Speak Fluently: Lessons from Acting

Teaching and learning languages has been my life. It has allowed me to see the world while paying the bills, and teach others how to communicate with people in different languages. Anyone can learn a language with the right tools and information.

When I started my career more than two decades ago, I came to the classroom with a BA in Theater Arts and Foreign Languages. Not only did the lessons I learned in my training allow me to get my students speaking from the very beginning and move quickly through memorized phrases and words and into their own language, it allowed me to creatively combine my passions for drama and languages.

Speak Fluently: Get the Part and Learn a Language

Actors must audition in many cases to get a job. Oftentimes an actor must come with a prepared monologue, and/or read from a script without time to prepare. This gives directors a chance to see the range an actor can play, as well as how good a fit they are for a part.

As a beginner in a new language, you need to memorize words and phrases. To move out of this range and towards fluency, you need to have enough memorized words and phrases to begin to make your own sentences and express your own thoughts. The monologue is the perfect place to start. I would advise a drama student preparing a monologue from Shakespeare to watch several on Youtube so that they can hear the intonation and pronunciation and replay it enough times to accurately mimic it themselves, and then google the text to memorize their own delivery. I would advise this also to anyone serious about learning a language quickly to do the same. You can find your target language word for monologue, search Youtube for videos from native speakers delivering monologues, and get started on your own.

The same holds true for poems. Find your target language equivalent vocabulary word. Google, watch, memorize and learn a language. You will find that the words really stick.

Speak Fluently: Know Your Character

Many actors thoroughly research their roles as soon as they get them. The goal is to completely understand the character’s history, background, tastes, family, major life events- anything one can imagine- so that the actor can make that character come to life. Deeply understanding the culture and people of the language that you are learning is critical. There are some great ways to incorporate this into your activities to learn a language.

Hot Seat is one of the best activities to do this. An actor gets a part, and then begins a deep study to really bring the character to life. This not only involves learning the details about the character and story from the script, it also involves adding even more to create a three-dimensional person that an audience can empathize with and believe. Details like the character’s favorite drink, birthplace or the worst day of their life are added. The rest of the cast then puts them in the Hot Seat, and they must answer any and all questions about the character. It is a great way to practice conversation and learn more culture as well. Here are some ways to get started:

Research a famous person from the target culture or a period of history. It could even be a famous place. A list of common get-to-know someone questions It is a great place to start. Learning these in the target language can be a great way to prepare for your first conversation with a native speaker. Here are some examples:

What’s your name?

Where are you from?

Where do you live?

Where were you born?

How old are you?