Frustrated with my
Speaking Skills

by Juan Beard
(Dominican Republic)

Sometimes I feel somewhat frustrated about studying English, because I do it so much and yet cannot understand, even when it is something that I have already studied before.

I can write many things in English, but it is more difficult to for me to speak in English. What can I do?

Have a nice day.

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Hi Juan Beard,

Believe it or not your situation is very common, at least in Spain.

Many people have strong writing skills while their speaking skills remain much lower. I believe this is due to how people are learning languages.

How have you been studying?

Most people buy grammar books and do reading and writing activities.

What do you do to practice speaking?

Whenever you want to improve something, you need to do that activity. So in this case you need to SPEAK.

If you would like some ideas or tips on how you can incorporate speaking English into your daily life, check out this article: How to Speak English.

This is one of four pages which provides you with tips on how to improve the four areas of English (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing).

Here are three extra tips to keep you going:

***
1) Speak to yourself in English.
You can do this in your mind or aloud. DO IT. You could be surprised at how easily you can train yourself.

Remember how people tell you to think positively or train your mind to think a certain way? You can do this as well for your English

***
2) Read aloud.
When you read aloud you are practicing and warming up your speaking muscles.

Speaking in a different language is hard work for your mouth and the more you move your mouth to speak English, the easier it will get.

***
3) Listen to English ALL DAY!
The more you listen to English, the easier you will be able to form sentences comfortably, use vocabulary and improve pronunciation.

***
Make the commitment to do at least one of these things. If you do it daily, you will notice a difference.

Change comes from action.

I hope that helps you Juan! Let me know how it goes.

All the best,
Diana

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