This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2066.
Three ways to speak more English.
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How can you practice speaking English if you don't know anyone else who speaks it?
Today, we share three online resources that you should take advantage of to meet speaking partners and improve your speaking fluency.
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How's everything going today?
I'm great.
How are you, Lindsay?
I'm feeling fantastic today.
Yeah.
What are we getting into?
Oh man, we got a really interesting question that I know a lot of our listeners have about how do you practice speaking English when you don't actually know anyone who's learning English or who speaks English right?
Yes.
It's interesting.
We've got some really good tips for you guys.
I'm in that boat.
I don't know anyone who speaks spanish or french who lives close to me, so i have to get a little bit creative.
Oh for sure, for sure, we all do.
We have to go one level deeper if we want to achieve that fluency that we're looking for.
Um aubry, you studied a language in high school?
Yeah, were you studying french back then, or what were you studying?
Yeah yeah, i was learning french, and this was a real problem.
Practicing speaking, we really didn't do it much in class.
Our teacher had us writing, like filling out worksheets, and we were learning grammar, a lot of french grammar and hardly ever practicing speaking.
What about you, lindsay?
Did you practice speaking a lot in high school nightmare?
Yeah, when i think about learning french in high school, i think i had to get up to french two or something, or was that college?
Well, both high school and college, all i think of is just conjugations on the board.
Yes, i did a lot of that.
Yeah, it was terrible.
It was terrible like students would go up conjugate this verb, but it didn't mean anything to me, Right?
And we didn't have the Internet.
We didn't have the resources that are available now to find speaking partners, to maybe practice speaking with someone over Zoom or the apps that are available now.
It's there's such a wealth of information, that's now so many resources that are now available to help facilitate this.
Oh my gosh, I'm jealous.
I wish I had had these things when I was young, when I was in high school and college to have this.
And also just we've become a more globalized culture.
Like globalization has spread more since the 90s in the early 2000s, right?
Absolutely.
We're just more connected with social media.
So this is inspired today out of a question from a listener.
Aubrey, do you want to read our listener's question?
Sure.
This listener's name is Fair, and they said, how can I practice my English if no one speaks it?
I feel like I can feel the frustration that this listener is feeling, right?
It's like, I would love to be able to go and chat with someone in English, but I don't know anyone.
There's nobody, right?
They don't live in an English-speaking country.
It makes it a little more difficult.
Yeah, and it can be frustrating honestly, just on an emotional level.
If we live in a place where people are maybe not as curious about the outside world right as we are, we might feel a little isolated at times.
And so there are so many resources.
And that's what we're going to talk about today Aubrey on this episode for our listeners to practice, but also connect.
Exactly, right?
We are going to share three ways to practice speaking in a second language when you don't know anyone that speaks it right.
Your friends, your neighbors, the people you're interacting on a day-to-day basis, are not speaking partners for you in English.
That doesn't mean that there's not things you can do.
There are so many resources at your disposal.
Yes, we do a lot of episodes here on All Ears English.
Do we have something that we released last week that our listeners should make sure they check out?
Yes, you guys.
Last week, if you missed episode 2064, you missed some amazing strategies.
Our guest was Matt Abrams, and this episode was called How Structure and Strategies Help You.
Speak Spontaneously with Matt Abrams.
This is the kind of strategies you guys need so that you're ready for the speaking practice that we're talking about today.
Yes, this is a very inspiring episode.
Matt abrahams is a wonderful guy.
Uh, connected with him, he's straight out of stanford school graduate school of business, so his information and insight comes from working with graduates at stanford, graduate students at stanford, and just really being involved in that academic world.
So exciting.
So guys, roll up for that episode if you missed it, and be sure to hit follow.
We have four new episodes every week and you don't want to miss any of them.
Yeah, I love it.
Okay, Aubrey, let's get into the meat of the episode today.
So what is our first suggestion for our listener, for FAIR and for anyone else who's feeling this sense of isolation when it comes to not being able to practice?
Yes.
So number one is to keep in mind that your practice does not have to be in person.
You can find speaking partners online.
There are so many platforms like Zoom or Skype where you can speak with someone through the internet, right?
So imagine how the world opens up to you with all of the people who either speak English or are learning English that you can practice speaking with online.
Oh my god, it's so exciting and I love.
In our community at All Ears English, we've just recently added exciting opportunities like fluency parties for all of our students.
We get together once a month and we party.
Yes, it's so fun and it gives you guys that we're taking away the difficult part of finding speaking partners at All Ears English, where it can be a little tricky to join a group and make a post that says, like I'm looking for speaking partners.
And then maybe no one comments like that can be tough.
Right.
So at All Ears English, we're creating the fluency party.
You can come chat, meet other speaking partners and then stay and talk, practice speaking as long as you can.
It's awesome.
And our students love the Fluency Party.
They're hosted by you and me these days.
You and I are getting on there.
We are hosting this.
We are setting the tone for you guys.
You get to talk with us.
But it's really about you guys all of you, our listeners, our students connecting with each other and having a really interesting conversation.
And then we also have open conversation clubs, which are for any students in our community, our community of listeners.
Exactly.
Right.
You guys, anyone listening to this podcast can participate in those.
We're creating a Zoom room, making one of you the host.
So you can just have that opportunity to speak in English with other speaking partners without, because I know we've recommended in the past, you know, meetups and Facebook groups.
But I often in these English language groups I'll see that where someone will say hey, I'm looking for speaking partners.
And then no one responds.
That's the difficult part to get past.
So here at allers english that's our goal is to remove that part of it for you, make it easier where you can just join the room.
We'll take care of that for you and you can meet speaking partners in there.
I love that we start the room for you and you take it away, take it to connection.
So good but aubry, the fact is not everyone has the time right, because when we we have these live experiences, there's a time right.
It's a specific time that we choose to set up.
So what if you don't necessarily have the time to be in sync with other students or speakers?
Exactly, right?
If you're not able to meet up online with speaking partners, there are other options, luckily.
So our second tip here is to use apps that have voice recognition software.
Yeah, I love this.
There are tons of apps that use this, but we here, at All This English, we've both been using Rosetta Stone for this, and it is amazing, guys.
So Aubrey, what do you think of the feedback on the speaking practice that's available in Rosetta Stone?
Yes, I've been really impressed actually.
I feel like if my pronunciation is off at all, I'm prompted to try again.
So the way I'm pronouncing the phrase has to be pretty spot on before I get that green arrow, right?
And that satisfying ding that lets me know that I got it right.
Yeah, it's the human mind.
We love that ding.
We need that positive reinforcement.
It can go a long way to keep us motivated to keep learning.
It's so funny how we're just motivated by that sound, but it really works.
For sure.
I know it works for me.
We highly recommend this app for speaking practice.
It's one of the best ways to practice, especially like FAIR, if you don't have an available speaking partner, if you don't have the time to come to these groups or schedule, like we know, you're busy professionals.
These apps are available for just a few minutes while you're waiting for an appointment.
Yeah.
And sometimes it's not either or, right?
It's both.
Right.
So during the times when we're waiting for fluency parties or open conversation club or other live events, we are practicing our pronunciation with Rosetta Stone and we are understanding what is the correct pronunciation so that when we get to that fluency party, people understand us.
Yes, absolutely.
Right.
It's the preparation you can put in ahead of time.
I love that.
Exactly.
So guys, luckily for a limited time all these English listeners, that's you guys you can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership at For 40 off Aubrey.
We love a good lifetime membership here.
Don't let me know, right?
I'm planning on my lifetime lasting quite a while still.
So I'm very attracted to any kind of lifetime membership.
We love lifetime membership.
So guys, that's $179 for unlimited access to 25 language courses. for the rest of your life.
So you can redeem your 40 off at rosettastonecom.
Slash A-E-E today and you can use coupon code A-E-E.
Yes, that's R-O-S-E-T-T-A-S-T-O-N-E dot com slash A-E-E.
And we want to thank Rosetta Stone for sponsoring All Ears English.
Yes.
Excellent.
So Aubrey, let's get into our third suggestion.
There's a third way, a third thing we can do.
And again, maybe to add to our repertoire.
What is it?
Exactly right.
This is a way you can meet speaking partners and also just join a room and immediately start practicing speaking in English.
And this is through social apps like, for example, Clubhouse or Telegram voice chat or Discord spaces.
There are a lot of apps that have started opening up these spaces for where you can join a room and immediately be able to chat with the other people in the room.
Interesting.
Yeah, we had a clubhouse room going on for a while.
We may still have one.
Oh, yeah.
We still have our group on there.
You'll see All Ears English on there, right?
We're starting to do these fluency parties in lieu of those clubhouse rooms.
But I still go on clubhouse quite a bit for French and Spanish.
There are lots of rooms that open up where you can either listen in the audience or go up on stage and practice speaking, participate in
There'll be games, lots of activities.
It's a really fun way to practice speaking the language you're learning.
That really was cool when we were doing that in Clubhouse to hear our listeners' voices and hear those questions.
It felt so just real and authentic. right?
I know.
Absolutely.
I miss seeing you guys, you listeners out there.
I miss being able to chat with you on Clubhouse.
Hopefully, you'll be able to join our fluency parties so we can recreate that really fun experience.
And so did we name these apps where they should go?
Do we want to say them one more time?
Aubrey, what are these social apps like Clubhouse?
Well, so we found an article called 5 Best Apps Like Clubhouse for Android and iOS.
So I recommend that or you can just search apps like Clubhouse.
There are lists of like 10 best 15 best.
It's interesting.
Twitter used to have one called, I think, Twitter Spaces.
But when Elon Musk took over, he took that down.
So on a lot of these lists, you'll see Twitter Spaces listed.
But instead of that, because it's not available right now, you can always use Clubhouse Telegram VoiceChat, Discord.
And there are a few others that you'll find on these lists.
I love it.
The point is, get involved.
Choose one of these things, right?
It doesn't have to be everything, but choose one.
However it is that you like to practice, there are ways to practice, guys.
It's just a matter of going out into the world and finding that thing.
Aubrey.
In my experience, people who are successful, they take it into their own hands to find that success.
They don't sit back and wait for it to come to them.
What do you think?
Absolutely.
And you do have to push yourself, right?
It's a lot easier when you have a little bit of free time to just throw on a Netflix show or read a book in your first language, right.
You have to really push yourself, have set goals and be motivated in order to choose something like today's tips.
I love that FAIR is, I can tell you're motivated, right?
You're planning on practicing speaking and you just need to have the resources.
So now you know what to do.
You can push yourself to take that free time and use it to improve your English.
Yeah, guys, don't let it hold you back.
You could be living in the tiniest town anywhere in the world and you have the ability now, in 2023, to become as fluent as someone who lives in the center of Paris or the center of New York City.
It doesn't matter where you live because everyone has the same technology for the most part.
Yes, absolutely.
Right.
If you have access to the Internet, even if not in your home.
I remember when, when I was in Belgium as a nanny, they didn't have Internet at home, but I would go to those Internet cafes.
I'm like, you're dating yourself here.
I know it's true, but that's how it was back then.
Right.
And there may be places where, if you're not able to get Internet at home, see if there's an Internet cafe close by and take advantage of these resources.
Oh, for sure.
For sure.
Any final message to our listeners, plural, before we finish up today, Aubrey?
Yeah, we just want to make sure, like you were saying, don't let a lack of English speakers living near you hold you back from practicing speaking right.
So there are many ways to practice.
We shared three today finding and speaking online with speaking partners, language apps like Rosetta Stone and social apps like Clubhouse Telegram, Discord.
Take advantage of all of these resources.
Yeah, and we wanna remind our listeners about the special deal available to you all today.
Go and grab it, right?
You can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 40% off.
Again, $179 for unlimited access to the 25 language courses.
The way to get that is to go right now to rosettastonecom, slash A-E-E and use the coupon code A-E-E.
Yeah.
All right.
Good stuff, Aubrey.
Thanks for hanging out today.
Really interesting episode.
Yes.
All right.
Talk soon.
Take care.
Bye.
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