I'm currently trying this little exercise to train my speaking skills in English: I read out loud a text to a speech-to-text online tool (I chose Otter.ai, but any one of those tools will do), and if the transcribed text is similar to the original text, then I'm satisfied... A harder variation on this exercise is speaking freely to the text-to-speech tool and see if you can understand the transcript. Free speech is usually less structured than a written text, especially if it's not in your native language, but trying to be understood by a machine is good preparation for being understood by humans.

Left behind France current affairs Watching American cable news videos and reading articles from American newspapers is now a huge part of my daily English media “consumption”. As a matter of fact, it takes me so much time that I completely withdrew from French media. So much so I’m almost not aware of what’s happening in France (and there seems to be a lot of things going on), it’s almost embarrassing when I am chatting with people here. While I could be very talkative about the U.S. government shutdown, I’m not quite informed about what’s going on with the “Yellow Vests” protests. However, I realized I could take advantage of media outlets aimed at English speaking people living in France. I found three of them : - France24 - World Radio Paris - The Local Looks like a perfect way for me to catch up with the news in France while practicing English!

Trying to get fluent in a foreign language while not being very talkative in your native language Can you relate to my case? My dream is to become really fluent in English, and I provide myself with the means to get there. I somehow practice every day. At least, I listen to a few podcast episodes, or to an audiobook, and I read a few articles. I try to speak to myself, and sometimes I record those speeches for future reference. I also try to think in English, on a regular basis. Every now and then, I write a piece like this one. And obviously, I have Italki online lessons. However, I have to confess I’m not really a gregarious or talkative kind of person, and even in my native language, I sometimes struggle to express my thoughts clearly. This might make this goal of fluency in English even more difficult to reach. I read that in order to speak in a foreign language, you have to act like you’re someone else, so I guess my English speaking self will have to be more talkative than my French self. :)

Picking the best audiobooks for learning a foreign language [written with the purpose of exercising my writing, but also gathering and sharing my personal thoughts about audiobooks as a tool for practising English as a second language] I’ve been told audiobooks are a good way to study English. But actually, it’s difficult to find an audiobook really suitable for me. My level is probably something like intermediate/advanced (B2/C1), so listening to a standard audiobook in English (aimed at native English people) is far from being as easy as listening to an audiobook in my native language. A short story (or a collection of short stories) rather than a full length novel may be preferable, in order to get the satisfaction of finishing a story in a quicker fashion. Some people advise to read books (or listen to audiobooks) aimed at children. Actually, I don’t believe it’s a good idea. The vocabulary and context are often not useful for an adult. Even a book as popular as Harry Potter, as pleasant as its story can be, isn’t very helpful to get better at everyday English. Listening to an audiobook which story I already know (??) (if I watched the movie from the book or if I read the book in my native language) can make it easier (because you can understand difficult words or idioms through context), but I won’t get the excitement of a new and fresh story. A lot of old books are suggested for learning English as a second language. But I prefer reading stories in a contemporary context (or at least post world war II), because the language used in older books is not very useful in a current context. As I currently target American English, an American narrator is recommended, and even a American context. Books (and even better, audiobooks) providing a lot of dialogues seem like a excellent idea, as conversational English should really be the number one priority of any learner. I haven’t find the perfect audiobook meeting all these requirements yet, but I’m pretty sure it exists! Any suggestion?

Trying to dedicate time to quality, focused study For about a year now, I've been trying to dramatically improve my level in English. One of my main activities is listening to podcasts to expose myself to the language and improve my listening skills. I spend a lot of time doing so, because it's so easy and convenient, you can consume hours of podcasts while doing something else, like commuting. However, I'm getting advice from various sources, telling me that I should really dedicate a daily reasonable amount of time (maybe half an hour or one hour) to study in a really focused fashion. With my family and job, it's difficult to find a daily slot in my agenda to focus on my study. On a practical note, I need a place and time where I can speak alone without disturbing people or being disturbed. If you're an independent learner yourself, maybe you can relate to my case. I consider waking up half an hour earlier, and start my day with an English study session, but I'm not really a morning person.