How do you practise speaking English for work without a tutor?
Practise one real situation at a time, out loud, with something that answers back and something that corrects you. Take this week's meeting or 1:1. Write down what you want to say, find a clear way to say it in English, then say it without reading. Keep one or two corrections, not ten, and say them again a few days later. A round like this takes about 15 minutes. Reading, listening and writing all help, but none of them makes you produce a sentence while someone is waiting.
Why doesn't good written English help when you speak?
When you write, you can stop, look something up and start the sentence again. In a meeting the sentence has to come out while someone is waiting, and they may answer with something you didn't expect. That's a separate skill, and you only get it by doing it. Often what's missing isn't vocabulary at all: it's having been through that conversation once.
So when you leave the tutor out, the question is how to replace what the tutor does.
What does a tutor give you, and how can you replace it?
A tutor does four things. All of them can be replaced, though not all by the same option.
| What a tutor gives | What to use instead |
|---|---|
| A reason to speak today | Use what's on your calendar this week. A real meeting is a better reason than a textbook topic |
| Someone who answers back | A colleague you trust, a language partner or an AI voice tool. Reading aloud doesn't do this |
| Correction | A person or an AI, after you've finished. Ask for one or two things, not everything |
| Someone who remembers your mistakes | A list of your own corrected sentences, which you say again later |
A good tutor still notices things no tool does. If you can afford one and you're stuck, it may well be worth it. This page is for when that isn't an option, or when you'd rather not practise in front of someone yet.
What does a 15-minute round look like?
This is the routine Before You Speak is built around, and you can do it without the app. The minutes are a rough guide.
- Pick one situation (2 minutes)Something coming up this week, or something that went badly today. Write four things: what it's about, who it's with, what you want to say and the facts only you know.
- Find a clear way to say it (3 minutes)Short sentences you can say without thinking: The release may be two days late. Aim for clear, not impressive.
- Hear it first (2 minutes)Listen to someone say something similar, ideally in the accents you work with. There are recordings below and in the practice scenes.
- Say it with someone answering (5 minutes)Without reading. If you make a mistake, keep going: real conversations don't stop for you either. Have them ask the question you're afraid of.
- Keep one or two corrections (2 minutes)Pick the one or two that matter most, and write down the whole sentence, not just the word.
- Say them again a few days later (1 minute)Out loud, without looking, ideally as an answer to the line that came before it.
Which option gives you what?
None of these is complete on its own. The comments about AI voice tools come from public forum threads we read while building the app, so they're a few people's views; the last row is our own product, so read it with that in mind.
| Option | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Reading aloud, or repeating recordings | Rhythm and getting your mouth used to the words. Free, and you can do it anytime | Nobody answers back, and the sentences are someone else's |
| Recording yourself | Hearing what you actually sound like. Free | Nothing tells you what to change |
| A colleague or language partner | A real reaction from a real person | Scheduling. They may be too polite to correct you, and some people find it awkward at first |
| A general AI voice chat | Any time, with nobody judging you. A commenter on r/EnglishLearning called it “better than silence” | People say it can feel like an interview and let small mistakes pass. It helps to give it a role and rules (below) |
| Pronunciation apps | Specific feedback on individual sounds | Check whether they practise conversation too, if that's what you need |
| Before You Speak (our product) | Rehearsing a specific work conversation: two AI colleagues with accents, corrections afterwards, and review by speaking | It explains in Chinese, isn't available in mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, and the free plan has limits. AI voices are not your real colleagues |
If you use a general AI voice chat, tell it what to be. A suggestion in another thread on this problem was to set it up as a colleague at lunch, keep its replies short, stop it asking a question every turn, and save the feedback for the end. Those are also the things we built into our scenes.
How do you make a correction stick?
Being corrected isn't the same as remembering. In one r/EnglishLearning post, someone who uses English at work every day said ChatGPT had corrected “discuss about” more than 20 times and the mistake still came back. What seems to help, and what we built the review in Before You Speak around:
- Keep one or two per sessionTen corrections are too many to act on. Before You Speak gives at most two.
- Save the whole sentenceNot “discuss, no about”, but Can we discuss the timeline?
- Say it; don't just read itOut loud, without looking.
- Say it as a replyHave the line before it in your notes, and answer it: that's how it will come up.
- Come back to it laterA few days on, not straight after, and again if it still doesn't come.
This is what we chose for the app, based on the author's own experience of learning English at work and on forum comments. We haven't tested it against other methods, so treat it as a starting point.
How good does your sentence need to be?
Clear is enough to start. Before You Speak prepares every line at three levels: Clear is a short sentence that gets you understood, Natural is what a colleague would actually say, and Compact packs in more while still sounding spoken. Work up from the first one on a sentence you need this week.
Your manager asks what you did yesterday
- ClearYesterday I finished the retry logic for the report job. Today I'll write the tests and start the dashboard.
- NaturalSure. Yesterday I wrapped up the retry logic for the nightly report. Today I'm writing tests, and then I'll start on the dashboard.
- CompactQuick one from me: the retry logic for the nightly reconciliation job is done. Today it's tests, and if time allows, I'll get the dashboard started.
A colleague asks about your weekend
- ClearIt was quiet. On Saturday I caught up on sleep and cooked. On Sunday I walked in the park. How about you?
- NaturalPretty quiet, actually. I caught up on sleep and cooked on Saturday, then went for a walk in the park on Sunday. How about you?
- CompactNice and quiet, actually. I caught up on sleep and cooked a proper meal on Saturday, then went for a walk in the park nearby on Sunday. How was yours?
You're asking for a raise
- ClearI'd like a ten percent raise. Similar roles in the market pay about that much.
- NaturalI'd like to ask for a ten percent raise. Similar roles in the market are paying in that range.
- CompactI'd like to ask for a ten percent raise. From what I've seen, similar roles are paying in that range, so it feels fair.
All three versions are the lines the scenes prepare: Daily standup, Monday chat and Annual review.
Which habits waste your practice time?
These are about how you practise, not your English. They come from how we designed the app and the author's own experience.
| Easy to say | Better | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ✗ Reading your script aloud and stopping there | ✓ Read it once, then say it without looking | You won't have the script in the meeting. Saying it from memory shows you where you get stuck. |
| ✗ Practising topics you'll never talk about | ✓ Practising this week's meeting | You remember more when it matters to you, and you can use it right away. |
| ✗ Learning single words for a meeting | ✓ Learning whole sentences: The release might slip by two days. | In the moment you need the sentence, not the word. |
| ✗ Trying to sound impressive first | ✓ Clear first: The release may be two days late. | A clear sentence you can actually say beats a better one you can't. |
| ✗ Stopping at every mistake | ✓ Keep going, and look at it afterwards | Real conversations don't pause for you. Stopping every time also trains you to stop. |
| ✗ Fixing ten things at once | ✓ Keeping one or two corrections | You can act on one or two. The rest will come round again. |
| ✗ Moving on as soon as you're corrected | ✓ Saying it again a few days later | Hearing the right version once rarely changes what comes out next time. |
| ✗ Only listening to American recordings | ✓ Practising with voices like your colleagues' | You get used to what you listen to. |
Can you try one now?
Press a button, listen, then say the line out loud without looking. It takes ten seconds, and these are lines you can use this week.
| Phrase | Meaning | Listen: US / UK / AU / IN |
|---|---|---|
| Sorry, could you say that again? | you didn't catch it | |
| I didn't catch that. | the same, shorter | |
| I'll get back to you on that. | you can't answer yet | |
| Just to confirm, you're coming on Saturday at 8? | checking what was agreed | |
| on track | going to plan | |
| heads-up | an early warning |
The voices are AI-generated, for practice only.
Where can you start?
Pick the one closest to your week. Each page has the full conversation, so you can read it and hear it before you try:
- Daily standup: progress and blockers: Canadian and Nigerian accents. Practise it
- Office kitchen: talking about the weekend: American and British accents. Practise it
- Technical design review: trade-offs and a polite no: French and Polish accents. Practise it
- Video 1:1: meeting a new manager: British and German accents. Practise it
- Clinic visit: checking in and describing symptoms: Filipino and Indian accents. Practise it
The scene pages are in Chinese with the full English script alongside, and every line has a recording. You can read and listen without signing up. All characters, lines and voices are AI-generated, for practice only.
If you'd like something to answer back without arranging a person. In Before You Speak (开口前 kaikouqian), two AI colleagues with real accents talk and you can cut in at any time; when it's your turn, they stop and wait for you. Afterwards you get at most two corrections, they go into your review book, and in review a colleague says the original line again and you answer. You can also write your own situation in Chinese (what it's about, who it's with, what you want to say, the facts only you know) and get a practice scene in two or three minutes.
Free sign-up, no card. The free plan has two live AI conversation rounds and three scripted sessions a week; your own scenes come with a 7-day free trial, and nothing is charged when it ends. For people living outside mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. The app explains in Chinese; Chrome on a computer works best.
Which guides go with this one?
- Rehearsing a difficult talk with your boss: A delay, a raise, a target you can't hit: what to write down, what to say, and how to rehearse against pushback.
- Small talk at work: Answer with one detail, ask back, follow up and close politely: for Monday mornings, lunch and the two minutes before a meeting.
- Speaking up in meetings: How to get in when nobody leaves a gap, ask about what you missed, buy time and confirm the next step.
- All guides
How was this page written?
- Author
- The maker of Before You Speak, a Chinese engineer working in English in Abu Dhabi.
- Sources
- The practice routine Before You Speak is built on, the author's own experience of learning English at work, and public comments on r/EnglishLearning, linked above. The English lines are from its Daily standup, Monday chat and Annual review scenes and its practice packs. This page recommends our own product among others, and we have an obvious interest in that.
- Use of AI
- The explanations on this page were drafted with AI and put together by the author. The characters, lines and audio in the scenes are AI-generated. The advice is our own judgement; we haven't tested it against other methods.
- Updates
- First published 2026-11-01. Found a mistake or want to add something? Write to hello@kaikouqian.com.