A student messaged me on iTalki recently and told me that the hardest part of his English journey wasn’t the reading or the listening. He’d built a solid daily habit with both. The hardest part was finding someone to actually speak with.
He lived in a small city in Turkey. No English speakers in his social circle. No language schools nearby. No expat community. He’d been consuming English input for months and could feel the words building up inside him with nowhere to go. The reservoir was full. He just couldn’t find a tap.
His situation is common. The input side of language learning is beautifully self-sufficient. You can read and listen anywhere, alone, with nothing but a phone and headphones. The speaking side needs another person. And finding that person, depending on where you live and what your life looks like, can feel like its own challenge.
It doesn’t have to be. The options are more varied and more accessible than most learners realise.
If You Live in an English-Speaking Country
You’re surrounded by English speakers and yet finding someone to practise with can still feel difficult. The English is everywhere but the opportunities for genuine, sustained, personal conversation don’t just fall into your lap. You have to create them.
Your workplace. If you work with English speakers, you already have daily conversation opportunities. The trick is moving beyond the transactional. Instead of keeping exchanges brief and functional, linger a moment. Ask a colleague about their weekend. Offer an opinion on something in the news. Join the lunch table instead of eating alone. These small extensions are low-risk speaking practice embedded in your existing routine.
Community groups. Sports clubs. Walking groups. Book clubs. Gardening societies. Volunteer organisations. Cooking classes. Art workshops. Choir. Any activity that puts you in regular contact with the same English speakers around a shared interest. The shared interest matters because it gives you something to talk about beyond small talk, and the regular contact builds the familiarity that makes conversation easier over time.
Religious communities. Churches, mosques, temples, and other places of worship are often among the most welcoming communities for newcomers, particularly immigrants. Many run specific programmes for people new to the area. The social dimension after services, the tea and biscuits, the informal chat, is genuine English practice in a warm, patient environment.
Volunteering. Charity shops. Food banks. Community gardens. Event marshalling. Hospital visiting. Volunteering puts you alongside English speakers working toward a shared purpose. The conversations happen naturally around the activity. The social pressure is low because the focus is on the work rather than on you.
Your children’s school. If you have children, the school gate is an underused conversation opportunity. Other parents are standing there every morning and afternoon. A “hello” becomes a chat becomes a coffee becomes a friendship. School community events, parent evenings, fundraisers, all of these are social situations where conversation is expected and welcomed.
Neighbours. A simple knock on the door with some homemade food has started more friendships than any language exchange app. Most neighbours are happy to chat if the invitation is warm. The proximity means the relationship can develop naturally over months rather than being forced into a scheduled session.
If You Don’t Live in an English-Speaking Country
The lack of English speakers around you is a limitation but not the barrier it once was. The internet collapsed the geography of language practice years ago.
iTalki. This is where I’d start and it’s where you can find me as a conversation partner too. iTalki connects you with tutors and conversation partners from around the world for one-on-one video sessions. You browse profiles, read reviews, book a trial lesson at a reduced rate, and see how it feels. The sessions are private, scheduled at your convenience, and you choose the person whose style and energy match what you need.
The range is enormous. Qualified teachers who structure lessons formally. Conversation partners who simply chat with you about whatever interests you both. Native speakers from every English-speaking country. The cost varies but conversation sessions can be surprisingly affordable, often less than the price of a coffee.
If you’d like to work with me specifically, in relaxed, natural conversations with no grammar drills and no pressure, book a trial lesson here.
Language exchange apps. Tandem, HelloTalk, and similar apps match you with native English speakers who want to learn your language. You spend half the time speaking English and half speaking your native language. Both of you benefit.
The advantage: it’s free. The disadvantage: the quality varies wildly. Some exchange partners are committed and reliable. Others disappear after two sessions. Some are genuinely interested in a real exchange. Others are looking for something other than language practice. It takes patience to find the right person, but when you do, a good language exchange can become one of your most valuable speaking relationships.
Discord and online communities. Discord servers dedicated to language learning host voice channels where people practise speaking in real time. Some are structured with scheduled conversation sessions. Others are drop-in, join-whenever-you-want spaces. The Reddit language learning community maintains lists of active Discord servers for English practice.
The atmosphere tends to be casual and forgiving. Everyone in the voice channel is practising. Everyone makes mistakes. The shared vulnerability creates a warmth that more formal settings sometimes lack.
Social media. Following English-speaking creators and engaging in the comments. Joining Facebook groups related to your hobbies where the discussion happens in English. Participating in Twitter/X conversations about topics you care about. Writing in English, even in short comments, is production practice. And the responses you receive are input. The interaction is real even though it’s text-based.
Online interest groups. Book clubs that meet on Zoom. Gaming communities that communicate in English. Hobby forums with voice channels. Any community built around a shared interest where English is the common language. The interest carries the conversation. The English is the medium, not the subject.
The One Friend Strategy
If all of these options feel overwhelming, here’s a simpler starting point.
Find one person. One English speaker you enjoy talking to. Someone you connect with as a human being, not just as a language resource. Build one relationship where English conversation happens regularly, naturally, and warmly.
One good conversation partner, seen weekly, is more valuable than ten casual exchanges seen sporadically. The consistency builds depth. The familiarity lowers the filter. The relationship creates a reason to show up that goes beyond “I need to practise my English.” You show up because you like the person. The English practice is a side effect of the friendship.
This person might be a tutor on iTalki who becomes someone you genuinely look forward to seeing each week. A neighbour who becomes a friend. A colleague who shares your lunch break. A language exchange partner who turns into a real connection. The source doesn’t matter. The regularity and warmth do.
Start Before You’re Ready
The temptation is to wait. To build more comprehension first. To do more reps on Glossika. To read a few more months on LingQ. To feel ready before stepping into conversation.
As we’ve discussed throughout this blog, readiness is a feeling that usually arrives during the conversation rather than before it. The learner who waits until they feel ready often waits indefinitely. The learner who books a session despite not feeling ready almost always discovers they had more English available than they believed.
My student in Turkey? He booked an iTalki session the week after we talked about his frustration. He told me later he almost cancelled three times. The session went well. His English, fed by months of input, surprised him. He’s been having weekly conversations ever since.
The reservoir was always full. He just needed to find the tap. And the tap was one booking away.
For building the comprehension that makes every conversation richer, LingQ is the tool I recommend above all others.
For absorbing conversational English through real TV shows and films with interactive subtitles, Lingopie turns your screen time into genuine acquisition.
For warming up your mouth in private before stepping into live conversation, Glossika builds production through structured sentence repetition. Available in both British and American English.
If you want compelling, story-driven English listening at just the right level, Olly Richards’ Conversations course is well worth exploring.
If you’re ready to find your conversation partner, iTalki is where I’d start. And if you’d like that partner to be me, book a trial lesson here.
Thanks for reading. I’m Richard, a conversation partner based in New Zealand who helps English learners find their voice through input, genuine conversation, and the courage to start before they feel ready.
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