10 ways to improve your English speaking today

Speaking English doesn’t have to be stressful!

In my new ebook Speak English! you can find all the phrases and vocabulary you need to speak confidently in 30 days!

But here are ten extra tips to help you increase your confidence and speak more naturally.

Take it step by step

Learn a few important phrases at first, and learn how to pronounce them well. When you’re confident with these, you can choose a few more to practise. Start with simple phrases first, then go on to more complicated ones.

For example, learn key phrases for saying hello and greeting someone:
“Hi! How are you?”
“Fine thanks. And you?”

Or a simple phrase to ask directions:
“Excuse me! I’m looking for … (London Road)”

Or a simple phrase to order food in a restaurant:
“I’d like the … (fish and chips) please.”

Don’t say too much

You don’t need to speak a lot to express yourself. In many situations, such as travelling around, shopping, phoning, etc, you don’t have the time to have a long conversation. Concentrate on communicating the essential part of your message until you start feeling more confident.

Practice makes perfect!

This is probably the most important tip. The more you practise, the better you get – and the more confident you will become. When you practise important phrases, they become natural and easy for you. If you aren’t in an English-speaking country, you can go to conversation clubs, or go online via a Google+ hangout, for example. (The Speak English! ebook has a list of places where you can chat for free online.)

Keep it simple

You don’t need complicated grammar or sentence structure. If your sentences are short and grammatically simple, you are less likely to make mistakes or confuse the person you’re talking to.

Sentence structure tip!

Remember the SVOMPT word order rule:
Subject
Verb
Object
Manner (How)
Place
Time

For example:
I (subject) like (verb) walking (object) fast (manner) in the forest (place) in winter (time).

Remember: not every sentence has all six components, and you can omit manner, place and time and still have correct sentence structure.

Use every way you can to communicate

When you need to communicate a message, you will find the way to do it! For example, you can use gestures to help you explain to another person. If you are in a train and feel hot, you could say “Can I open the…” and gesture towards the window if you can’t remember the word for “window”.

Listen and watch

A great way to improve your confidence is to watch other people speak English. What phrases do they use? What gestures do they use? How do they respond to each other? Perhaps they use special phrases or particular intonation. Observing how other people communicate is a great way to extend your own “library” of useful phrases for different situations. If you don’t live in an English-speaking country, check out film and TV, or trailers on YouTube, for example.

Record yourself

Use your phone to record yourself speaking phrases or words. When you listen back to yourself, how do you sound? Don’t be too critical about your accent – it doesn’t matter if you sound like a non-native speaker. But it’s important to speak clearly. Recording yourself helps you become more aware of how you speak English, and you’ll begin to understand which English sounds are most difficult for you. Then, with a little practice, you can soon get better at saying these difficult sounds.

Don’t speak too fast

If you’re nervous or embarrassed, you might speak too fast – or too quietly. It’s normal to feel worried, especially in new situations. But concentrate on those few phrases and try to speak at normal speed and volume. When you see the other person responding naturally to you, you’ll know that what you say is good English!

Don’t give up

Some days it’s easier to speak English than other days. Sometimes you can find the words and phrases you need without any problems, but other times everything is really difficult. Some days you never seem to make mistakes – and then the next day it’s all wrong! But don’t worry. This is completely normal! The important thing is to understand that tomorrow is a different day. Keep practising and you will improve your speaking. Don’t worry too much about making mistakes, either. They help you improve your English.

Accept help from other people

Native speakers will rarely correct your grammar, but they’ll probably correct your vocabulary and pronunciation. You can even ask, “Sorry, what do you call this in English?” and people are usually very happy to help you.

For more help, check out our page How to Start a Conversation in English.

Speak English Fluently!

10 ways to improve your English speaking todayHi! I’m Clare, an English teacher and the founder of this site.

I can help you speak English more easily! Here are two things for you:

10 Essential Fluency Phrases – Get the phrases for easy conversations
NEW: Join The English Fluency Club – Get my 2 fluency programs + exclusive monthly training and group lessons

85 thoughts on “10 ways to improve your English speaking today”

  6. Hazel

    I am Burmese , I wanna to improve my english skill and I am still studying it self study but sometime I wanna a guide who will teach my mistake beside me as like teacher. But it’s my thought and just only wish!

  7. Aye Thandar

    I am Myanmar.I would like to improve my English skill and I am still studying myself.I hope this website gave me to improve my English skill.

  10. suresh

    hEY guys, it is realy working exercise i use it and the result i am speaking english not in well manner but also in fluency, thnks dear

  11. kevin

    Best Advice I have seen anywhere! I see my students thinking so hard when asked a simple question i wonder if steam will come out of their ears! Especially some cultures and some questions. Thanks

  14. laxmidhar ojha

    i want learn english and i have alot interest to be a fluent speaker in english thanks for this tips

  15. Pankaj

    I liked your approach
    I am feeling that I can speak english very well with the help of your website.

    Thanks

  16. geofrey

    I would like to improve my english grammar and for sure this website is truely doing it for me thanks a lot.

  18. Hoa DUong DInh

    Great! your words make me feel more confidently to speaking English.I’m a beginer,If I have any mistake,please help correct. thanks admin a lot

  20. Wai Lin Oo

    Hello,everybody glad to see you.
    Now, I lost my way in learning English because I spent my time a lots, but I have no improvement.And I don’t know what should I do?How will I continue to study?Please give me any suggestions?

  24. Ko Si

    Hi, I really like your idea about English. I am also learning English, that’s why your information are absolutely useful for me. Next time, I hope to get more notes from you. Thanks for everything!

  25. zira azul

    I want really improve my english speaking but where I am everybody communicate in another language than english . so your advice will help me thanks for all

  26. Nemaguvhuni

    I.enjoyed.reading.your.articles.i.think.i.will.be.a.best.english.speaker.as.time.goes

  29. J.W Tang

    It’s really helpful!My teacher told me this page,and now I think I can learn a lot from this.
    Thanks!

  37. Minh Hieu

    I come from Viet Nam. I started to learn English and I met a lot of difficulties, I need your help to improve more.

  38. Arshad Ahamed

    I want improve my LSRW(learning,speaking,Reading,writing.) I think this website is useful to me. Mainly I want guidance.

  40. USMAN KHAN

    English Is not hard which I felt but some time I get stuck.. in vocabulary and usage of vocabularies

  41. Gus nava

    I teach esl to my students an they read an give them homework ,also getting different activities as well keeping in mind that the more you taste the more you want learning takes time an practice so don’t give up.

  43. AZAD FROM BANGLADESH

    I am very fond of this foreign language. I can speak up, write & understand as well. But need to have more efficiency on this language. So that i can able to speak up more naturally, lively & fluently as well. Pls.advise…….Thanks

  49. Aonini

    hi! thanks very much for the assistance. Hopefully this email helps me to improve my learning skills in english

  50. My name is Le

    I am in VietNam. I want to improve my skills English and i wish speaking English fluenty like natives. Please help me. Thank so much.

  63. Paul C. Kangwa

    Hey Guys Am Paul From Zambia, I Used To Speak English Quite Well But Due To Lack Of Who Chat With Am Not Doing Well In Terms Of Speaking.

  69. Reza

    Hey guys, consider these helpful and simple tips as it really works! Am living in Uk since 8 month ago. Just need to improve my english skills on specific situations have never faced to before.

  73. Betool

    I want learning speek english becose all the world good in English please help me and thank you very much for the website

  76. Mubeen Khan

    Hello Guys!!
    I hope You all are doing good,it’s good to see so many comments here.
    i would like to tell one thing this is a really good stuff.
    i can improve my language.please anyone guide me.

  82. OJima ERI

    Speaking English is in one sense the most difficult technique for standard leaners. Thanks for your deliberate tips. It helps us in all the chances. By getting a chance for a real and factual speaking, your advice would be more useful.

Comments are closed.

Secured By miniOrange