Blog

Guides on speaking practice from people who teach it every week: how to practise speaking English or Spanish on your own, what AI tutors can and cannot do, how the CEFR levels work and how long each one takes, and honest comparisons of the apps learners ask us about. Every guide says what a method cannot do before it says what it can. Start with the featured article, or pick the problem you are trying to fix.

FEATURED · AUG 24, 2026 · 10 MIN READ

Best AI Apps to Practice Speaking English (2026)

Compare the best AI apps for speaking English in 2026: ELSA Speak, Speak, TalkPal, Praktika, Loora, Duolingo and Lucida, with strengths and limits.

By James Corrigan

Read the guide

Flat illustration: a hand holding a smartphone, with five rounded app tiles floating around it, each tile carrying one simple symbol: a microphone, a speech bubble, a star, a waveform, a headphone

Free AI Speaking Practice: What You Actually Get (2026)

Sep 2 · 12 min read

Sarah Mitchell

Shadowing Apps Compared: Which Ones Let You Actually Shadow?

Sep 2 · 12 min read

James Corrigan

Flat illustration: a microphone standing on a desk with a large semicircular gauge dial behind it, the needle pointing high

CEFR to IELTS Conversion (and TOEFL, Cambridge, DET, TOEIC)

Sep 2 · 11 min read

Daniel Reeves

Flat illustration: a person speaking into a phone, sound waves flowing toward it.

CEFR A1 Level Explained: What A1 Speaking Sounds Like

Sep 2 · 12 min read

Maya Lindqvist

Flat illustration: a person seen from the side with two speech bubbles: the first bubble holds a small storm cloud, the second bubble holds a small sun

CEFR A2 Level Explained: What A2 Sounds Like and the Way Out

Sep 2 · 9 min read

Maya Lindqvist

Flat illustration: two simple chairs facing each other across a small table, one large speech bubble above holding a bold star shape

CEFR B1 Level Explained: What B1 English Really Sounds Like

Sep 2 · 12 min read

Daniel Reeves

Flat illustration: a clipboard holding a horizontal bar divided into six segments of rising height, three small figures standing beside it

CEFR B2 Explained: What B2 Level Means and How It Sounds

Sep 2 · 9 min read

Daniel Reeves

Flat illustration: a large magnifying glass held over a smooth soundwave, the magnified section showing the wave bigger and clearer

CEFR C1 Level Explained: What It Means, What It Sounds Like

Sep 2 · 10 min read

Sarah Mitchell

CEFR C2 Level Explained: C1 vs C2, and Is It Worth It?

Sep 2 · 11 min read

Sarah Mitchell

Flat illustration: two smartphones standing face to face like duelists; the left screen shows a simple game controller shape, the right screen shows a microphone shape, one small zigzag spark between them

Lucida vs Duolingo: Which App Gets You Speaking?

Aug 21 · 10 min read

Sarah Mitchell

How to Practice Speaking English Alone: 4 Methods

Aug 18 · 7 min read

Sarah Mitchell

Flat illustration: a tall signpost with three arrow signs pointing different directions, each arrow carrying one symbol: a microphone, a speech bubble, a simple person silhouette

Duolingo Alternatives That Make You Speak (2026)

Aug 14 · 10 min read

Daniel Reeves

Flat illustration: a person speaking, sound-wave speech bubbles leaving their mouth.

AI English Speaking Coach

Aug 11 · 6 min read

James Corrigan

How AI Language Tutors Actually Work

Aug 7 · 10 min read

Maya Lindqvist

Flat illustration: a friendly robot tutor face surrounded by chat bubbles in six colors.

AI Language Tutor: Learn 6 Languages by Speaking

Aug 4 · 7 min read

Maya Lindqvist

Flat illustration: three simple figures around a round table, each with a small speech bubble; the bubbles rise and stack into an ascending bar chart above the table

Business English Speaking Practice That Scales

Jul 31 · 10 min read

Elena Vasquez

Flat illustration: a figure climbing a staircase of six steps toward a star.

CEFR Levels Explained: A1 to C2 in Plain English

Jul 28 · 7 min read

Daniel Reeves

Flat illustration: three figures around a rising bar chart topped with a flag.

Corporate Language Training with AI Coaching

Jul 21 · 7 min read

Elena Vasquez

English Job Interview Practice That Sticks

Jul 17 · 9 min read

James Corrigan

Flat illustration: an open laptop showing a video-call grid of four simple faces, one large speech bubble rising from one of them holding a small bar chart

English for Meetings: Prepare, Speak, Follow Up

Jul 14 · 10 min read

Elena Vasquez

English Pronunciation Practice: Fix What Matters First

Jul 10 · 10 min read

James Corrigan

IELTS Speaking Practice at Home: No Tutor Required

Jul 8 · 8 min read

Daniel Reeves

Flat illustration: a person speaking with a large speech bubble containing a simple sun and a small stylized guitar shape

How to Practice Speaking Spanish Without Living Abroad

Jul 3 · 9 min read

Maya Lindqvist

How to Stop Translating in Your Head When Speaking

Jun 30 · 8 min read

Maya Lindqvist

English Speaking Anxiety: Why You Freeze and What Helps

Jun 23 · 9 min read

Sarah Mitchell

Flat illustration: a large hourglass; inside the top half small squares fall, inside the bottom half they stack into a tiny ascending staircase

How Long Does It Take to Learn English? The Honest Math

Jun 16 · 9 min read

Daniel Reeves

The Shadowing Technique: A Complete Guide

Jun 9 · 9 min read

Sarah Mitchell

How to Assess Employee English Levels, Practically

Jun 4 · 9 min read

Elena Vasquez

Frequently asked questions

Which article should I start with?

If you freeze when you have to speak, start with the guide to practising speaking English alone; it lays out the four methods every other article builds on. If you want to know where you stand, read the CEFR levels guide first.

Do these guides apply to Spanish, French and other languages?

Most of them. Shadowing, self-recording, thinking aloud and AI conversation practice work the same way in any language, and the CEFR scale covers all of them. Articles written for English say so in the title; the Spanish speaking guide and the tutor pages cover the other languages directly.

Is the advice tied to the Lucida app?

No. Every method in these guides can be done with a podcast, a phone recorder and a patient friend. Where the app helps, the article says so and also says what it cannot do.