The Skill of Good Speaking
When I was in high school, I took Spanish for all four years. In those four years, I had many different classmates with many different speaking levels.
Some had beautiful accents that covered their horrible grammar and pronunciation. Not everyone that can roll their Rs understands an accent mark.
Other’s pronounced it painstakingly perfect. They pronounced the right consonants and emphasized the correct syllables, but they couldn’t understand the fluidity of the language.
There were the sad few that couldn’t get anything right. They butchered the language. The rare moments they were able to use the right words, their pronunciation was far from correct in their nonexistent accent.
The majority of the students got the gist of it, nearly perfect pronunciation with enough of an accent. There were the lucky few who spoke beautiful Spanish. These were usually those who had spoken Spanish at home for years or who’s first language was Spanish.
The skill of good speaking takes time to develop. It isn’t necessary to have perfect pronunciation or any accent at all to be understood, but without at least proper pronunciation, you will come across as a beginner in the language as opposed to a native.
The best way to develop good speaking is by practicing. You need to practice speaking extensively in order to gain correct pronunciation and speed. There are several ways to go about this: you should practice them all.
Hear it, Speak it
The first way to practice your speech is to say what you hear. Some languages are very say-what-you-read such as Spanish and Italian. This means that it’s pronounced just as it’s spelled for most of the time. But some languages, such as French, have many silent letters and strange pronunciations that require many rules.
Before you start anything, you need to review the rules of pronunciation for your target language. A great program to look into is Pronounce it Perfectly
As you progress, move onto more difficult and extensive programs. Use programs that follow text and that are free from text. By also including a text version, you will know how to pronounce the words that you read.
Read out loud
Find reading material such as books, magazines, and newspapers, and read out loud. Don’t include this as your reading comprehension tie because taking the time to translate every word will slow you down. Right now, you need to focus on pronunciation and speed. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it.
As you progress, you can begin to merge the reading comprehension with speaking skills. For now, keep it separate, but include both.
Begin by reading slowly and pronouncing correctly. Don’t skim! It’s important to learn to pronounce words correctly the first time than having to correct yourself later on.
As you progress, pick up the speed. Try to read as fast as you can correctly pronounce every word. Read over the same passages several times before moving onto new material.
Speak freely
The final addition to your speaking development is to speak freely. You should already be doing it as it will help you speak and think correctly, smoothly, and quickly. This form of practice goes beyond correct pronunciation because it demands that you think about the language as well. This is where you put it all together.
The two previous methods will help your natural speaking. Add these regularly to your daily studying and you will develop some very impressive speaking skills.