If there is one language that is useful when travelling, it is English. However, once on holiday it is not always easy to speak the language of Shakespeare, often due to lack of practice. So how do you get to speak English better? Here are 5 tips that should help you

Meet English speakers before you leave

Talking with an English or American who also speaks his language is the ideal way to improve your English. That's what the Franglish Association proposes. Present in several cities in France (Paris, Lille, Nice...). It is based on the speed-dating system. You spend 15 minutes chatting with an English-speaking resident of your city, 7 minutes in English and 7 minutes in French, then you change tables. By talking about anything and everything in a short period of time, you enrich your vocabulary in a playful way and you have every chance of making a new friend!

Watch TV shows, but not just any TV show..

Take a series that you love and already know in French, then replay the seasons of the series in OV, with French subtitles at first. Start again with the English subtitles. Then watch without the subtitles completely in VO.

Favour series that focus on everyday life such as Friends or Desperate Housewives but avoid The Experts or Grey's Anatomy, whose vocabulary related to the world of crime or medicine will not necessarily be useful when you travel..

Download a good translation application

A translation application is always very handy when travelling to help find the word that doesn't come in English.

Among the most practical applications for smartphones, we recommend Google Translation, which is not a simple online dictionary but has the advantage of having a voice function!

You can have a word translated live by simply activating the microphone. The word appears first in written form and then in an audio version very distinctly. It's almost magical!

However, the Google Translation application must remain a tool and not a means of communication because if you intend to translate an entire conversation with a person using the audio function, it is really tedious and not so spontaneous anymore...

Take along a travel guide with integrated lexicon

Not all travel guides offer it, but some collections, such as the Petit Futé guides, systematically include a lexicon that gives the translation of all the phrases of everyday life in the language of the country.

This will be much more useful to you than your leftovers from school English classes such as "Brian is in the kitchen" .

Travel useful to improve your English

It is well known that it is much easier to learn a language when you are passionate about what you do or feel useful. This is what the Globalong organization, which offers trips abroad that combine language learning and volunteer work, has understood.

Participants have the opportunity to live a unique experience, in immersion with a host family or in a home for international volunteers. Interaction with the locals is thus almost permanent and the language is learned much faster.

Nothing like the classic language stays where you end up speaking French most of the time with the other French-speaking participants..

Another plus: Globalong donates part of the money paid by the participants to humanitarian associations to support their projects.