So, you want to learn a language fast? It’s great that you’re so keen! Unfortunately, there’s no ‘quick fix,’ but there are ways to ensure you can progress as fast as possible in your foreign language speaking adventure.
Read this comprehensive guide on how to speak a language as quickly and as easily as possible
Want to speak another language fast? Then focus on speaking.
Many people are interested in learning how to speak other languages but often give up because their approach is wrong. If you’re just writing out lists of vocabulary or conjugating verbs, you’re approaching it wrong.
Remember this: if you want to learn how to speak a foreign language fluently, you need to speak.
Speaking is the most important skill in language learning and it’s often the most overlooked. This might be down to opportunities or fear but speaking really helps bring things together.
Here’s a little story…
One year, I was examining a class of students for their final speaking exam. The group had a wide range of abilities with target grades ranging from A to D.
Though the student whose target grade was the lowest did get a D in his listening, reading, and writing papers, he got an A in the speaking test. Not only that, but his grade was actually higher than the A-grade student. How can this be, you might ask?
Well, this young man was such a confident speaker that he spoke nonstop throughout the exam – it was actually a tough job getting all of the questions in! Yes, he made mistakes in his language and grammar, but he communicated so much and delivered so many ideas.
Conversely, the A-grade student was incredibly nervous, hated practising speaking, and tried to learn things by rote.
What this experience tells you is that being confident in speaking is essential.
How to learn to speak a language: Top tips
Now we know that speaking and practising speaking is so important, here are some top tips on how to learn to speak a foreign language:
1. Speak aloud when reading and writing
If you’re in a class situation, this might not be a great thing to do but if you’re learning in private, speaking aloud when you read and write is a great way to cement what you’re learning into your brain. As well as this, it allows you to link the sounds of the words and letters and embed the pronunciation.
If you are alone, go all out! Don’t be afraid to mimic a real accent. I had a friend who could barely speak French, but he’d learnt how to mimic the accent to perfection and so people often thought he was the fluent one until he didn’t understand a word they said back to him!
2. Think in the language
It actually takes years and years and 100% fluency to think in a language naturally. This doesn’t mean you can’t force yourself to think in the language.
When you’re in a queue or waiting for a bus, make the language you’re learning come to the front of your mind. Ask yourself questions about whether you can describe where you are, what you can see, or maybe think about whether you could go about the same business in the language you’re learning.
You’ll know you’ve reached fluency when you don’t have to think before you speak – you’ll just know what to say without translating it first in your head. Thinking in the language floods your brain with the foreign language and helps you get to this point faster.
3. Imitate scenes from your favourite movie
Try speaking in a foreign language by recreating scenes from your favourite movie. I don’t mean that you have to get all dramatic and organize props! Rather, watch a scene (with subtitles in the language if needed), then pause the movie and see if you can copy what someone said parrot-fashion.
If you can do this, you’ll learn how quickly native speak and you’ll also learn great pronunciation. Finally, you’ll pick up new words and cement your learning further. It’s also really fun!
Also, it doesn’t have to be a movie – video clips from your favourite shows work just as well. Using TV shows means you can also dip in and out without getting yourself too engrossed in a two-hour movie then forgetting what you set out to achieve in the first place!
4. Learn the lyrics to songs
I still remember some of the songs my French teacher taught me when I was 12. Scientists have discovered that the more musical you are, the more likely you are to get songs stuck in your head. So, if you’re musical or forever getting earworms, listen to songs in the language you’re learning!
Even if you’re not musically minded, you’ve probably learnt the lyrics to thousands of songs in your lifetime. There’s just something about putting words to music that make them stick.
Learning the lyrics to songs in a foreign language is, therefore, a great way to learn new words and get speaking the language more fluently and more quickly.
5. Travel (if you can)
When you really want to learn how to speak different languages, the best thing you can do by far is travel to a place where those languages are spoken. Nothing beats speaking to natives in their country. Things will just slip into place and start to make sense.
Of course, travel is not always possible but there are still things you can do if you can’t travel:
Track down a native speaker or two in your city and see if they’ll do a conversation exchange. There are even websites that will organise these for you. The idea with this is that you meet the other person for a coffee and spend some time talking in their language and your language so you can both improve.
Find online conversation groups. The Covid-19 pandemic has a lot to answer for, but it has also done a lot of good in pushing video conferencing capabilities. If you’re not able to meet up with native speakers, you can find people online who are willing to do virtual language exchanges.
6. Find someone to learn and speak with
If you’re keen to progress faster, you’re likely to do better if you’ve got someone else to learn alongside. Whether this is a formal arrangement in a class or just a friend who’s keen to learn the language too, it will really help. With a language buddy, you’ll have someone to practise with.
Having a non-native speaker to practise with can be just as valuable as a native speaker because they are in the same position as you and will likely have made similar errors too. It’s also much more fun doing it together!
Getting over the fear of speaking the language
One of the biggest barriers to learning to speak a foreign language is your own confidence. Some people are naturally confident and have no problem with this but if this isn’t you, you’ll need to work hard on overcoming the confidence barrier.
Firstly, think about why you’ve got the fear or anxiety of speaking. If you can figure it out, it’s much easier to be rational and put steps in place to overcome it.
Next, consider what’s the worst that could happen by you speaking the language?
There are likely four things that could go wrong:
- There’s an awkward silence because you forget how to say a word.
- You don’t understand what was said.
- You say something wrong.
- They don’t respond back to you in the language and respond in English instead (which can be demoralising).
There’s no way of knowing if any of these things are going to happen. The only way you can move on from this fear is to understand that they happen to everyone and that they’re a normal part of learning a language.
Even though I’m completely fluent in Spanish, every time I go on holiday to Spain and visit a tourist resort, people will still speak back to me in English. After all, they might just want to practise your language too!
Final thoughts
Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick way. Humans aren’t robots with software to install and learning a language fluently requires both time and effort. That said, there are lots of things you can do to make fluency come more quickly.
The two main things we’ve discussed in this article are focusing on speaking and getting rid of the fear of speaking. As is evidenced by the aforementioned ex-student of mine – you can achieve great things by communicating in the language and confidence and a ‘have-a-go’ attitude are much more important than accuracy.
Once you’ve got your head around this idea, you’ll make progress much faster. Good luck!