Guides
Guides to speaking a new language
Plain answers to the questions that stop people speaking: how long it takes, what to do with no one to practice with, and how to get past the freeze. Each one starts with the short answer.
The most common blocker
No one to practice speaking with
If you have no one to practice speaking with, practice anyway: talk out loud every day with something that answers back and corrects you. An AI tutor, shadowing native audio and recording yourself all work without a partner. What builds speaking is daily speaking with feedback, not more flashcards or reading.
Read the guideIf you freeze up
Afraid to speak a new language
Fear of speaking a new language is normal. It is usually anxiety about making mistakes in front of other people, not a lack of knowledge, and researchers call it foreign language anxiety. It fades through low-stakes speaking practice: short, frequent conversations where mistakes cost nothing and corrections are specific and kind. Studying more, on its own, rarely fixes it.
Read the guideThe honest numbers
How long does it take to learn to speak a language?
For an English speaker, the US Foreign Service Institute estimates about 600–750 classroom hours to reach professional working proficiency in Spanish, French, Italian or Portuguese, about 900 hours for German, and about 2,200 hours for Japanese or Mandarin Chinese. Holding everyday conversations comes much sooner: often within a few months of regular speaking practice.
Read the guideAI chatbots and speaking practice
Can you practice speaking a language with ChatGPT?
Yes. A general AI chatbot such as ChatGPT is a patient, always-available partner for free conversation, and a good place to start. What it lacks by default is a teaching method: it does not measure your level, plan your next step, track the mistakes you repeat or make you fix them. Lumen Speak is built around that method — a spoken placement, a learning path, corrections you say back correctly, spaced review, role-plays and level checks.
Read the guideChoosing a tutor
AI tutor vs human tutor: which is better for speaking practice?
For speaking practice, an AI tutor wins on availability, patience, cost and how often you can practice, while a human tutor wins on unpredictable conversation, culture and personal accountability. Most learners progress fastest with frequent short practice, which AI makes easy, plus occasional sessions with a person to test it in real conversation. If you can only choose one, choose the one you will actually use several times a week.
Read the guideTravel
How to learn a language for a trip: phrases you can actually say
To learn a language for a trip, focus on the few situations you will actually face — ordering food, buying tickets, checking in, asking for directions and small talk with a stranger — and practice each one out loud as a short conversation, including the answers you might hear back. Ten to fifteen minutes a day for two to six weeks is enough to get through those moments in the language, which is a far more useful goal than general fluency.
Read the guideInterviews
How to prepare for a job interview in English
To prepare for a job interview in English, write down the answers to the questions that almost always come up (introduce yourself, why this job, strengths, a past challenge, your questions for them) as a few key points rather than a script, then practice saying them out loud, several times, in your own words. Rehearsing the spoken answer with someone who asks follow-up questions matters more than polishing the written one.
Read the guideSpeaking fluency
How to stop translating in your head when you speak
You translate in your head because the target-language words are not yet quick enough to retrieve on their own, so your brain takes the route it knows. To stop, learn and practice whole phrases instead of single words, speak under gentle time pressure so there is no time to translate, and say things out loud every day until the most common sentences come out by themselves. Translation fades as speed grows; you cannot simply decide to stop.
Read the guideSpeaking clearly
How to improve your pronunciation in a new language
To improve your pronunciation, first learn to hear the difference between sounds, because you cannot reliably produce what you cannot tell apart. Then practice stress and rhythm before individual sounds, since they affect how easily you are understood the most, and say short phrases out loud regularly with someone or something that tells you when you were unclear. Aim to be easy to understand, not to sound like a native speaker.
Read the guideHabits and routine
How to keep a language habit when you have no time
To keep a language habit with no time, make the daily practice short enough that a busy day cannot crowd it out — five to fifteen minutes — and attach it to something you already do every day, like your coffee or your commute. Frequency matters more than duration: ten minutes on most days builds more speaking ability than one long session a week. Plan for missed days instead of treating them as failure, and restart the next day.
Read the guideLevels explained
What the CEFR levels mean for speaking, A1 to C2
The CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, has six levels from A1 to C2, defined by what you can do rather than what you know. At A1 you say familiar phrases; at A2 you handle short everyday exchanges; at B1 you hold a conversation on familiar topics; at B2 you talk fluently with native speakers; at C1 and C2 you speak precisely and with ease.
Read the guide
Looking for a specific language? See all 8 languages.
Have your first conversation today.
Your first session takes five minutes and starts with a short spoken check, so the plan fits where you actually are.