I CAN UNDERSTAND English but I CAN'T Speak. How TO IMPROVE Your Speaking Skills

I can understand spoken English but I can't speak – have you ever said it to yourself?

I have.

But there are some things you can DO to improve your English speaking skills so that you will

not just understand it but can SPEAK it as well!

There’re some problems that English learners have that prevent them from speaking fluently.

Problem 1.

You have limited vocabulary Problem 2.

You know the word but you’re not sure how to use it in the conversation

Problem 3.

You’re afraid of grammar mistakes And today I'd like to talk to you about HOW

these problems can be solved.

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Now let’s start with discussing the first problem.

You have limited vocabulary.

What do you need to do to solve it?

When I was learning English, I never learned single words.

I learned the whole phrases.

Learn vocabulary in context, find as many examples of using that phrase as you can,

for example, you’re learning the word – hilarious – in English, check what it means ,and then

look up some examples with this word.

Every dictionary has a bunch of examples, and that’s great, you can look them up and

write them down.

And you can see the same word in different combinations and different phrases.

When you learn new words, create your own sentences straight away.

You can send a message to your friend using new words, but make up a new sentence with

this word, so you’re not only learning, but you’re practicing and you’re able

to use English words.

Another effective way to improve your speaking skills is by asking yourself questions.

You ask yourself, and then you try to find the answer.

At first, it would be difficult to come up with the right words, but your brain gets

used to searching information in your mind.

The thing that I used when I was learning English was talking to myself and asking myself

different questions.

I realized that I spent hours watching videos in English, I was listening to many different

speakers, and I could understand pretty well, but when it came to speaking, it felt like

I don’t know what to say, I can’t remember the words and my vocabulary is pretty limited.

But the problem was I had NOONE to practice my English with, so the thing that I used

was asking myself questions.

After watching a video lesson on YouTube, I retold everything with my own words, and

then I asked myself questions.

Maybe I looked strange, because literally I was talking to myself.

This tip helped me a lot, because I learned how to memorize words and use them in the

sentences.

Problem 2.

You know the word but you’re not sure how to use it in the conversation

You can also use all the tips I’ve just told you about, and another important tip

is - Use monolingual dictionary, where all the

definitions are in English, not in your native language.

Without checking the translation, you will be able to understand English words and that

will help you to feel comfortable when using them in natural conversation.

Learn stock phrases.

Those are well-known, overused phrases.

For example, a stock phrase: “Could you tell me about it?”

“Could you tell me about it?”

That’s something you can say in many situations, and you will feel more confident about your

speaking.

Learn phrases that help you  to start a conversation, 

to express agreement and disagreement, learn

commonly used questions.

That’s crucial for improving your speaking skills.

You can also watch my video HOW to improve your English, here’s the link to this video.

Problem 3.

You’re afraid of grammar mistakes When the baby is born, he’s learning a language

by listening and understanding first and then,,, after a year or more, he starts speaking.

He doesn’t read the grammar rules, but he CAN SPEAK without grammar mistakes.

Why?

Because he learns and adopts different speech patterns.

Do NOT learn grammar rules, learn grammar patterns.

Grammar patterns are the ways to describe how words are used in English.

For example, the verb arrive is almost always used with the preposition AT, but we can confuse

it and change with the preposition TO or ON.

I arrived in the airport yesterday.

– That’s incorrect.

I arrived at the airport yesterday.

– Right He arrived on the meeting.

– That’s incorrect.

He arrived at the meeting.

That’s right.

When we speak about the country or city, we say ARRIVE IN.

When we are talking about the places like airports, hotels, railway stations and home,

we say ARRIVE AT If you learn the patterns, it will be easier

to use them.

You can go to grammarpatterns.com, where you can find so many different patterns explained.

Without speaking practice, it’s impossible to speak.

So practice and repeat out loud all new phrases and grammar patterns as well.

When I was learning English grammar, it was so hard to understand Conditionals.

I spent hours reading grammar rules and writing tests, but it was still confusing because

we don’t have the same rules in my native language.

When I started to repeat the patterns, I mastered the conditional sentences and I don’t need

to think what verb forms to choose, it goes with the flow

If I won a million dollars, I would buy a jet

If I won a million dollars, I would buy a jet

If I won a million dollars, I would buy a jet

When you repeat grammar constructions, you memorize new patterns, and you will use them

in conversation and you don’t need to think “what tense should I use?” or “what

preposition should I say?”.

You will speak naturally and fluently.

I’ve told you about the problems that prevented students from speaking English fluently.

I hope this video was useful.

If you can understand English well, but you can’t speak, use my tips to improve your

speaking skills and become a great English speaker.

And if you like this video and you want more videos like this, click that subscribe button

and the bell because every week I make video lessons to empower you, inspire you to learn

English and upgrade your level.

I love you, guys.

Thanks for watching!

See you next time.