I'm only at ele 1! I'm already having serious problems. I'm quite worried.
Ele1 only...But 2 things you need to focus on for speaking.
- Make sure you speak the words like how they are meant to be pronounced, not with local accent, because once you mess this up at this point of time when you are first learning, it can be very difficult / near impossible to fix later [ may even have to get a voice coach for help ], when all Japanese that comes up of your mouth sounds like Singlish form of Japanese. E.g. I have a friend that always speaks ここ [ this place ] as Coco [ up-down tone ], like the name of that singer or the chocolate drink, instead of the correct down-up tone [ like the way Cantonese say kor-kor for elder brother, same down-up tone ].
- Practise speaking fast, use the dialogue practise exercises found in your textbook to speak as quickly as you can for ANY sentence WITHOUT pausing, no drooling of saliva, no "saliva spraying", no pauses, no sudden breathing of air in the middle of speaking a sentence, and CORRECTLY. You will also find it harder when you attempt to read to someone in front of you.
Remember that speaking is a different [ physical + mental ] skill from studying [ mental ], as it involves various parts of the mouth, the physiological make-up, muscles around the jawbone and inside the mouth [ and the tongue is a muscle too ], airway, breathing, and have to think in order the string the words coming out of your mouth in coherent order.
So have fun !
