Five Ways to Improve Your English Speaking Ability

Maybe you have been studying English for awhile now and want to improve your speaking ability. Here are five tips and tricks on how to move up to the next level.

• Speak English.
  Yes, I know. This is obvious, but if you don't speak English regularly, you can't improve. Did you know that each language uses different muscles? Training your face to speak English is like training for a sport: you have to develop the right muscles.
  

• Don't worry about mistakes.
  Everyone who learns anything new makes mistakes. If you don't make mistakes, you're not improving. If you say nothing, you can't improve. Say something.
  

• Listen to English.
  Listen regularly and listen to something you enjoy. If you find it boring, you won't listen. Also, step up from language tapes and CDs. Language tapes are good up to a point. Your speaking ability will improve if you start listening to radio, TV, and podcasts that are for native speakers of English - they're more natural.
  
  
• Ask Questions You Know the Answers to.
  If you know the answer, you can practice listening. You don't have to worry about understanding the answer or not - You already know the answer.
  
  
• Ask Questions.
  Ask questions to control the conversation. If you are lost in a conversation, you'll become bored and you'll stop listening. If you practice controlling the conversation with a few questions, you'll have more fun. What questions? Try this: Start with "I'm sorry, I don't understand." Then add one of the following:
  

1. What do you mean?
2. Could you repeat that?
3. What does (repeat a word or phrase) mean?
   
   And you can also ask the most common question in English conversation: What?

Most of all, if you want to improve your English - or anything else - Enjoy Yourself!

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