Speaking is one of the four harder language skills. Talking to a native speaker is different from hearing and comprehending, or even reading and writing. Also, if you’re working in a BPO company, speaking English is a must. Worried that you can’t? Don’t be, because with the right tricks, you can improve your English-speaking abilities in no time.
Read aloud. Ideally, every day for at least 15 or 20 minutes. You’ll get used to speaking for longer periods of time and forming long sentences won’t bother you anymore. And you’ll come across words that you can use to expand your vocabulary. It’s best to choose books with lots of dialogue. Since dialogue is conversation, the language tends to be a little more casual and realistic. You know, reading poetry is nice, but conversing with people is a far more useful habit.
Also, listening to mp3s, podcasts, and news can make you improve your English at home. Scientific American, CBC, BBC, and Australia’s ABC Radio are great mp3s to get started with. Listen to music, too. It is not as good as listening to spoken news/podcasts/etc., but it is good. It would be best if you could focus on one song per day or such. Just make sure you actively try to understand it. Look up the lyrics online and sing along.
Watch TV and movies as well. Watching English TV and movies is the simplest method to participate in a conversation without actually engaging in one. Movies are great, because you can watch them repeatedly and learn new things each time. TV is good though, too, because you develop relationships with the characters, and you grow accustomed to how they talk and the quirks of the speech.
And lastly, take a record of you reading from a book. You will be able to truly hear yourself and be able to pinpoint the quirks in your English as well as any areas where you slow down and have trouble. Then re-record it and see how you’ve improved.
Create reasons to speak English. You have to take control of your life and force English into it if you want to improve your speaking beyond just a mediocre level. Not just at home or at work, you must allow it to infiltrate every aspect of your life. All of them.
Try to learn new words each day. Choose a few terms to write down and make an attempt to use from the books, websites, and TV shows you read or watch. You will lose it if you don’t use it.
Don’t overthink it, either. It’s quite simple to just have your body and mind locked up when you are around an English speaker, causing you to lose all memory of the words you know in the language.
If you manage to speak anything at all, you end up stuttering, which makes you feel awful and makes you swear never to speak English again.
Be patient. Above all else, you need to be patient. Learning a language is a process that can take years as well. If you get frustrated with yourself, you risk quitting. So don’t be hard on yourself. It will come. It will. Having an effective technique to monitor your progress is the simplest way to avoid becoming overly frustrated with everything.