Speaking Practice For Loners
How to practice speaking in your target language alone and for free
Image by: Cup of Couple (cropped)
By Hanyu Tales (9th August 2025)
You get better at what you practice, and conventional forms of speaking practice require another human; this is one of the main reasons language learners find their speaking skills lag behind their reading, listening, and writing. Students may opt for spending money on a language tutor, or setting up a language exchange with someone learning their native language. However, long-term tuition can become expensive and 50/50 language exchanges are not the most efficient use of your time, meaning getting a suitable amount of speaking practice can be expensive in terms of both time and money. In this article, we will share some ways to practice speaking without another human, and without spending a single penny.
Shadowing and Speechling
Shadowing is a criminally underused approach to improving your speaking skills. Studies show that it has benefits in terms of reducing learner anxiety and improving sound production. Not only is it free and extremely effective, but it is considered a high-intensity form of practice which is recommended for short sessions of just a few minutes—it is like the Tabata workout of speaking activities. There are differences in how people do shadowing, but the general idea is to find a short audio clip that you fully understand, then repeat it after a short delay, trying to mimic the speaker. Eventually, you should aim to speak along with the speaker, matching their intonation and rhythm.
There is one caveat though, which is that research shows using shadowing to improve speaking generally works better for intermediate and advanced students. If you are just starting out and find shadowing too difficult, you can try listening to and repeating short phrases instead of full dialogues. This can be done using Speechling , which is a free-to-use tool for improving your pronunciation. It has a flashcard-based phrasebook that allows you to listen to a native speaker’s recording, then record yourself and compare your recording with theirs, even receiving free feedback from a tutor if you wish to!
There is one caveat though, which is that research shows using shadowing to improve speaking generally works better for intermediate and advanced students. If you are just starting out and find shadowing too difficult, you can try listening to and repeating short phrases instead of full dialogues. This can be done using Speechling , which is a free-to-use tool for improving your pronunciation. It has a flashcard-based phrasebook that allows you to listen to a native speaker’s recording, then record yourself and compare your recording with theirs, even receiving free feedback from a tutor if you wish to!
Reading
General competence in the language is needed to speak accurately, as you need a wide vocabulary and a solid grasp of key sentence structures to converse fluently. However, this article is focused on practicing speaking directly, and reading not only serves as a great form of comprehensible input, but also gives you the opportunity to try reading aloud. Even if you do not want to read aloud, we naturally subvocalize while reading, so when you read you are practicing your speaking without even realizing.
For more details and links to multiple studies on subvocalization and how reading makes you a better speaker, check out this article.
Sing Along
While singing and speaking are not exactly the same, learning to sing along to your favorite songs can be an excellent way to train your mouth muscles to produce the sounds of your target language quickly and in succession. Research on students learning Hungarian found that those who participated in a singing activity showed superior performance when producing spoken Hungarian phrases. This study on Ecuadorian EFL learners found similar results, as children participating in singing activities outperformed those participating in spoken activities. 
Image by: Papa Yaw
Talking to Yourself
Talking to yourself—aloud or in your head—is something everybody does in their native language. Switching to your target language is a great way to get more speaking in, plus it reveals gaps in your vocabulary, as you will likely find yourself unable to articulate certain things that you would usually mention in your daily internal dialogues. If you want to add more structure to this practice, try recording an audio journal every evening, answering questions like what went well today, what you could have done better, and what you aim to do tomorrow. This can be a great way to stay accountable and also measure progress, as you will be pleasantly surprised when comparing your recordings from 6 months ago with your most recent recording.
Talking to Generative AI
Generative AI will not make language learning obsolete as some claim, and it is in fact a great tool for language learners. For example, ChatGPT now contains a terrific voice chat mode that will allow you to chat in real-time in any language. While it might not be identical to speaking with a human, it is free, can be used anywhere, and removes most of the anxiety learners typically suffer from when speaking in their target language. 
Image by: Cottonbro Studio
Further reading
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like Lost for Words: Why Speaking Skills Lag Behind Other Language Abilities. And if you want to master Chinese, get your free reading path to take you from your current level to reading Chinese literature.
Closing Thoughts
You do not need money or even another human to practice speaking, but if you get the chance to chat with people in your target language, it is invaluable. Speaking with humans is more anxiety-inducing than speaking alone, therefore any experience you can get doing it is great in terms of reducing this anxiety. However, practicing alone allows you to train your mouth muscles while becoming more comfortable with articulating your thoughts aloud in your target language, which will raise your speaking level and ensure that you feel confident when the time to speak with other humans arrives.
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