Become a confident speaker

How to improve your English speaking skills, so that you can communicate more easily and effectively. These tips will help you to become a more confident speaker.

Practice where you can, when you can. Any practice is good - whether you speak to someone who is a native English speaker or not.

It's important to build your confidence. If possible, use simple sentence structure that you know is correct, so that you can concentrate on getting your message across.

Try to experiment with the English you know. Apply words and phrases you know to new situations. Native English speakers are more likely to correct you if you use the wrong word than if you use the wrong grammar. Experimenting with vocabulary is a really good way of getting feedback.

Try to respond to what people say to you. You can often get clues to what people think by looking at their body language. Respond to them in a natural way.

Try not to translate into and from your own language. This takes too much time and will make you more hesitant.

If you forget a word, do what native English speakers do all the time, and say things that 'fill' the conversation. This is better than remaining completely silent. Try using 'um', or 'er', if you forget the word.

Don't speak too fast! It's important to use a natural rhythm in speaking English, but if you speak too fast it will be difficult for people to understand you.

Try to relax when you speak, and you'll find that your mouth does most of the pronunciation work for you. When you speak English at normal speed, you'll discover that many of the pronunciation rules, such as word linking, happen automatically.

Final tips…

- Try to become less hesitant and more confident.

- Don't be shy to speak - the more you do it, the more confident you'll become.

- Remember to be polite - use "please" and "thank you" if you ask someone to do something for you.