The only way one can be proficient in speaking English is to actually keep talking! It is said that the best method to become a good writer is to keep writing. Similarly, the ideal way to speak English or speak like a native speaker is keep speaking with the correct accent and grammar.
Acquire the interest and accent
Motivation, Repetition and Exposure – all three play a major role. Remember the native speakers’ phrases and expressions by repeating them and using them in your day to day communication.
- Try to keep in touch with foreigners by talking more and becoming accustomed to their diction, modulation, intonation, and culture and tradition.
Practice, practice, practice
You’ll become confident and fluent users of the English language
Retain vocabulary using three steps
Recall the context
- Retain the text
- Reproduce it in the test
- Contextual language learning is the best technique
- Let the native speakers’ idioms and slang be saved in your long term memory by consistent practice
Read aloud and gel well with native speakers
Mimic the way they talk.
Make the best use of technology
Make the most of the smart phones in recording your accent, phrases and expressions
Get the Slang
Wanna (want to), Gonna (going to), Hang out (spend time together)
- Common colloquial expressions related to cars and driving
- ‘flat tyre’ (Indian English: punctured tyre), ‘open the trunk’ (“open the dickey of the car”), ‘ran out of gas’
- One should listen to and use these expressions more
Use idioms
These add a level of sophistication to your English and make you sound more like a native speaker
- Idioms do not make sense when understood literally, but add to your vocabulary when you speak the words in the context you are used to hearing them
Fine tune your pace and clarity
What you say is as important as how you say it. Improving the pace, clarity, and stress and unstress on the words of your speaking will go a long way in improving your fluency and help native speakers to better understand you.
