Use It or Lose IT! Practicing American English

By Ela Britchkow, Speech Therapist, American Accent Specialist

If you don’t use and practice English, you will lose what you know.

​ At the end of the day, you are responsible for your own language growth.
 
 Read on to learn how to grow to become a  highly proficient English speaker. 

​Being an ESL student is something to be proud of. Most people in the world only speak one language. You are brave enough to speak two or more.

Be proud of who you are and what you are accomplishing.
​
If you go a long period without speaking a language, you will lose proficiency.

It’s similar to a sport or musical instrument. Practice is necessary to stay strong. I speak from experience. English is my fourth language. Since I don’t use my other languages, I have forgotten quite a bit. So it’s important to speak English as much as you can. Some of my clients want to improve their English, but don’t live in an English speaking country.

Some live in the US, but their workplace, friends and neighborhood is within their culture and speak their first language. There are many things that you can do to increase your language practice, but it takes an extra effort.
 
No one is a perfect English speaker, so don’t wait until you are ‘perfect’ to have conversations in English. English is about communication, not perfection.
 
Textbooks are not your greatest resource – people are. Many people believe that if they just study, study, study, then they will get better at English. That’s not generally true.

You need real-live English speakers to interact with in order to grow in English. Once you have vocabulary and grammar and use my program so that your speech is easy to understand, it’s a matter of speaking until English is second nature to you..
 
Practice ideas:

• Watch a TV show and act out the part of one of the characters. Focus on the melody of the language as well as the grammar and vocabulary.
• Find an American pen pal online who also wants to practice speaking English you can Skype with.
• Find an American who wants to learn your first language and you can take turns practicing English.
• If you are in the US, use salespeople in stores, wait staff in restaurants, phone calls for medical appointments and business calls. You may want to write yourself a script and practice it before calling or talking.
• Ask a trusted friend to remind you if you are not saying a word or sound correctly.
• When you are focused on producing a specific sound, put a small object in your pocket. Each time you touch the object, it is a reminder to produce that sound correctly.
• Practice speaking in front of a mirror. It’s the next best thing to talking to another person. It also gives you cues of how you are using your mouth, tongue, lips, jaws, hand gestures and posture.
• Record yourself and then compare what you said to the American example.
• Once you are working with an American Pronunciation Specialist, she will give you specific ideas for the sounds, intonations patterns, and other features that need strengthening.

 
Our American English Pronunciation Software program is an outstanding tool for practicing English in your real life.
 
Good luck with your practice and don’t give up. At the end of the day you are responsible for your language growth, BUT… help is nearby. You only need to reach to us.