Many believe that speaking to native speakers regularly will improve their spoken English better than if they speak to non-native speakers.

I believe this is over-hyped. In reality, the efficacy of such interactions is underwhelming. Here are the reasons:

This post is about learning spoken English fast, and not about becoming fluent in 10 or 30 days. I don’t want to disappoint you, but it’s nearly impossible to become fluent in 30 days.

Many who are advocating fluency in such short period either have different notion of fluency or aren’t being authentic. You don’t have to believe me on this. Just try those methods verbatim and see where you reach in 30 days.

You might have read advertisements claiming to make you a fluent speaker in 30… and some even in (gasp!) 10 days. You might have also come across blogs and videos with similar claims.

You can learn spoken English fast, but can you become fluent in 30 days.

Yes, if you’re already close to fluency.

Otherwise, almost impossible, which more or less means ‘no’.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t improve your current level in 30 days. You can, but fluency… no.

Are you trying to become better at spoken English, but don’t have partners to speak to, which commonly happens when you’re trying to learn English at home.

In this post I’ll cover several steps you can take to improve your spoken English when faced with this situation. This post is divided into three parts:

First, general tactics if you don’t have a speaking partner;

Second, how you can make your practice more holistic by having occasional conversations with others;

And third, few unique challenges that solo practitioners face.