DON’T BE AFRAID TO MAKE MISTAKES!
You’d be surprised by how many people try to avoid talking! The more you speak, the faster you learn – and that is why you’re learning Arabic. Practice speaking every chance you get: whether it’s ordering coffee, shopping or asking for directions.
Before going over the steps to improve your Arabic speaking skills, let us first identify the elements or criteria that make you a good , average or bad speaker of a language.
- Vocabulary: It is about using the right words with the necessary accuracy to express our ideas to the listeners.
- Structure: A speaker needs to use correct grammar and syntax and maintain a cohesive speech with logical flow of ideas.
- Pronunciation: Speaker needs to speak clearly to be understood by the listener. Mispronounced words can result in changed meaning. Accents do not count here.
- Fluency: The speaker needs to speak at a reasonably smooth pace without frequently pausing to look for words. Students should not confuse fluency with speaking proficiency. A speaker can show fluency but oftentimes it is at the expense of grammar and pronunciation.
Now that we got it out of the way, let us go over the recommended steps to improve your Arabic speaking proficiency. Note that most of the bulk of these seven steps revolve around improving the four elements of speaking proficiency that is mentioned above:
Have the right attitude!
Be positive about your learning effort and accept the fact that you are a student. Never let anything demotivate you.
Be disciplined and curious.
Be uninhibited. If you are shy or introverted, make an effort to come out of your shell. Put yourself in a vulnerable position where you have to speak Arabic. Take your learning experience as a game and don’t take yourself too seriously. It is not as bad as you may think. Take it from me. I am an extremely introverted person, who, thanks to his multilingual skills, managed to speak in front of crowds in the hundreds.
Be bold. When the teacher asks for a volunteer to come up front to speak, raise your hand without hesitation
Listen to Arabic content.
Basic on linguistic theory, as a learner of Arabic, beginner or advanced, you need enough input (reading and listening) to be able to generate language output( Writing and speaking).
Doing plenty of listening first is very important. Incorporate listening to Arabic content into your daily routine as you are commuting to school or work or during your daily walk.
