1. Introduction
To improve your English conversation skills, you need to practice, practice, practice.
2. Listen to Conversations
This is one of the easiest ways to improve your English conversation skills. Instead of listening to music or watching TV while on the phone or in a meeting, listen to conversations in English. You will learn so much from them.
3. Watch Movies and TV Shows
Watching movies or television shows in English allows you to understand what’s happening and how to speak. You’ll pick up so much vocabulary and grammar from these sources that you’ll be surprised.
4. Start a Conversation
If you’re at a social gathering or you’re on the phone, start a conversation. You’ll be amazed at how much you can pick up from a simple question or comment.
5. Keep Your Conversations Short
Short conversations are much easier to remember than long ones. So don’t take too long to tell stories or to talk about your favorite subject.
6. Start by Learning the Basics
You may already be familiar with these terms, but I’ll go over them briefly anyway: Persona: Someone’s identity. Pronouns: Words used to refer to people and things. Verb: A word that describes an action or a state of being. Article: A type of noun that has a determiner (for example, “the” or “a”) and a noun. Sentence: A group of words that expresses a complete idea.
7. Ask Questions
This is the most important rule for improving your conversation skills. When you’re in a conversation with a native speaker, you should ask questions. Ask open-ended questions like: Where are you from? What do you do for a living? Why did you move here? What are you looking for? What’s your favorite book/movie/song? How long have you been in the country? What’s the weather like today? What’s the best thing about the city? If you’re speaking with someone in English, ask questions about their life and their country. Find out about the customs, the food, the people, etc. You’ll pick up so much information this way.
8. Watch and Listen to Conversations in Movies
Watching movies can be a great way to improve your English conversation skills. Not only will you learn about new vocabulary, but you’ll also be able to practice listening to and speaking to a native speaker. My favorite type of movie to watch is a “romantic comedy”. While I’d love to say that every romantic comedy is an absolute delight, it’s actually quite rare that they live up to my expectations.
9. Don’t Over-analyze
This is probably the most common mistake people make when learning English. They go over the details of each word in a sentence, instead of focusing on the overall meaning of the sentence. In order to improve your English conversation skills, you should never try to analyze what a native speaker is saying. Instead, you should focus on the message you want to get across. For example, if you’re trying to get someone to take you out for coffee, don’t try to come up with a long list of reasons why they should. Instead, just say something like, “I’d love to go for coffee.”
10. Don’t Speak Too Fast
Speak slowly and clearly. Speaking too fast makes it difficult for people to understand you and gives them a hard time following your train of thought. If you find that you’re speaking too fast, slow down. You’ll be much better off in the long run.