Tips for learners
I am afraid to speak
- Allow yourself to make mistakes – it’s an essential part of learning! Relax – there are always many different ways of saying the same thing. Be brave and open your mouth!
- Radio, TV and videos offer a variety of spoken material as well as a chance to hear different accents and dialects. It is easy to find topics you are interested in. You can repeat the lines after speakers to help your speaking skills, especially your intonation and rhythm.
- Collect a beginners’ "mini-vocabulary" of your own. Learn some useful and polite phrases (i.e. greetings, question words and expressions like these: Sorry, but I don’t speak very much English/Spanish; Could you speak more slowly/repeat that, please? People are often delighted when they note that you take an interest in their language.
- Learn a few useful expressions which will keep a conversation going and tell the speaker that you are listening, for example That’s nice to hear; What a pity; How interesting; Yes/No; I understand; Really?. It gives you the opportunity to continue listening to the language while learning more. Such phrases can be picked up by listening to Radio, TV and videos.
- If you have to go to a doctor or bank abroad, you can rehearse the situation first by doing role plays. Practise telephone conversations with a friend. Learning materials often have models for such dialogues.
- Observe native speakers of a language, in person, on TV or in films and pay attention to the way they interact with each other (speech, gestures, voice…). Try to copy and apply what you have seen when you use the language. Listen carefully how people from different age groups talk:
- can you notice differences between males and females or people in different positions?
- pay attention to how people express their feelings (anger, love, delight).
- Learning pronunciation can be fun if you use (children’s) rhymes.