5 Actions to Speak Natural and Fluent English
Empieza a tomar acción: 5 cosas que debes hacer para hablar inglés de forma natural y fluida.
Las lenguas están vivas, and that´s the beauty of it: you can learn and acquire new vocabulary and master its grammar, but there will always be something new. You will never stop learning and discovering new meanings, terms and structures; but, as we´ve heard before, if you want to be good at something, you need to practise.
However, I´d highlight it’s all about how you practise, the way you do it. Remember every day to do it intentionally! This is not something I´d say lightly. It serves a purpose and I can tell you that if you follow these quick and simple steps that I share with you today, you’ll definitely get started building confidence and a natural way to speak effortlessly without having to think and translate all the time.
1# Take notes.
Write any new idioms, phrasal verbs, terms… and take time to revise it daily, most importantly, think about those terms throughout your day, use them as much as you can until they come naturally to you.
Imagine conversations where you could use them, think about your own examples and write them down.
By revising your notebook on a regular basis, you will get used to those terms and build confidence, which will encourage you to use them when the situation fits. You´ll see the results by following the process and repeating it consistently.
2# Listen and imitate
Listening is the way everyone learns to speak a language; how did you learn to speak Spanish in the first place?
In time you will understand better if you surround yourself with real and spoken English, it will definitely make you think easily in English. In a normal conversation you would combine listening and speaking, do that by imitating the sounds and the way some groups of words are pronounced together. If you think about it, you also learnt Spanish by imitating what you listened.
3# Repeat and read out loud.
I know, we don’t usually like how our voice sounds, let alone in English! But the importance of reading aloud and repeating new words is that it’ll definitely help you develop your mouth muscles. You´ll get familiar with the way you speak English and how you sound in a different language. At the bare mininum you´d need at least 15 minutes a day for this exercise.
As you can see, this is an exercise to combine with action 2#, listening and speaking are connected.
4# Slow down and get your message understood.
It may sound repetitive, but sometimes I see students who think that by speaking fast they will sound more natural and fluent. On the contrary, many problems of miscommunication may result from this. There is no need to hurry and it will be easier for you to speak if you don’t feel stressed. People will understand you better if you take the time to pronounce well and structure your speech appropriately.
The most important part of speaking is communicating and having the other person understand what you are saying.
5# Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
Same old, same old, but we forget most of the times the importance of letting our fears go. Everyone makes mistakes, even native speakers. I´m sure you make mistakes in your own language, but surely you don´t seem so worried.
Making mistakes is part of the process. I bet you´ve heard before that it´s far better to try than not to try at all.
These steps will work if you do, they depend on your level of commitment and you will see results if you take action and practise.
So practise your way to fluent and natural English (don´t forget to connect with me and tell me of your progress or struggles with your English; me encantará hablar contigo de ello).