What Should You Do If You Can’t Bring Yourself to Speak English While Studying Abroad?

When studying abroad, many students run into an awkward problem: although they have studied English for a long time, they still cannot bring themselves to speak it.

In fact, being unable to speak English is not a serious problem. It usually just means you are not fluent enough yet. You have not reached the point where practice makes perfect. As long as you keep speaking and practice repeatedly, even a few dozen times, you will see a real change. For example, some students dare to speak, but once they open their mouths, they start stammering. That is really because they have not practiced enough and do not speak often enough, so they are not yet comfortable using the language.

Many teachers recommend practicing in front of a mirror. In the absence of a language environment, that is indeed a useful method. But since you are already abroad, you might as well find foreign friends directly and practice with them. Before you start practicing, however, you first need to absorb some input.

Here, we recommend shadowing materials. You can choose content that interests you, such as films, American TV series, or even TED Talks. These can help you find corresponding real-life situations, and then you can adapt those expressions and use them in daily life.

If you prefer British English, you can watch Sherlock. The twists and turns of the plot are excellent, and the rhythm and cadence of the dialogue are especially appealing, but the speaking speed is relatively fast, so you will need plenty of practice. If you prefer the liveliness of American English, Hollywood blockbusters and comedies are both good choices. For example, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Avengers are both excellent.

Once you have digested the material above, you can try practicing with speeches. Speeches not only help you learn the language itself, but also teach you more about article structure from a speech-writing perspective. They can even help you develop a certain sense of humor in English. All of these are very helpful for using English in the future.

When practicing, let the other person say one sentence, then pause and shadow it yourself. If you run into unfamiliar content, stop and practice it a few more times first. Once you are familiar with it, put the parts together and shadow them as a whole. Your standards for shadowing can be fairly strict: you can imitate the pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, pauses, and even speed. Once you can match the original sentence exactly, you can move on.

Of course, another reason some people cannot get started speaking is that they simply do not know enough words. When your vocabulary is limited, it is like dumplings cooked in a teapot: they just cannot be poured out. So we should start with common words, memorize high-frequency vocabulary first, and then gradually expand our vocabulary. In this way, your spoken English will improve little by little.