5 Spellbinding Ways to Improve English Alone

Everyone reading this post wants to know how to improve English. We all know that English can be best improved with a friend or a partner. We can correct each other’s mistakes and learn from each other, right?
But what if you don’t have a friend who speaks English?
Do you want to know how you can improve English even if you are alone?
Well, you have come to the right place! I will share with you the 5 spellbinding ways using which you can improve English even if you don’t have a partner!

(1) Imitation

• The most effective way to improve English alone is Imitation.
• Imitation is the technique that has been followed by many learners over the world and it has helped them become fluent really quickly!
• Imitation is when you listen to an audio or dialogues while watching a movie and you repeat what is being said.
• This technique works as follows:
  • You choose an audio or video that you like and are interested in. Please ensure that you have the transcripts of the audio or the video. Transcripts contain text of what the speaker is saying. If you can’t find transcripts, play videos on YouTube with subtitles.
  • You play the content and listen to the speaker
  • You pause the video or audio and repeat what’s being said
  • Repeat this until the entire video or audio is over
• Since, you are imitating a native or a fluent speaker, you will notice words that you have been saying incorrectly. As you practice, you will improve your pronunciation and intonation of words. Additionally, you will sound natural when you speak with other English speakers.
• You can also find videos of your favorite celebrity on YouTube or any other platform. Having videos of someone you admire will make this exercise fun and you will learn quickly as you might be already, subconsciously, imitating them!

(2) Speak In Front Of A Mirror

• Another way to improve English alone is to speak in front of a mirror!
• This might sound silly, but, trust me, speaking in front of a mirror is really helpful!
• Speaking in front of a mirror helps you to see how your lips move while you speak, the shape your mouth makes and where you place your tongue.
• This technique helps you to better your pronunciation as you can actually see how you look while saying a word.
• You will notice that for some words you need to stretch your lips, for example, cheese, please, bees and so on and for some words you might need to make an O as in boat, coat, float, etc.
• The more you practice, the better you will become and this, in turn, will help build confidence as you will actually see your progress!
• Take out 20-30 minutes of your time to practice and over time you will see yourself improving and getting better.

(3) Talk To Yourself

• The third way to improve English alone is by talking to yourself!
• I know you will think how talking to yourself will improve your fluency in English. Dear friends, if you are new to the English language, you might know how terrifying it is to speak with natives or fluent English speakers! You might have faced situations when you were not able to say even a single sentence properly!
• By talking to yourself, you are training yourself to speak in English. You will definitely make mistakes and the goal of attaining English fluency will look hazy! But, if you practice regularly, learn new words and idioms each day, you will become a better speaker in no time!
• You know what! I wasn’t able to speak English until 2011 and being from an English school, it felt awful! I was afraid to talk to people, I was afraid that they will make fun of me! I started talking to myself and in 3-4 months, I reached up to a decent level of fluency.
• “What shall I talk to myself about?” you might ask. I will share the 3 tricks which worked for me. They are:
  • Interview yourself: Yes, that’s right! I am a huge cricket fan and during each post-match presentation, I used to note down all the questions that were asked to the captains. After the presentation ended, I used to go in to my room and answer each one of them as if I were the captain. Sounds silly, but, really works like magic!
  • Summarise your day: Before sleeping, take 5 minutes and tell yourself about your day. It doesn’t have to be too long, but, long enough to sum up the entire day.
  • Plan your day: Like the previous tip, take 5 minutes as soon as you wake up and talk to yourself about the activities lined up for the day or if it’s a holiday, say how you plan to spend it.

(4) Read Aloud

• Pick up any book, magazine, newspaper or anything that you enjoy reading and read aloud!
• Reading helps to expand your vocabulary, hence, the more you read the more words you will know.
• By reading aloud, you will be exercising the muscles that involve speech and this will help you improve your pronunciation.
• Please ensure that while reading you don’t whisper. For this technique to be fruitful, read aloud. Another reason that reading technique fails is you pick up something that is too complex and difficult for you to read.
• For reading, anything as simple as a kindergarten text book will work! The aim here is to practice something that is easy to read and understand. Please avoid text that will make your head spin!

(5) Record Yourself

• If you are like me who is terrified by the sound of his own voice, this technique will be pretty disturbing! 😛
• But if you want to know how you sound, then you will have to record yourself.
• When you listen to yourself, you will find out the flaws and grammatical mistakes that you weren’t aware of. Compare yourself to native or fluent speakers to find out if your pronunciation is correct and if your intonation of speech is perfect.
• Incorporate this technique with Imitation that we discussed above to get the most out of it.
• Once you identify the problems, correct them and practice regularly to become a better version of yourself as an English speaker.

As an add on, please watch this effective video to easily improve English at home.

Conclusion

• To summarise, in this post you learnt the 5 spellbinding ways of improving English which you can use when you don’t have a partner to speak with.
• These 5 ways are as follows:
1. Imitation: Get an audio or video and copy the speaker. Play one sentence, pause and repeat.
2. Speak In Front Of A Mirror: When you practice in front of a mirror, you see the shape your mouth makes, the placement of your tongue and the movement of your lips. This helps in recognizing how to better make sounds of words.
3. Talk To Yourself: Talk to yourself about your day, plan your day or ask some questions to yourself, etc. Talking to yourself helps in building confidence as you become ready to talk with natives or fluent speakers.
4. Read Aloud: Pick up anything that you like and are interested in and read loudly. You will expand your vocabulary while improving your pronunciation. Please avoid whispering for this exercise to be fruitful.
5. Record Yourself: Record yourself and compare with native or fluent speakers. Incorporate this with Imitation, for getting better quickly!

Happy learning!!!