How to Improve English Speaking Skills

Learning how to speak English is hard! We’re sharing the 10 things you need to do to improve English speaking skills!

Worldwide, there are more than a billion English speakers, and at some point, none of them knew how to speak English. So take heart if you’re trying to improve your English- everyone has to start somewhere!

Still, while English is one of the most popular secondary languages to learn, it can indeed be difficult for non-native speakers to become fluent or lose their accent. Many want to know how to improve English speaking fluency so that they can be understood better.

Being misunderstood affects confidence at work and in everyday life, and even an accent can lead people to make assumptions about the speaker. So for many non-native English speakers, speaking more fluently is a necessity.

There are a variety of ways to improve your English, but first, let’s take a look at why it can be so difficult to learn in the first place.

Why Is English Difficult To Learn?

Look at the words “rough” and “though.” On paper, they look like they should sound very similar. Of course, if you’ve been studying English, you know that they sound almost nothing alike.

English is full of deceptive words like these and other tricks like silent letters that can easily confuse non-native speakers. The trouble isn’t that English doesn’t have a strict set of rules, it’s that these rules are constantly broken.

When you combine that with native English speakers’ tendencies to combine words and use slang, it can be very difficult to know how to improve English without memorizing vast quantities of words and phrases.

For instance, many native speakers might say “How ya doin?” rather than “How are you doing?” It seems small, but it adds another layer of difficulty to a non-native speaker who is trying to understand the language.

But don’t despair! It’s not impossible to improve your English speaking skills with some practice. 

How To Improve English Speaking And Pronunciation

Like anything worth doing, becoming a fluent speaker will take time and hard work. But in this case, the benefits are absolutely worth it. 

And guess what? The best way to learn how to improve English speaking skills is… by speaking. A lot. All the time. 

That seems like a tall order, especially if you’re afraid of being misunderstood, or don’t have someone to engage with you patiently on a regular basis. But there are many ways to speak that don’t involve another person.

• Try reading newspaper articles and books out loud to yourself. This way, you can work on pronunciation, and you won’t have to worry about messing up your grammar. In fact, it will begin to improve your grammar as you recognize the proper conjunctions and prepositions. 

• You’ll even learn the context of many of the colloquial phrases and metaphors that you may not initially understand.

• Another great way to improve your spoken English is by watching movies, television, and listening to English music. Again, you’ll hear casual usage that you may not have learned from your classes or books. 

• Also, remember to focus on building your vocabulary. The more words you know and understand, the easier it is to both understand others and make yourself understood. Even if your grammar and syntax aren’t great, an excellent vocabulary can help you get your point across and keep the conversation going.

But speaking with other people is also critical to success. The big key here is to lose your fear of making mistakes. It can be intimidating to try new words or phrases, but most people won’t judge you for trying. 

In fact, you’ll find that many people are eager to help you and will correct any big mistakes that you make. Having just a couple English-speaking friends or acquaintances to help you can make a world of difference.

What To Avoid While Learning English

• Don’t separate English from other aspects of your life. Place English labels on objects around your house. Watch English movies and try getting your news from English-language newspapers and websites. 

• Don’t only speak English when you’re forced to. This is what happens to many people who learn English in a classroom. They don’t engage with the language outside of class, and so their progress is slow and uneven.

• Don’t get too caught up in grammar. The grammar will come, trust us. Using the wrong preposition may be a little embarrassing, but people will still be able to understand you, and that should be your initial goal.

• Once you feel comfortable conversing, then you can start to work on the smaller details that separate your English from a native speaker’s. You might see a mistake you were making and cringe, but that just shows you how far you’ve come. 

• Don’t listen to the doubters. Some people will tell you that English is too hard and that becoming fluent will take too long, or is a waste of time. Don’t listen to these people.

Learning how to improve English pronunciation and becoming fluent can be a game-changer in your schooling and in your career. Imagine completely eliminating miscommunications from your school, work, or social life. 

Like we mentioned earlier, right or wrong, people will make assumptions about a person speaking broken English. Improving your English will reduce these kinds of erroneous assumptions. 

Get Help When You Need It

As we said before, not everyone has multiple English-speaking friends that they can rely on to help them when they need to work through difficult parts of speech or pronunciations. 

Without that outside help, the road to fluency and a minimal accent can be long and arduous. 

You may reach a point where you feel like you don’t know how to improve English fluency anymore. If you think you’ve topped out your ability, then it may be time to get some extra help. 

If that sounds familiar to you, then visit Pronunciation Pro today and check out our options for helping to increase your spoken English skills. We have a wide variety of pricing options that can fit your needs, no matter where you are in life.

Remember, speaking English fluently can be life changing when it comes to your career and social life, so don’t wait another day!