How I taught myself to speak English

I could barely speak English until I turned 24. (I’m 26 now.) I had been studying the language for over 10 years, but I still couldn’t speak it well. I thought that English was not my strong suit and that it was too late to follow up native speakers.

In Korea, students learn how to read or listen to English at school. In high school, they have to memorize more than 10,000 words. But we don’t have much time to speak it in class. All English tests we take are also about reading and listening skills. So, despite knowing a lot of difficult words, many Koreans can’t communicate in English. Just like me in the past.

After I quit my first job, I was looking for another one in which I could use my English skills. I thought it would be great if I could work in a more professional environment. But my English skills were not good enough.

At that time, I remembered my English classes in high school. They were never good memories. I didn’t want to stress myself while studying English so I started watching TV series and movies. I just tried to repeat after the actresses, including their pronunciation, gestures, and even tones of voice.

Day by day, I was more and more used to repeating what was said in TV series, and I could feel I was making progress. It made me feel really good and confident. Every time I finished one, I could feel it’s getting easier to repeat for the next time.

Actually, in my case, repeating lines from one movie several times is way more useful for me than trying a new one every time. I don’t know why. I’ve watched some of them more than 20 times!

If you watch the same movie more than 20 times, you can memorize some lines even if you don’t want it. Memories of these sentences always come with the movie’s sounds and situations. It means now you can use those expressions in proper situations, or whenever you want with correct pronunciation and intonation. Also, while watching them you can learn a lot of precious phrasal verbs, cultural background and so on.

Anyway, after a year, I was able to say my own sentences. What a big outcome!

It was a strange feeling for me that I didn’t do anything hard to learn how to speak English. I enjoyed it all the time. And then I realized again that my speaking skill has improved because I’ve been trying to speak English. It was a very simple but obvious lesson.

So, just listen carefully and repeat. Move your mouth. That’s all! I know that many students, especially from Asian regions have already got enough grammar and a lot of vocabulary. But you don’t even have to think about the grammar while doing this.

Of course, I know I’ve got a lot to learn as my English is still not perfect. But I’m really proud of what I’ve done over last 2 years. Now English is part of my life. And I’m really, really happy about it.

Miri, Upper-Intermediate

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