Most people travel without practising much English, and they return feeling no closer to fluency.
Great! You’ve been learning English!
And now you are travelling to practice.
Only, it can be surprisingly difficult to speak English on holiday…
Don’t return home disappointed.
This page first shares what your problems will be, and gives you our best tips for how to prepare and get started.
Please use (and share!) our free tips, but if you really want to return home with your English flowing, feeling connected to the language, we have a new tool to help.
Find it at the end of this blog!
Some reasons why ‘just being here’ doesn’t work.
Guided tours talk fast
It gets difficult and frustrating when you miss information, which can cause you to feel bad about your language level and close down as a defence mechanism (as your brain tries to protect you from failure).
Tip: guided tours are still useful practice if you approach them a little differently.
Expect not to understand everything (there will be some pretty specialist information).
Listen for the gist (the overall message), or one particular structure (like how the presenter asks and answers questions).
Let all the details go.
(You can always read the information later – or even return a second time).
Guided tour at Cairn O’Mohr Winery, Perthshire (English Immersion Holiday activity).
Tourism activities give too few quality opportunities to speak
In tourism, you meet people being paid to help you have a great holiday.
They will be nice and friendly (especially in Scotland) but hospitality is a busy gig: they won’t all have a lot of time to chat.
Tip: choose a smaller accommodation provider. The more rooms, the less personal the service.
Restaurants with Rooms & B&Bs provide more personal service than big hotels.
AirB&B is not designed to get talking!
There are great quality Youth Hostels in Scotland.
They are not just for ‘youths’ and they are designed for socialising.
R. visiting Stirling Youth Hostel during a language immersion holiday with us.Â
Are you open to conversation?
If you are travelling with friends and family, the chances will be you are speaking to each other in your own language.
Tip: separate yourselves for short periods to seek out social interactions.
Again choose a small, independent pub or cafe rather than a chain.
Don’t sit scrolling on your phone and wonder why no one is speaking to you. Have open body language and say hi to people when you make eye contact.Â
There's no one correcting your mistakes
With no one correcting your speaking errors, lower-level speakers risk reinforcing bad habits.
Tip: if you struggle to communicate something, make sure you look up later how to say it.
You can even write the conversation out like a play, then ask Chat GPT to correct it.Â
Speak English on Holiday
It is critical not to go home feeling worse about your English than you did before you arrived.
Don’t get a fright about how different English sounds and stop trying.
Lower your expectations. Give yourself a break (it’s ok to be learning) and open your mind to who you can be in this language.Â
Get inspired, play and have fun.Â
Mistakes don’t matter on holiday! Â
You chose a UK holiday to improve your English, but how do you begin speaking?
And who is correcting your errors?
Follow these tips to make sure you get English practice into your time on holiday in the UK.
Practice asking questions in gift shops and tourist attractions
Ask about the local makers of the produce on sale. (Who makes this product? Is it vegan? Where is their workshop based? Can one visit?)’
This community is used to speaking with second-language English speakers* so you don’t need to feel shy.
*Quite often they will be second-language speakers themselves!
Speak with people from all nationalities
It’s a myth that you only need to be speaking with ‘native-speakers’ to learn. (Learn more).
A bonus is other L2 speakers will talk more slowly and not use so many phrasal verbs/local dialect.
Collect all the resources you can while travelling
Continue practising when you get home with sources that interest you: listen for a radio show you like and find it on the internet later.Â
Buy books and magazines while you can (learn more).
Revisit websites
Once you get home, revisit the websites for places you toured/stayed to check your comprehension.
Websites are great for matching images to new vocabulary.Â
Speak English with each other
Travelling with friends/family?
Try using English at meal times or during certain times of the day.
Treat it like a game and have fun (no error correction).Â
Attend local events
Small, local events are great places to get talking.
 The first image on this mage was a plant sale. M. spoke to the ladies in great detail about growing plants and gardening.
Small events are run by passionate people who love sharing their interests.Â
Perfect for speaking Englsih on holiday!Â
About ‘Just Being Here’
How is Your Comprehension in the UK?
Spoken English is very different from the English you are used to.
It’s not the Scottish accent (well, perhaps a little).
Spoken English is fast, and it’s full of phrasal verbs.
It’s not unusual to get to the UK and wonder why you don’t understand the language spoken around you.
Unfortunately, if you are not understanding, you are not learning and improving (see more in the language theory section below).
Worse, when you lose confidence in listening, you can quickly get put off speaking and starting conversations.
English teacher Jennie Reed coaching pronunciation at Blue Noun.
Ruth, language coach at Blue Noun Language Hub
About Learning English On Holiday
In English, we have the idiomatic expression, “You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”.
Here’s our language school version:
“You can take your family to Scotland, but you can’t make them speak English!”
Plan before you leave how you will integrate English practice into your family holiday.
It Won’t ‘Just Happen’ On Its Own
It is typical to overestimate how much English practice you will get on holiday.
There are people who have lived here for years and still don’t speak it.
Language doesn’t just osmose into you, it takes active learning and guidance.Â
Our good news is that active learning can be fabulous and pleasurable.
Even when it doesn’t feel like a classroom!
Even when it feels like a holiday!
Herbalist Claire Mullan speaking about Scottish wild plants.
Travelling to Scotland?
You Could Book a Private English Workshop here in Perthshire
One solution is to spend a day with your own private English coach.
That’s a personal English language coach who will develop your language skills while guiding you around the best of local Scottish culture.
Immersion Activities are NOT a Traditional Language Class
So it won’t cost you a precious day of holiday.
At Blue Noun, we offer coaching based around the superb holiday activities in Perthshire (or a workshop right here in our cosy hub – see our activities menu).
Our coaching is activity-based, and designed around what YOU wish to see and do.
It’s reactive.
We’ll work out together how to take your English to the next level.
Does it Work?
We can’t get you fluent in a day, but we can take a huge step in the right direction – and that’s helping you – or your whole family love and enjoy speaking English.
You get a great day’s holiday and we make sure your English improves too.
An English challenge to fit your holiday
– wherever you are going!
Beta Tester Offer £49 – September-October 2024
English Language Holiday
Exploring Dunkeld Forest, Perthshire
1:1 English Immersion Course
Activity: sketching at Drummond Castle Gardens
Why Choose an Immersion English Excursion if You are not Talking all the Time?
An immersion English excursion is a less intensive way of learning a language, but that doesn’t mean diluted.
You will be developing a less tangible (but more important) result.
For many learners, above everything, it is confidence in speaking that holds them back.
Immersion English coaching takes the pressure off. At the same time, the experience shows the brain that you are an English speaker.
It quietens the little voice in your head that doubts you.
This is the start of a lifetime of loving speaking English.
Language learning progress quickly follows.
It’s the best way to speak English on holiday.