5 actionable ways to instantly speak better

Approximately 20% of the world's population speaks English, with around 400 million people speaking it natively. An additional 1.5 billion also speak it as their second language.

But how proficiently do they speak?

There are no stats for that.

Do yourself a favor, Assess your English-speaking skills on a scale from 1 to 10.

Good.

Now my aim is to improve whatever that number is, and ultimately get it as close as possible to 10.

So let's start!

The way you were taught English in school is downright, tyrannical.

No one cares, if you know the past tense of “meandering” or the synonym for “preposterous”.

All that really matters is whether you are able to communicate in English, whether you can have a conversation in English.

Even if their are grammatical errors (like here) or you mess up the pastest tense (like here) or go wrong because you used, too, many , commas (like here), it does not matter!

Why?

Because you are:

1. Still able to make conversation.

2. Still able to express what your trying to say.

3. Still able to convey ideas, despite occasional errors.

And that’s it, that is what language is for.

Most of us simply don't have to know the intricacies of the language as long as what you are saying makes sense.

And that's what you are going to get here. I am revamping this newsletter to exclusively talk about improving your Spoken English.

This is the first in the series of newsletters.

So let's go!

5 actionable steps to instantly make you sound better. 

1.Record yourself.

Voice is good but video is even better.

Look out for the ahhs, umms, and other filler words like- “you know, you get me” etc

2. Speak in front of the mirror.

Look out for your body language, how you react, your facial expressions, your eyes etc.

3. Hop on spaces on X.

By far the best feature on X. It allows you to see how different accents sound. Observe how people are making conversation. How someone from Korea is connecting with a South African, or how people despite being so different come together on a variety of subjects.

4. Meditate.

Visualize yourself as being a confident speaker, standing tall with a poised posture. Your words flowing smoothly, & delivered with clarity and conviction.

5. Put a pencil across your mouth horizontally.

Like this:

While having the pencil in your mouth:

A) First:

Utter sounds like Ahhhh, Ammmm, Blah, Bwahhh, Lili etc.

B) Second:

Utter sentences.

Like an introduction of who you ate etc.

You can also go into complex phrases like “ She sells sea shells on the sea shore” or “All the world's a stage and each must play their part”.

Do this exercise for 3 minutes daily and see your clarity soar!!

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By practicing these 5 actionable steps, you will see an instant enhancement in your:

1. Diction.

2. Vocabulary

3. Pronunciation.

And ultimately in Confidence.

Consciously practice these for the next 7 days & you will be amazed by the progress you make!

That's it for this week.

I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

You can also DM me on x at: https://twitter.com/wellverse1

For more stories: https://medium.com/@visheshharnal3

Me LinkedIn profile: https://in.linkedin.com/in/visheshharnal911

Till then, Ciao!