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6 Ways to Immediately Improve Your English
Communication Skills
You may have memorized endless lists of vocabulary, you
may know all the grammar needed to hold any conversation and still find
yourself at a loss when wanting to express yourself.
There are various reasons behind this phenomenon – some
of them more obvious than others.
Here is a few tips to help
overcome the difficulties you might be experiencing, using some of the
simplest methods to improve your English communication skills.
1. Slow Down Your Speaking
Speed
You might be an fluent speaker when it comes to your
mother tongue, but expecting the same standards from yourself when speaking in
a foreign language may not be very realistic.
Especially, if you’re at the early stages of learning.
Learners are often told not to worry about the mistakes they’re making,
however, it is easy to understand why you would like to make a good impression
on your audience.
To overcome this difficulty, you may try slowing down your speaking speed.
To overcome this difficulty, you may try slowing down your speaking speed.
Nobody will hold it against you if you speak more slowly and clearly. Great speakers do the same to get their message across.
Selecting your words carefully may also be seen as a sign of respect towards
your audience. It shows that you want to give them the best possible answer.
2. Give Yourself Time
to Think
You may be worried that the
people you’re talking to are impatient and would like you to say what you want
as quickly as possible.
First of all, it may not be
true – people often prefer a well-thought-out answer to a rushed one.
So just relax.
So just relax.
Another practical thing you
can do is equipping yourself with fixed phrases you can use when remaining
silent doesn’t seem to be an option. Here’s an example:
·
Why
is there so much violence on TV? That’s a good question. Let me think for a
moment, I haven’t really thought about it before. Well, I suppose…
Here the speaker gains
considerable amount of time to reflect just by repeating the question
and adding a few sentences. If you do the same, you’ll sound more fluent and
won’t feel the pressure of having to say something before you’re ready.
Fixed or set
phrases are phrases whose words are usually fixed in a certain order. They
can be verb patterns, idioms, collocations – basically anything we always say
in one particular way. For example,
·
during
the day
·
in
the meantime
·
It’s
been a long time since
·
Sorry
to bother/trouble you, but…
·
Would
you mind if…?
·
Oh,
come on!
·
I’m
just kidding!
·
For
what it’s worth,…
·
To
be right/wrong about
·
Tit
for tat/an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
3. Learn Sentences, Not Only Words
In a way, this will take
the pressure off too. When you learn a new word, try to memorize a couple of
sentences that contain it.
There might come a time
when you can use one particular sentence with little, or no alteration at all.
Unfortunately, many people learn words by heart, but have no idea how to
use them in a sentence.
It will be such a relief
not having to worry about whether the sentence is correct grammatically or not.
Let’s look at an example:
to appreciate = to recognize
the value of something/somebody
·
I
think it’s necessary to feel appreciated in a relationship/ at work.
·
I
appreciate all your hard work.
Isn’t it much more useful
to memorize ’appreciate’ this way?
4. Learn to Listen
When speaking in a foreign language, you might be so
focused on what you are saying and whether it’s correct or not, that you forget
to listen to what others are saying.
This is a big mistake as they might be using the exact
words or grammar you’ll be needing later on. So pay attention to what’s being said around you, it’s your most important
resource at the time of speaking to someone.
5. Practise Your Interrogatives
We also need to keep in
mind the fact that communication is a two-way process. Not only does it
make you seem uninterested – even rude – if you don’t ask questions, you might
also end up being the one who has to do all the talking. So, when you’ve
run out of ideas about what to say next, remember: others might have something
to add.
·
What are your views on that?
·
How about you? What do you think?
·
Why do you think there’s so much violence on
TV?
Questions like this will
keep the conversation going and will show your interest in other people’s opinion.
They will also give you time to relax a little and start enjoying yourself.
Interrogatives can be quite
tricky, so make sure you spend enough time learning the correct ways of asking
questions.
6. Produce, Produce, Produce
As I said at the beginning of this article, you might
know a lot about the language, but this is passive knowledge that must be activated somehow. Your aim is to be able to
produce correct English; practice is undeniably the best way to learn
and improve.
Writing is one way of producing language; it may help you
get used to and reflect on the ways English operates, which, in turn, might
prove to be useful when speaking.
Speaking, on the other hand, is a much more spontaneous
process and nothing prepares you for it better than actually doing it. So, find people you
can practise with & improve your communication skills easily.
For more updates stay tuned with us.
