Drilling Out Loud Is The Only Way

This is an AI-generated image. Contents in my blog or channels never is.

When learning a language, it is of fundamental importance to compartmentalize objectives.

Writing requires a different set of skills than listening, and vice versa. Therefore, ear training must be done separately from reading comprehension.

By the same token, speech training sits in its own box and requires its own unique drills and training.

Schools and the wrong teaching approaches have led learners to believe that tons of grammar exercises done silently are the key to speaking a foreign language. This misconception has gone on for decades, and it still doesn't falter.

So, a typical language learner goes on studying grammar for years, investing thousands of dollars on moving backward rather than forward.

Yes. Each time you feel the need to review grammar, you've just taken a step backward.

Teachers and schools unwittingly encourage exactly that.

The rule is simple-

If you want to speak, you need to speak.

That's it.

All exercises must be performed out loud.

This is a fundamental approach that cannot be removed from language learning. It is neither a matter of opinions nor of likes and dislikes. Wiggle room for individual learner-tailored approaches sit inside this box. Not outside.

So you must finally be aware that if you do not produce sound while practicing, that's a surefire way to never speak up to your potential and expectations. In fact, you will freeze more than you will speak.

If you include the out loud habit into your language practice, after a brief transition period where practice seems--and sounds--a little awkward and more challenging, you will soon start noticing a few things.

1) IMPROVED PRONUNCIATION.

Struggling with pronunciation does not depend on words and patterns being difficult to pronounce. Languages have evolved so that they can be used comfortably and efficiently in all situations and by all speakers. The main reason your sound-producing apparatus struggles is due to its lack of practical acquaintance with individual sounds and patterns.

Practice out loud, and your lungs, diaphragm, chest, larynx, tongue, hard palate, teeth, uvula, and every little gear involved in sound production will adapt, relax, and do its work just right.

2) MUSCLE MEMORY KICKS IN.

Close your eyes and visualize one of those Chuck Norris roundhouse kicks. You could probably see it without a problem- if you know what that is.

Now, can you do it? The answer is likely- no, because you never trained for it.

Speaking works similarly. Your mouth requires for speaking the same kind of muscle memory your legs and hips require for performing a roundhouse kick.

Drilling out loud is the only way you can build up the muscle memory you need to speak more comfortably and relaxedly.

3) IMPROVED SPEECH REFLEX.

As your muscle memory improves, your reaction time to what someone says to you--meaning, how fast you can respond without thinking, using structures and patterns correctly--shortens.

In other words, you respond more reactively and out of reflex rather than out of thinking or translating in your head.

4) IMPROVED MEMORY.

Saying things rather than reading silently or just hearing them is a proven way to memorize them more efficiently.

Practicing out loud will greatly help you retain more vocabulary without as much effort.

If there's one universally valid notion in a realm where most things seem exceptions that confirm a trend, it is this- if you want to speak, you need to speak.

There's no room for compromise right here.