“I need a native speaker to talk to"

English learners often comment on my Facebook page that they need a native speaker to talk to. Or they say they can’t improve their English because they don’t know any native speakers. ​I was curious to know why they think this so I asked! I was surprised by the answers!

I was expecting people to say that they wanted a native speaker to correct their mistakes. One or two people did mention this but a lot more people said it was because they wanted to hear the pronunciation and accent of a native speaker.

Finding a native speaker to talk to is quite difficult to do. If you really want to try, I made a few suggestions in this post. But the main reason I’m writing this post is to show you that it isn’t actually necessary.

International English
There are maybe 1.5 billion people in the world who speak English but only a quarter of them are native speakers. Many of you are far more likely to speak English with another non-native speaker than with a native speaker. So maybe it would be better to focus on “international English” rather than native-speaker English.

Actually, there’s no such thing as international English, unfortunately. What I mean is this: perhaps learners should focus on learning how to speak English in a way that can be understood by people from anywhere in the world rather than trying to speak like a British person or an American, for example.

Imagine three people are having a conversation in English. One is from Japan, one is from Germany and one is British. It’s very possible that the Japanese person and the German understand each other better than they understand the Brit! The British person might use idioms or slang that the non-native speakers don’t know.

Many people in the world use English to communicate with other non-native speakers, at work, for travel and so on. You might speak English every day and never meet an English person, an American or any other native speaker.

So perhaps being able to speak some sort of “international English” is actually more important for you than finding a native speaker to talk to.

Now let me respond to some of the comments I often see or hear.

“I need a native speaker to talk to because I want to hear their pronunciation”
If you just want to hear a British or American accent, you can easily do this on YouTube. You don’t actually need to talk to a native speaker.

Don’t forget that there are actually lots of different accents in Britain. People speak differently in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Nottingham, Birmingham, London and so on. The same is true in the USA. And there’s also Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and so on! So finding one native speaker is not going to help you all that much. 

Talking to a native speaker with a British accent (for example) won’t give you a British accent. I know a French lady who has lived in the UK with an English husband for over 50 years and she has a French accent. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Her accent is beautiful, it’s part of who she is and her speaking is just as clear as mine.

Finally, you won’t get better at speaking just by listening to a native speaker. If you want to improve your speaking, you have to speak! And you can speak to anyone, including non-native speakers, your dog or yourself!

“I need a native speaker to talk to because I want to hear how they use vocabulary”
If you want to hear the vocabulary and idioms that native speakers use and how they express their ideas, again, you can do that on YouTube. You can watch videos that are made for English learners or, if your English is advanced enough, watch general content on YouTube as well.

There are other things you can do to get a feel for native English. Try listening to podcasts or radio programmes. You could also watch TV shows or movies but actually, this is scripted language and therefore not 100% natural.

Even reading can help you here, especially if you read informal writing like blog posts. I actually think it’s easier to learn vocabulary by reading than by listening but everybody is different. Informal writing uses language in almost the same way as spoken English and it has the advantage that you can go at your own pace.  

“I just want to practise my speaking with a native speaker”
If you just want to have a conversation with somebody to practise speaking, it doesn’t have to be a native speaker. You can practise with a non-native speaker or you can even practise on your own.

The main reason you practise speaking is to improve your confidence and fluency. If that’s your goal, it doesn’t actually matter who you talk to. You can even talk to the dog and you will get better with practice!

“I want a native speaker to correct my mistakes”
If you want somebody to correct your mistakes, actually, a lot of people would be uncomfortable doing that and they probably won’t do it, even if they say they will!

If you want somebody to explain why we say this and not that, most native speakers won’t be able to tell you the reasons. They will tell you, “Just because that’s what we say!” This is because native speakers don’t learn grammar the same way that learners do.

If you want somebody to correct your mistakes and explain why we say this and not that, the best way is to pay for lessons. However, I know this isn’t an option for a lot of people.

There are other ways you can get help with your mistakes for free using online tools. I wrote about this in this post a few weeks ago.

Conclusion
Talking to and listening to native speakers is not a magical solution to your English-learning problems. If you want to speak English, you simply have to work hard and practise a lot. The good news is that there’s a lot that you can do on your own, like reading, watching videos and talking out loud when you’re alone.

I’m not telling you that talking to a native speaker is a bad idea. Of course not! If you have the chance to talk to a native speaker in English, that’s great and you should take the opportunity. Yes, it’s true that conversations with native speakers can help you with your English.

But if you don’t know any native speakers, don’t worry! It’s not actually necessary. There are other ways to learn and practise and you can still improve your English without ever talking to a native speaker.
​
I hope this helps!


Would you like to learn how you can speak more confidently in English in 30 days? My Speaking Challenge e-book is for you. Get your copy here.
​