When you want to teach yourself German and start looking for resources, you can find lots of things for reading, writing and listening. What you don’t find so much are resources for speaking. There is a good reason for that a you should practise your German speaking with another person, either with somebody, who is also learning German or with a native speaker.

But what can you do if, for whatever reason, you cannot find somebody to practise your German speaking?

Here are 5 ideas to practise your speaking without having a conversation with another person.

1. Speak to yourself!  Say something to your mirror every morning, start by just saying ‘guten Morgen’ or whatever you might like to say to yourself.
2. Talk to yourself in the shower, even better, sing in German – the louder the better!
3. Talk to your pets! They won’t judge you or laugh when you make mistakes. If you don’t have any pets, borrow your neighbour’s or do the same exercise with a baby or toddler.
4. Prepare a mini presentation and say it out loud or even record it. When you read a German text, don’t just read it in your head, read it out loud. If you don’t feel sure about your German, read out a text where you also have a recording. Read the text, record yourself and then compere your recording with the original. You don’t have to share it with anybody and if it was rubbish, delete it. If it was good, be proud of yourself!
5. Talk about what you’re doing. If you’re not alone, do this in your head so that you don’t disturb anybody. If on your own, then describe whatever tasks you’re doing out loud.

And in case you’re wondering how to do all this, I’ve spared no expense (or embarrassment) and made this video for you. Enjoy ☺