Why can't I speak English?

plus a free mini course

Photo by Egor Kosmachev on Unsplash

Welcome to “Learn English with Katie” on Substack!

1. Why can’t I speak?

People often ask me questions like this:

• I’ve been learning English for years so why is it still difficult to speak?

• I know lots of words but when I try to speak, I can’t! What’s wrong with me?

• My reading, listening and writing skills are good so why is speaking so difficult?

In last week’s blog post, I listed 11 possible answers. Since then, I’ve added two more so I have 13 answers so far! Let me know if you can think of any more!

There isn’t just one answer because everyone is different but here are a few possibilities. You can decide which ones are true for you.

1. You don’t practise speaking English enough.

2. You don’t read or listen to English enough.

3. You’re practising the wrong things.

4. You don’t study and practise regularly or consistently.

5. You don't know enough words yet.

6. You know the words but you forget them when you speak.

7. You don’t know enough grammar yet.

8. Your speaking is slow because you’re translating in your head first.

9. You haven't been learning English for long enough yet.

10. You want to be perfect and you’re afraid of making a mistake so you don’t say anything.

11. You're actually better at English than you realise.

12. You’re worried about your accent.

13. You're nervous when you speak so your brain freezes.

You can find more information about each problem and an answer to each one on the blog. Read it in full here.

But if you don’t have time to read all the answers, they can be summarised in just three points:

💙 Practise speaking.

💙 Keep learning.

💙 Don’t let fear get in the way.

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2. Tip of the week: listen to songs 

Listen to songs in English, read the lyrics (the words) and maybe even sing along! This is a great way to practise your listening skills and you will also learn new vocabulary in a fun and memorable way. 

Songs are great for vocabulary learning because the song will help you remember any new words for a long time!

Songs are not always so good for grammar though as they don’t always use full sentences or standard grammar.

You might also like the Lyrics Training website or their Lingoclip app. You listen to a song and choose or type in the missing words.

For more information and suggestions of songs to try, go to https://www.learnenglishwithkatie.co.uk/blog/learn-english-with-songs

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3. Free mini-course

Would you like some free tips on how to speak English more confidently? 

I’ve created an email mini-course for professional women who use English at work.

Perhaps you’d like to be able to join in with small talk in the office and build relationships with your colleagues.

Maybe more confidence in English would make your day-to-day life less stressful and more enjoyable.

Or maybe it would help you to get a promotion or to apply for your dream job.

I want to help you reach your full potential in your career, without feeling held back by your English, so I created my free mini-course for you.

It’s called “Your 5 Steps to Confident English Communication at Work”. 

You can sign up for it here: https://subscribepage.io/5-steps-to-confidence

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