitate others:

Listen to a song, podcast, or video that you enjoy and repeat what they say. You can pause, then repeat or try to imitate how they speak immediately. Try to emulate their tone and intonation as well. 

#3 – Sing:

It doesn’t matter whether you have a great voice or not. The important thing is that singing is a perfect way to build vocabulary and learn how to pronounce words. You can start with karaoke or social media videos with or without lyrics. 

After that, you can record videos or audio of your singing and post them on social media. In addition, you have the option to share your videos or audio with friends and acquaintances on social media.

Practice spoken interaction

#4 – Travel:

Visit a country where they speak your target language. You can learn the language by interacting with native speakers and other language learners. As you spend most of the time in the target language, you live the culture and experience local lifestyles. 

#5 – Find a language partner:

Talk to a native speaker or another language learner online or offline. Agree on a time and choose a discussion topic. You can even make plans, set learning goals together, and help each other in the languages you are learning. 

Studying with a friend can strengthen your knowledge when you go forward with your studies. You may learn different methods of analyzing information. Studying with a friend, colleague, or your class/group mates is a good idea.

In a research study about Study Buddy Support (Thalluri et al., 2014), they found that 72% of students who had study buddies passed an exam. At the same time, only 49% of students who did not have study buddies passed the exam. 

#6 – Find a language gathering:

You can join in-person or virtual groups where talking in a target language is the primary objective. Some have a topic to discuss, others agree on one on the fly, and some distribute participants in smaller rooms to have more opportunities to speak.   

#7 – Join a Verbal Bridges Meetup:

Learn day or night and get immersed anytime. Schedule one or several meetups that fit your busy schedule and practice meaningful conversations as much as you want. Each meetup and learning path you choose is designed to contain all you need to interact with a specific topic, as we want you to have actual practice. Principal rooms are broken into smaller groups of 2-3 participants, so there is plenty of time for members to interact.

Additionally, you’ll see your progress as your total speaking time is displayed at the end of each session. So, with each meetup you join and speak, you’ll be moving closer to speaking the language. You might want to join a meetup every day, and maybe you’d prefer one every other day, or perhaps even join just once a week if you’re short on time. Whatever timescale you choose to work on, the important thing is that you speak.

#8 – Embrace your foreign accent:

Everyone has an accent, and there is no perfect, neutral, or unaccented language. Accents carry identity (Derwing & Munro, 2009) and also a sign that this speaker is a polyglot, which is ambulant of a sign of bravery. It is courageous to leave the safe territory and go into uncharted waters, such as learning an entirely new language. 

Whilst we celebrate linguistic variance, it is essential to note that although accents are beautiful, the important part of the language user is that their message comes across with clarity despite an accent. You may have a strong accent, but still, the message can come across. If the accent is impeding their main message from getting across to their interlocutor, clarity will ensure less miscommunication and the ability to come across correctly in friendships and relationships but also with business partners. Thus, the focus should not be on reducing the accent but on obtaining clarity while maintaining your linguistic identity. In any case, as more and more people begin to learn new languages, we are becoming increasingly good listeners, hearing many more accents and subsequently becoming salient to altered phonological patterns.

Even with a strong accent, you can still contribute in more than one way!

#9 – Choose courage over confidence:

Many language learners will feel insecure when attempting to speak a target language they have spent some time learning. Traditional teachers will repeat in a mantra, “You need to be more confident. Once you are confident, you will speak”. What happens is that new students, when attempting to speak in their target language, will feel a sense of nervousness and stress and then may rearrange themselves to avoid speaking the language they have been working so hard to learn because well they are “not there yet” they need to wait for the confidence boost. The truth is you, by no means, must not wait to be confident; you need courage. 

Confidence is developed over time, evolving, growing, and in the end, your hard work pays off by earning confidence. Confidence is not an initial mechanism built within us that we can be confident via osmosis. Also, the act of attainment of confidence is via courage.

#10 – Fake it until you make it:

Gaining confidence will also mean faking your confidence. This is the key to many successful people, who always claim they made it to the top by faking it until they made it. This is no different for language learning. Sometimes you may see complete beginners entirely going all in and ordering their favorite brunch in the target language they were learning. You seem completely impressed by how fast they learn the language, and they admit to you, they have just started as a beginner and are not sure if the order will even come back correctly, which in the end, it doesn’t. It’s all about the illusion, and you will realize fear is an illusion in nature. You can beat this fear by being courageous and just blagging it initially. This is the first step to breaking the barrier between you, the otherness, and your target language.

#11 – Dare to have a beginner mindset:

Contrary to popular belief about keeping extremely high expectations, it would be best if you keep your expectations at the beginner’s level for your language learning evolution. Do not expect perfection, expect to make mistakes, and expect to feel defeated and like you want to give it all up. This is a new skill set you are trying to attain. You can think back to any skill you have acquired now. For example, learning an instrument, you surely butchered a few songs before they sounded like melodies. You will do the same with language learning. You must not go for perfectionism, have fun making mistakes and tell fantastic stories once you have mastered the language. You cannot learn any language by passing the embarrassing stage, and it’s a right of passage, so own it!

#12 – Practice for progress, not perfection:

After practice and being given some time, you will eventually see progress, and it will naturally boost your confidence. But this cannot happen unless you dare to attempt, which will allow the road of progress to be built. Tracking your progress by keeping a log of dates on the work you have down and things you have learned and seeing how far you have come will be a good indicator of how you are doing. Of course, to progress, you must ensure your time management correctly and allow your mind the time to allow the learning experience to commence.

#13 – Do not wait. Go for it!

Confidence is not static; it is dynamic. Keep in mind that if you have gained some confidence and it is helping you with your target language, you need to be courageous. Otherwise, you will remain in plateaus, as you will be unable to achieve your next goals, which may also be contaminated with elements of fear, maybe for differing reasons when you were a total beginner. Still, nonetheless, you must continue to persevere. 

#14 – Schedule some time:

Set the time or plan the time in your diary. Create a routine or habit. Remember that what get’s scheduled, gets done. You can find more detailed information on this point in our guide. To get it, please sign up for our newsletter, located at the bottom of any of our website pages.

#15 – Narrow down a topic:

Narrow down the topic to practice. Don’t get overwhelmed by the fact that you don’t know the whole universe of the target language. Start with one topic and then move on to the next. We also have an in-depth section on this point in our guide. To get it, please contact us.

Now that you have 15 valuable tips, you are well prepared to move on in speaking and improve your speaking skills. Professional coaches in Verbal Bridges will definitely help you feel comfortable and full of courage in speaking. 

SPEAK BUILD CONTRIBUTE

Used sources:

Skrypkina, T. (2022, November 29). Courage over confidence speaking a foreign language. Verbal Bridges. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from https://verbalbridges.com/courage-over-confidence-speaking-a-foreign-language/

Skrypkina, T. (2022, November 6). 8 tips on how to practice speaking in a foreign language. Verbal Bridges. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from https://verbalbridges.com/8-tips-on-how-to-practice-speaking-in-a-foreign-language/

Skrypkina, T. (2022, October 10). A foreign accent is a sign of bravery. Verbal Bridges. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from https://verbalbridges.com/a-foreign-accent-is-a-sign-of-bravery/