In today's Language Learning in 2025 we finally consider the last of the six main study areas: speaking.
Speaking
Raise your hand if you think speaking is the hardest skill to practise in foreign language study.
I certainly have my fingers stretched to the ceiling, but luckily there are some avenues we can explore to help with this final, and often hardest, area.
Paid Tutor
If you can afford it, a paid tutor/conversation partner on a platform like iTalki is one simple way to get conversation practice. How often you have these sessions will be dependent on your budget. Those with the time and means, and the desire/need to progress fast, might meet with their tutor every week, but really any practice is better than none, even if it’s just once a quarter. I currently speak to my Korean tutor for 30 minutes once a month, which fits in with my current means and schedule, but Korean is the only language. I am currently doing this for, as I cannot afford to do so for all nine of my languages at once.
Friends, Family & Language Exchange
Perhaps you are lucky enough to already have native-speaker family members or friends. This obviously provides a welcome, and free, opportunity to practice speaking. The only potential downsides are if they struggle to understand when you make mistakes and if they are unable to formulate responses to your grammar queries. Sometimes it’s hard for native speakers who don’t have a teaching background to explain why something is the way it is.
This can still be an issue with a language exchange partner found through an app too; however, at least in this case you are both on a language study journey, so will understand each other’s needs in that respect. The only thing to manage here is to ensure you set clear goals with your conversation partner as to when you will switch between languages to ensure you both get the practice you need from the relationship.
Solo-study Options
What if you have no acquaintances or language exchange options and cannot afford a tutor? Do you have to give up on speaking practice entirely?
No, there are always things you can try, and that is what we will concentrate on for the remainder of this chapter.
You may well already have heard about, or tried out, shadowing. This is when you find a video or audio with subtitles or transcript available and then you read along with the native speaker, trying to match as closely as possible their speed, pronunciation and intonation. This will help you develop a natural flow to your speech in your target language that will go a long way towards making you sound more fluent, even if you are a only a beginner. This is true of all languages, but for tonal languages in particular, getting the sounds correctly is hugely important if you want to be understood, and shadowing is a good way to practise this and to help you attune your ears.
When engaging in shadowing practice, make sure you choose materials that are right for your level. Generally, the vlogs and podcasts you are using for listening practice should also be a good level for shadowing, so you often won’t need to go out a find additional materials to work from.
If you struggle with particular words or pronunciation, you could also consider using a service like RhinoSpike where you can request a native-speak to record some short audio for you. Ask them to record some sentence that include those words of pronunciation elements and then use them in shadowing. You can pay-it-back by recording one or two of the audio requests people have made for your native language.
For music fans, trying finding the lyrics and then singing along to your favourite tracks. Just be aware that pronunciation of words in songs may differ (sometimes significantly) from how these words are spoken.
You can incorporate your reading materials in your speaking practice too by reading aloud from your latest target-language book or article. For the best results do so either with a tutor/language exchange partner to get their feedback or, if that is not possible, record yourself and then listen back. You will hear where you stumbled over a particular word, or where your pronunciation was a bit off, and you can try to correct it next time. If you listen back to earlier audios several months on, you will see how you are approving, which can also give you a confidence boost if you are studying completely alone.
This is something I do quite often, almost without actively intending to these days as it’s become so ingrained. As you do things throughout the day, describe the actions to yourself in your target language. You will practice speaking but will also be drilling vocabulary and grammar. If you encounter something you don’t know how to say, look it up, or make a note to do so later if you cannot investigate it in that moment. Ask yourself questions and answer them. Think about whether, if you had such a conversation with a native speaker, you would know the necessary words and expressions. If not, it can be something for your next study session.
You may need to be careful how and when you do this: family may understand, but perhaps avoid the activity on a crowded bus or in a room full of strangers. My husband is by now quite used to me trotting out random foreign words and phrases in the middle of our conversations. He does not speak any foreign languages, but he now recognises certain words and phrases that I use often, so if I ask him for a cup of tea in Japanese, he will make me one, and if I tell him I don’t want to do something in Korean, he knows I am complaining and refusing.
Sometimes you will find speaking contests and other such events for your target language. These may seem daunting at first, but they can be extremely beneficial. They often present an opportunity to practice both writing and speaking, since you will need to write your speech before you can present it. There may even be a chance of winning a prize.
I have entered the Korea Speaking Contest here in Australia on several occasions. The first time I made it to the final twelve contestants with my video submission and took part in the live final via Zoom. I was super nervous and stammered my way through the speech, staring constantly down at my notes. I didn’t place in the top three, naturally, with such a performance, but it was still a good experience and I got some lovely words of encouragement in the chat.
My second and third attempts, I won third place each time and received a gift card as a prize.
I still have the submission videos for each of my attempts, and when I compare the first one with the more recent entries, I can see how far I’ve come both in terms of the complexity of the language I am using and the confidence of my delivery. It is a wonderful boost to see that progress and know my hard work is slowly paying off.
As a point of interest, the Korean Speaking Contest is held in various countries around the world, with the first-prize winners from each country winning a trip to Seoul to take part in the live Grand Final, and this exciting holiday opportunity leads us neatly to my final point.
I left this option until the end because, for most students, it would not be viable. Naturally, though, if you have the opportunity to move abroad, whether for work or for a year of study, you will need to speak and communicate in your target language daily and your speaking skills are going to progress at an accelerated rate.
For many of us that isn’t an option, but even saving up and going for a week-long holiday will give you an opportunity for fully immersed practice. I know the two times I have visited Seoul I was a bit nervous for the first day or two but gradually became more confident in speaking as the holiday progressed.
If holidays, too, are not possible for you, there may still be opportunities to seek out native speakers with whom to practice. If your town has grocery stores or restaurants related to your target language, some of the employees may be native speakers, so you could try making conversation at the till or ordering your food in your target language. I do so when I visit Korean supermarkets and restaurants. It may only be a few short sentences, but it is still all good practice.
Gather up your courage and seek out any speaking opportunities you can find!
Accepting Mistakes
One thing that tends to keep people from practising speaking is the fear of making mistakes. It can be easy to convince yourself that you ‘are not ready yet’ and that you’ll speak only once you reach a certain level. This is understandable, of course, but the risk is you end up never uttering a word, as you never believe you have reached that mythical level yet.
It’s okay to make mistakes.
Imagine you are speaking in your native language and make a Freudian slip or mispronounce something. Perhaps you’ll feel a little embarrassed, depending on the situation and your audience, but mostly your listeners will laugh with you and a moment later it will already be forgotten. We quickly move on from mistakes and slips of the tongue in our native language, so why do we worry so much more about a mistake in a second or third language?
Unless you are a heritage speaker or blend seamlessly into the ethnic group of your target language for another reason, most of the time your native-language listeners will be fully aware that you are a learner. Perhaps your mistakes will cause some amusement, as in your native language, but people will be understanding. Many may be amazed and thankful about your interest in their language and culture, and even if all you say is ‘hello’, they will enthuse over how good your language skills are. In your mind you are stressing over the incorrect verb ending you just used, but your listeners are likely filled with appreciation at the effort you are making to speak to them in their language, and they will understand your meaning even if you didn’t get it quite right.
Just the other day I was speaking to my Korean tutor about the Korean textbook I was working through which incorporated history stories. I wanted to tell her I had been reading about the legendary figure Dangun, but I mispronounced it as dang-geun, which means ‘carrot’. We both had a good laugh and then continued the conversation as if the error had never happened.
The more you speak the language, the better you will get. If we don’t allow ourselves to make mistakes we will not have the opportunity to learn from them and improve, so try not to let the fear of making errors hold you back from speaking practice. Instead, embrace making mistakes as a chance to grow and take them in your stride. No one is perfect at anything when they first start out.
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