When learning languages, my focus is primarily on input, specifically listening and reading. I find these activities enjoyable and understand that they are crucial for achieving fluency with consistent practice. However, like most language learners, I also aim to improve my speaking skills. What are my speaking goals, and how can I achieve them?
My goal is effective communication, not perfection in speaking a new language.
I am aware that I may not achieve perfect fluency in all the 20 languages I speak. I can communicate well in some languages like Chinese and Spanish, while in others like Polish, my proficiency may be lower. In some languages, I may have regressed to the point of losing communication abilities, but I believe that with effort, I can regain and improve my skills. Regardless of my proficiency level, I am content with my progress, knowing that every attempt at communication enhances my language abilities. I trust that with continued exposure to listening and reading, my speaking and pronunciation skills will naturally develop over time.
Here are the steps I follow to enhance my oral proficiency:
Listen extensively
I dedicate at least an hour daily to listening when starting to learn a new language or refreshing one. I listen while driving, doing chores, exercising, or running, utilizing any available free time during the day. This continuous listening builds a foundation of experience in my brain, establishing emotional connections with the language. It enhances my comprehension, pronunciation, and provides phrases that aid in speaking. I consciously choose engaging, challenging, and enjoyable content for listening practice, gradually progressing to more complex material.
Access to transcripts of the content I listen to is crucial for comprehension and serves as a bridge to the next essential activity for improving speaking skills.
Read extensively
Reading significantly expands my vocabulary and comprehension levels. Having a large passive vocabulary is essential for effective communication and understanding others. Reading transcripts of my listening material initially helps me grasp the language, gradually enabling me to read any content with a growing vocabulary. As my reading and listening skills progress, I focus on both activities independently to deepen my familiarity with the language, facilitating improved communication.
Imitate
Listening in conjunction with reading helps me recognize and internalize phrases for eventual use. Occasionally, I practice imitating words or phrases out loud, a technique known as shadowing. While not a strict exercise, I find myself repeating certain words and phrases to incorporate them into my active vocabulary. Emphasizing the rhythm and intonation of the language during imitation is more beneficial than focusing solely on word pronunciation. By mimicking the musicality of the language, I aim to improve my speaking skills gradually.
Practicing in this way helps to improve our pronunciation and makes our use of words more natural.
Write
Writing is an excellent method to start generating language output.
Personally, I admit to not writing much in the languages I am learning. The only writing I typically do is with the dictation task provided by LingQ as one of the review activities in each lesson.
However, writing can significantly enhance our speaking skills. When we write, we have the opportunity to look up words, grammar rules, or word endings, and think things through thoroughly. This preparation undoubtedly contributes to improved speaking ability. The challenge lies in finding meaningful topics to write about. The act of writing itself, rather than receiving corrections, has proven to be most beneficial in my experience. Therefore, if you aim to enhance your speaking skills, consider starting with writing.
Speak
To become proficient in speaking, it is essential to practice speaking extensively. If possible, engage with someone nearby who speaks the language you are learning. If you have reached a certain level of proficiency, consider visiting a country where the language is spoken to gain more speaking experience.
If that is not feasible, you can search for online language exchange partners or websites offering online language tutors. Personally, I have utilized tutors from iTalki and LingQ for this purpose.
During speaking practice, I do not dwell on my mistakes and even encourage my conversation partner not to correct me while I am speaking. The primary focus is on effective communication. Any corrections made during the conversation are quickly forgotten. However, I do appreciate receiving a list of challenging words and phrases for further review after our discussion. I import these into LingQ as lessons, and sometimes the tutor records these lists for me, which is incredibly helpful.
By reviewing words and phrases that I struggled with in a meaningful conversation context, I am able to integrate listening, reading, and speaking skills and gradually progress towards my goal of speaking fluently in the target language.
Effective communication does not necessitate perfection or error-free communication. It simply involves communicating in a way that leaves both parties comfortable with the interaction.
