This is the first installment of my new ‘Tuesday Tips’ series. Every Tuesday, I’ll try to share a simple tip on how to improve your language skills. Some of these are techniques I use with students in class and others are things I’ve found work well when learning languages myself. If you decide to try them out, let me know how they went by leaving a comment below the article.
Many people think that speaking more quickly in their second language will make them sound more fluent. These people are wrong! Speaking too fast has exactly the opposite effect. It makes people sound nervous and unsure of themselves. Have a look at these examples.
First, an example of someone speaking slowly:
Now, an example of someone speaking too fast:
Obviously, the second example is a little exaggerated but I think it makes the point well. I certainly know who I would have more confidence in!
Speaking slowly also has a lot of benefits for language learners, such as:
1. It gives you time to think while you are speaking so you don’t need to hesitate while trying to remember vocabulary or decide how to express a yourself.
2. It means you can concentrate on making your pronunciation clear and accurate.
3. It makes you feel more confident because it gives you time to breathe evenly and relax while you speak.
It’s a very simple tip but it works really well! Try it today and see how much more confident it makes you sound and feel.