5 Tips for Speaking Better English FAST

“THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE ISN’T TO HAVE PERFECT GRAMMAR OR PASS SOME RANDOM TEST. IT’S TO CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN YOUR LIFE BY ENABLING YOU TO COMMUNICATE WITH A BROADER PORTION OF THE WORLD.” 

Let’s talk about what you need to do to improve your speaking. A vast majority of Koreans I work with can read, write, and understand English better than they can speak it. I think a big reason for this is English classes that are far too focused on either grammar or test preparation. It’s really unfortunate, because the ultimate goal of learning a language isn’t to have perfect grammar or pass some random test. It’s to create new opportunities in your life by enabling you to communicate with a broader portion of the world. 

There are many talented, passionate English instructors out there, but there are perhaps an even bigger number of lazy, uninspired teachers whose methods will not get your English where you want it to be. In this article, I want to share what you and your teacher need to do to help you become the best English speaker possible. 

1. You need to speak English often. 
Hopefully this one is fairly obvious.  There is really no substitute for speaking practice.  It is incredibly difficult to become a highly skilled English speaker by just reading, watching English TV, or studying free resources on Youtube. 

Speaking in English at work and in your daily life is great, but it’s best to have at least some time spent practicing speaking with a teacher. While you’re with your teacher, it’s important that as much time as possible is spent on YOUR speaking. Your teacher’s speaking should mostly be limited to asking you questions and giving you feedback. If you have a 1:1 class where the teacher is speaking 70% of the time, you might want to look for a new teacher. 

2. You need to make your listening practice as close as possible to the real world.
The purpose of this section is to help you with your speaking, but this listening tip is important because it doesn’t matter how good your speaking is if you can’t understand what other people are saying to you. A lot of people struggle to communicate effectively in the real world because they can’t understand ‘real world’ English. 

There’s a major difference between ‘classroom’ English and ‘real world’ English. Classroom English is often slow, overly simplified, and made to be as clear as possible. In the real world, people speak much faster, use filler words such as ‘umm’ or ‘like’, and conversations often quickly switch topics.  It’s very important that your practice is as close as possible to what you’ll experience in your real life. 

One recommendation I give to all my intermediate and advanced Korean clients is to listen to  unscripted English content as often as possible. What I mean by ‘unscripted’ is that it’s real English speakers having real conversations. Tv and Movies are great, but they’re still actors reading lines. You want to experience all those filler words, quick topic changes, and interruptions that often happen in a real English conversation. 

Some of the best English listening resources are:

• Live interviews

• Live talk shows

• Podcasts

• Live group debates/discussions

On Youtube, two channels I highly recommend are

• Jubilee for General English/American Culture

• Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den for Business English

In addition to being great listening practice, you can also learn many new vocabulary words, phrases, and idioms from these resources.  Discussing the video/podcast topics with your teacher is great speaking practice as well. It’s best to practice both summarizing the videos and giving your own opinion on the video topics. If you work in a specific industry, such as IT or finance, it’s also great to try to find listening resources within your industry. 

3. Practice the actual conversations you need to have in your life.

(this tip is mostly for people who communicate in English at work) Similar to my previous tip, you really want to make your practice as close as possible to the English you need in your professional life.  Discussing what you did on the weekends is nice, but it isn’t going to help you improve your sales pitches, presentations, meetings with clients, and other work-specific English situations. 

For this reason, it is quite important that you find someone you can role-play your work-specific English conversations with.  A majority of my 1:1 clients work in international companies, and we spend about 40% of our class time practicing and reviewing the conversations, presentations, and speeches they need for their jobs.  Ideally, your instructor should be able to help not only with your English, but also with the actual content/organization of your speeches/presentations. 

Getting this extra practice and feedback can make a huge difference in your work performance.  You’ll be able to communicate your ideas more effectively, you’ll make better impressions on your colleagues, bosses, or customers, and you’ll ultimately unlock exciting new career opportunities for yourself.  So, if you don’t feel confident in your work-specific English abilities, find someone that can help you. They’re out there! 

4. Always discuss new topics.
In addition to practicing the actual English conversations you have at work, it’s also important to constantly discuss new topics/ideas.  I always feel bad for students who get stuck with uninspired teachers who ask them the same questions week after week: ‘How’s your day going?’ ‘What will you do this weekend?’ ‘How’s work?’ etc. 

In addition to being not very interesting, when you only talk about these superficial topics in English, you won’t have the ability to discuss deeper, more interesting topics. 

A truly effective English teacher should challenge you to always discuss new topics. During your lessons, you should discuss history, politics, money, traveling, relationships, self-improvement, fitness, science, technology, different cultures….the list goes on. 

By doing so, you’ll have a richer vocabulary, be able to share your opinions on a wider variety of topics, and have a lot more fun learning English. 

5. Get feedback. 
This is perhaps the most important tip of all, and the main difference between an average English class and a great English class. If you’re serious about improving your English, then it’s incredibly important to get detailed feedback on your speaking and the mistakes that you make.  

Imagine you wanted to be a professional soccer player. So, you went outside and played soccer for hours every single day. You did this for months. Sure, you would likely get a little bit better, but your improvements would be very limited because you’re not getting any actual instruction. You aren’t able to recognize the mistakes in your playing, and you don’t have anyone there to correct them for you and teach you how to play soccer more effectively.  If you had an expert coach organize a training program to fix your mistakes and help you become the best player possible, your soccer skills would improve at a MUCH faster rate.

A vast majority of Korean English learners know that their English isn’t perfect, but they don’t know the specific mistakes they’re making. Even if they know some of the mistakes, they likely don’t know how to fix them.  Like I mentioned earlier, your teacher’s speaking during class should mostly be limited to giving you helpful, detailed feedback. Your teacher should write down and point out all the mistakes you’re making, show you the corrections, and explain the corrections so you fully understand. That is one of the best ways to improve your speaking. 

CONCLUSION

You’ve made it to the end of the article so you obviously care about improving your English.  Don’t settle for an uninspired teacher who isn’t invested in helping you.  I hope these five tips have been helpful for you.  Remember, learning and mastering a language is a lifelong process.  Try to avoid becoming discouraged or comparing yourself to others. The only person you should compare yourself to is you from six months ago. Aim to always be better than that person, and you’ll be headed in the right direction.

Best of luck!

- Grant