Have you ever gotten stuck to the point where you understand so much of English yet are unable to express your ideas in English? You hear English, read English, and yet as soon as you try to speak, it’s all gone. It’s hard, your sentences are very slow.
This is a problem that I see very frequently with my students and the main cause for this is that most learning has focused on listening and reading. But these are not speaking skills. Speaking is a very different skill set. And it requires quick recall of words and the ability to put together sentences very fast and speak directly in English without converting from your native language first. And if you haven’t done this before, your brain will not do it automatically.
Another issue is the translation thinking. Many learners build up sentences in their native language and then try to translate into English. This is a much slower process and often can lead to a breakdown. You have to think in English and use sentences. You have to speak in English.
Fear is another very big issue here. Often, I talk to people and I say, “Well, I know enough words to get by and communicate” but the issue is not about words but it’s about your fear. You are afraid to make mistakes and this slows everything down. But the more you speak, the faster you’re going to get used to this and the more natural your English gets. It’s not about making things perfect; it’s about speaking.
There are a number of ways that you can solve this problem. And one of them is you need a practice speaking in English in a structured way. You need to not just focus on learning vocabulary and learning grammar rules. You need to actually practice your English and build speaking habits. And you can do this by doing conversations in English in a controlled environment, by practicing sentence structures, by practicing English that you will use in real life like: introducing yourself, ordering at a restaurant, asking for information, talking about your day to day routine. These patterns are something that you need to build in your brain and that you can access automatically.
You also have to work on combining listening and speaking. You will want to start hearing real English and actually using that to speak. This trains your brain to start thinking in English and this will increase your speaking speed and confidence. Listening and not doing anything with that is not going to help you very much. It needs to be an interactive activity.
The other thing you need to have in mind is that you have to practice your speaking regularly. You won’t be able to speak really well unless you do it every day. It’s not about a one off thing where you get together once a week and try to speak in English; it has to be a regular practice where you try to actively use the English. Even doing just a small speaking routine every day like speaking out loud to questions, repeating after a dialogue, or just speaking about something for a few minutes each day and then building a speaking routine on that. This will start to help you and you will feel more comfortable about expressing yourself in English.
Ultimately, the problem of listening and understanding versus speaking in English is not a question of talent. You’re simply not speaking in English in a way that will build this skill. But once you do this and you start practicing and you start building this up as a regular activity rather than just learning English in general, then suddenly the change happens. The speed increases, the sentences come faster and easier, and you will have a sense of confidence about being able to use English when you have to.