How to improve the flow of your spoken English

One of the challenges of improving your English is getting it to sound more natural.  Nobody wants to sound like a robot or a computer.    While English as second language speakers shouldn't expect to sound exactly like a native English speaker,  it is reasonable to improve the flow of your words and sentences.    


The average English speaker will speak about  120 to 150 words per minute, ranging from reading aloud at the slower end and conversation at the faster end.

 I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

This excerpt from William Faulkner’s acceptance speech for the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature is 184 words.   Try to read it as naturally as you can while you record it.  Then calculate your speaking speed by dividing 184 by the minutes you speak.   (Ex.  184/1.5 =122.7 words per minute).   This is not conversation, so it will probably be at the slower end of the scale.   You could also record yourself speaking without reading,  then count the words and the time and calculate your speed.

You can read and listen to the full speech here


There are two main ways to make your speaking flow and sound more natural.

1.   Stress and intonation.    The following YouTube video explains intonation and the subsequent website explains stress.   For example, in words,  the difference between "desert"  (full of sand) and "dessert" (full of sugar) is simply a difference in stress placement.  But we can also stress entire words within sentences to change the meaning of the sentences.




Dictionaries or simply listening to others are the two best ways to learn where stress within words go.

Word Stress Rules


2.    The second way to make your speech choppy is to connect words within sentences, also called connected speech and linking.

This website and video provides a good explanation.

Connected Speech & Linking | English Pronunciation Lesson

Watching television sitcoms is a great way to learn this.   For example,  you could download Big Bang Theory Transcripts and then watch the episode while you read along,  noting how they 'actually speak'.

Some of the following resources will help you to improve your pronunciation and speaking flow..

Pronunciation Tips — A Guide to Better Speaking

English Pronunciation Practice  (Try the Listen and Repeat Machine  here)

The English Rhythm Rule

Practice Speaking and Listening to LImericks

Poemhunter   (This website has many popular poems where you can listen and read the poems.   Very useful for improving your pronunciation stress and flow.)

Poetry Out Loud  (Listen to some famous actors read these poems — you might want to find and print out the poem before listening to it)

Dr. Seuss Poems (These are fun to read and listen to)