At first, making friends in a foreign language appears to be simple…
However, you can always sense how your speech delays, missing words, and unusual ways of explaining things make you feel like an outsider in a crowd with whom you wish to blend in.
It took me a while to figure out what’s lacking in our communication skills, but I’ve figured it out. I’ve even included a language practice task that you can incorporate into your study times to help you do better in speaking the language. It will also entice native speakers to spend more time with you!
Stop thinking like a non-native English speaker
It’s a lot of fun to get together with your buddies. You realize you had a nice time at the end of the day, but what actually did you talk about during all that time you spent?
It’s just chit-chat
You’re a storyteller. Talk about some of the strange things you’ve observed recently. Anything that has piqued your interest or occurred in your life. Anything that is at least moderately interesting and worthy of remark.
It’s all about sharing your experiences and describing them as if they were a fascinating narrative. As though you were surrounded by your buddies.
It appears that learning English takes years only to be able to hold a simple English conversation. Hanging out with a group of native English speakers, cracking jokes as you do with your relatives and family, seems like a far-fetched fantasy.
When you’ve mastered the fundamentals of holding a conversation, the focus shifts to successful communication. Everything should be OK if you can simply understand different people and being understood by them as well.
Everything else appears to fall into place after you’ve worked out how to properly speak. You’ll need to learn the skill of informal communication at a new level.
Even if sounding like a native speaker has always been a goal of yours, this is the point at which you will begin to develop that natural method of talking. To spontaneously respond to a joke with a smart remark or to blurt forth comments while playing a game.
Telling more stories is the way to go
Stories should be detailed, engaging, and most importantly… entertaining.
When telling stories, good storytellers make them sound intriguing. You must speak as though you want people to listen to you. Using tone, emotion, suspenseful pauses, and excitement as you might in your native tongue at the appropriate times.
This, like every other component of English, requires practice. The good news is that there are plenty of experiences to talk about in order to hone your storytelling skills.
Activity to Practice Speaking
Consider a narrative you’d tell a friend or a member of your family. There was a recent event that was rather fascinating. Someone you’ve seen, somewhere you’ve been, something you’ve lately seen… whatever it is. Consider an experience that ought to be shared. Something that piques your attention.
During your break, practice talking about it in English as if you were having a normal chat with your friends or a coworker. You don’t need to chat with anyone really. You should describe it to yourself. While you think and work things out, practice presenting the narrative while no one is listening or criticizing you.
You’ll immediately notice that you’re missing certain words or that the way you’re describing things isn’t working for you. When you’re thinking, it’s difficult to fill in the blanks.
When you feel stuck, stop and look these words or phrases up… then try again! If you’re not happy with how fluently you expressed anything, repeat your sentences. Above all, try expressing it in the same level of depth and in the same manner as you would in your original language.
This is not only a fun method to practice speaking, but it will also improve your English social skills. This is the key to becoming a fascinating person to converse with. People will want to chat with you more if you tell intriguing stories. This is the first step toward making long-term friends (among native speakers)!
Bonus tip: if you want to start improving your speaking right away, just join our Discord and start talking to people in real time!