Where to Practice Speaking English: 7 Places I’ve Actually Used, from AI to a Weekly Language Partner

When you study English, at some point you start thinking, “I want to speak English!”

Suitman was the same. I memorized words and studied grammar, but in Japan, there’s no place to actually say any of it out loud unless you go looking for one.

Leaving aside people who use English at work, or people who have lived abroad and have friends there, if you’ve only ever lived in Japan and have never been to an English-speaking country like me, you don’t use English at all in daily life.

…Wait, so where is everyone speaking English?…

So, while studying, I went looking for places where I could speak English.

Everyone has different reasons for learning English: exams, a raise or promotion, changing jobs, self-improvement, a hobby, and so on. My motivation was simply that I wanted to be able to speak English, so I’ve focused on speaking. If I had an hour and a half to study, I spent about an hour of it speaking. I want to talk. But there’s nowhere to dooo it ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

To get straight to the point: finding places to speak English seemed hard, but it turned out to be pretty easy.

In this post, I’ve put together the 7 ways I’ve actually used, and that have now become part of my routine, from the easiest to start to the hardest. For the ones I’ve written about in more detail, I’ve added links to those posts.

① Talk with AI (ChatGPT and others)

AI has come a long way lately, hasn’t it?

With ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, you can talk as if you’re talking to a real person. Just ask it to chat about a topic, or to ask you about what happened in your day like a normal conversation, and it will keep you company.

I mainly use ChatGPT. I use Gemini now and then, but ChatGPT’s sound feels clearer and more like a real person to me, so it’s my personal favorite.

You can also choose the AI’s voice and accent from a list, like a woman with a British accent or a man with an American accent. There’s a pretty wide range.

Honestly, I don’t use it that often. I haven’t set a rule like 10 minutes every day. I just do it whenever I feel like it.

For example, when I want to have a debate and want someone to keep pushing back on me. With people, it can sting a little, right? Some people get emotional, and if you’re not used to it, it can kill your motivation. AI is different: even if I tell it, “Always argue against my opinion,” it starts by acknowledging my point, then says something like, “But there’s also this view,” and builds a counterargument. That makes debating really easy.

You can also ask it anything, like “Tell me when there’s a better way to say what I said,” “After our conversation, give me any serious grammar mistakes as a CSV,” or “Make an Anki import file because I want to add these to Anki.” It can pretty much do it all, which is great. Just try it first, and you’ll quickly find your own way of using it.

You can also have it match your level, for example: “I’m studying for Eiken Grade 2 (a Japanese English test). Please talk using Grade 2 vocabulary.”

There are lots of how-to guides online, so I’ll skip the details here.

Related posts: I stopped trying to fight AI (in Japanese) / How the mistakes AI corrects for me turn straight into Anki cards (in Japanese)

② Language exchange apps (Tandem and HelloTalk)

Tandem and HelloTalk.

Install these two, and you can start messaging right away with people abroad who want to learn Japanese. Both are apps for finding “language exchange” partners: you teach your native language, and they teach you theirs.

Both are free to start (there are limits on things like translations and how many new people you can message, which a paid plan removes).

I’ve never hit those limits with normal use. I mainly used Tandem. If someone’s profile has a proper self-introduction and recommendations from several people, that’s a good sign they’re real and using Tandem with a real purpose. I use it to find people who are serious about learning and who I can talk with regularly on calls.

That said, there’s something to be careful about.

Many people on language exchange apps are there to find a date. You can usually tell right away, but women especially should be careful.

There are also religious recruiters, so you need to be able to spot them. I usually avoid profiles with a really glamorous photo, a short self-introduction and no recommendations.

Once you exchange a few messages, you’ll usually be able to tell. If someone quickly tries to move you to another app, or brings up investing, recruiting or anything that isn’t about language learning, I think it’s fine to keep your distance.

If you keep reaching out to different people, you’ll definitely find people who are serious about learning.

And once you find someone you can keep messaging with and stay in touch, it can turn into a long friendship. You promise, “Let’s talk at this time on weekends!”, make time to talk every week, and become something like friends. When they come to Japan, you can meet up and hang out. And when you go abroad, you can visit them, too.

In my case, I made about three friends abroad on Tandem who I can really call friends. We’ve kept in touch for about four years now. Maybe because of COVID, everyone was at home back then, and I spent every weekend on video calls.

It still has lots of users and plenty of serious learners, so just start by sending messages to different people.

At first, I messaged people with the help of a translation app. Good times ( ´∀｀) The important thing is to just try anything! Dive in! At least dip one foot in first!

③ Language exchange servers on Discord

Discord is a free app for chatting and voice calls. It seems to have been made for people to hang out while playing games, but you can also just use it like a regular messaging app to chat, send photos and make video calls. One thing, though: chats and photos you post might not disappear completely even if you delete them, so it may be better to avoid private things. Anyway, on Discord there are lots of “servers” (something like groups) where people learning English and Japanese get together.

You can chat any time, and there are different rooms, so you can join whichever room you like and talk.

People come and go all the time, but if you’re talking and think, “I might get along with this person,” you can send them a DM and try talking one-on-one. Icons also show who’s a native speaker and who’s a learner, and you can talk with people from all sorts of countries, so it’s really fun.

If you want, you can make an account and be talking five minutes later. It’s free!

There are native speakers, and lots of people who speak English very well as a second language. It’s good practice for being social, too, and I used to talk there a lot. You can ask learners abroad things like “How do you study?”, and hearing how other people study English is really helpful.

Finding servers is easy. Search Discord’s servers for something like “English Japanese,” and lots of English–Japanese language exchange servers come up. Then just join one and find people to talk to there.

④ VRChat (talking with people around the world in VR)

I don’t play games, but I bought a VR headset for English

You might think, “Isn’t VR for gamers?”

I’ve hardly ever played games. I did martial arts in school clubs and threw myself into that.

Still, around 2020 or 2021, around the start of COVID, I bought a VR headset that was sold back then as the “Oculus Quest 2.” The reason was really just English.

I learned that there are virtual worlds where you can talk with people from all over the world, and thought it would be great to speak English there. I was also super curious what it would be like. Going into a virtual space, a whole world, and talking with people from everywhere, as if you’re really there. And you can get to that dreamlike place just by putting on a headset in your own room. Isn’t that amazing?

AltspaceVR really opened up my world

Back then, I used Microsoft’s “AltspaceVR.” You create your own avatar (a character that represents you), go to any world you like, and talk with the people there.

I got really hooked. There was a time when I was there every day, trying hard to make friends.

There were people from India, Turkey, and of course the US and the UK. Most people were there wanting to make friends, and it was so much fun. Maybe because of COVID, it felt like there were a lot of users.

My favorite memory is when a friend, from Indonesia I think, took me to a VR version of Petra (the World Heritage site in Jordan). Once you make friends, you can even travel together. My world really opened up ♪( ´▽｀)

But AltspaceVR shut down in March 2023 (ノД`), and for a while it looked like I’d stop using my headset.

Now I talk at language exchange spots in VRChat

That’s when I found VRChat.

Like AltspaceVR, it has lots of “worlds” (places inside VR). You can go to any world you like, hang out with friends or meet new people. It’s not just for language learning; it’s a place where anyone who just wants to talk with someone can drop by.

I often go to events where language learners get together and worlds made for people learning English and Japanese. I used to practice there every day, talking with all sorts of people from abroad.

With the headset on, it’s really immersive. It feels like you’ve moved into another dimension. You’re talking to avatars, yet it doesn’t feel much different from talking face-to-face with English speakers. I think it has the same effect as talking to people in person.

You can start without a headset

VR headsets are a bit expensive right now.

But you can use VRChat without a headset. It’s free on a Windows PC or the smartphone app (iPhone and Android) that came out in 2025, as long as you make an account. You’ll be talking on a flat screen, but you can try it and see what it’s like (note that Mac isn’t officially supported).

I still use a Quest 2. It works on its own without a PC, and if you just want to speak English, you can have plenty of fun conversations with it.

But with the Quest 2, it gradually gets choppy or suddenly crashes, which can be pretty stressful. Since I only use VRChat “when I have some free time,” I’m fine sticking with the Quest 2, but for people who want to really get into VRChat, I’d recommend the newer Quest 3 (3S).

Watch out for VR motion sickness

After one or two hours, some scenes can suddenly make you feel sick. I still haven’t gotten used to it (；´Д｀A

So instead of buying one right away, it might be a good idea to try a demo unit at an electronics store first. I think it will really impress you, so if you can, give it a try.

Recommended for: people who want to speak real English, but find online lessons expensive and AI a little dull.

⑤ Online English lessons (Cambly)

If you want to practice properly, online English lessons are the way to go. The one I recommend is Cambly.

You can talk properly with professional tutors at a set time. It’s different from talking with friends: it’s a place where the things you couldn’t say get corrected so you can say them next time.

I’ve used Cambly since July 2021, and I’ve written about how to use it and how to start for less here: What is Cambly? A complete guide after 5 years (in Japanese) / How to start Cambly for less: waiting for the 50% off sales (in Japanese)

⑥ Go to English events (Meetup and English clubs)

If you want to meet people and talk in person, go to English events.

Search on Meetup

The service I mainly use is Meetup, a site for finding events.

You can search within a certain distance of where you live, and see on a map where each event is held.

I usually search on weekends, thinking, “Are there any good events?” Lately, I show online groups and in-person groups together, and drop in now and then on the ones that are easy to get to or look good.

Right now I’m in a phase of wanting to make friends in English, so I go to events in the city, where there are more English clubs, and make friends there.

English magazine newsletters also announce events

The newsletters from the English magazines I buy (Japanese English-learning magazines like CNN English Express and The Japan Times Alpha) sometimes include event announcements, too. I’ve gone straight to some of those and met people.

Search for “English clubs” and show up to all of them

If you search for things like “English club” or “English learning in person” in your area, lots of results come up.

I think it’s good to just show up to all of them. That’s how I’ve met and talked with all kinds of people.

I’ve written about events I actually went to here: A TED Talks English web event (hosted by abceed) (in Japanese) / I joined an English debate event in Nagoya (in Japanese)

⑦ Talk with a language exchange partner at the same time every week

Last is the method that has helped my English the most.

With a friend you met on a language exchange app or elsewhere, you fix a time when you’re both free. For example, “Every Saturday from 8 p.m., I always talk with this person.”

You talk on a video call, and I teach Japanese while they teach me English. If you find even one or two people like that, it becomes a really good relationship, and you can keep talking for a long time.

My language exchange partners

Right now, I talk every week with a friend in the UK. We’ve been talking every Saturday night for about six months to a year. 7 or 8 p.m. in Japan is 11 a.m. or noon in the UK, so the timing works out perfectly.

I’ve had a few others before that.

• With my first friend, from the US, I talked every Saturday for about three years. We even met in person in Japan about three times. But after we met, maybe because it felt like we’d achieved something, our calls gradually became less frequent
• With another friend I met during COVID, “talking with this person at this time every Saturday” lasted three years, too. We finally met in Kyoto, and after that, our calls became less frequent again. Now we’re friends who chat a few times a week
• With another friend in the UK, I talked every Saturday or Sunday, but we never met, and we slowly lost touch. We don’t talk anymore

Looking at it this way, when you have a set time to talk with someone, it can last for years. Meeting in person can make things settle down a bit, and sometimes it just ends naturally without ever meeting.

If you talk on video calls every week, your mic and earphones matter, too. Here’s what happened when I changed mine: Changing my mic and earphones made English pronunciation much clearer (in Japanese)

Summary: There are endless places to speak English, depending on what you do

Here are the methods I’ve used, one more time:

• ① AI: you can talk any time the mood strikes
• ② Language exchange apps: you can find friends abroad quickly (watch out for people looking for dates)
• ③ Discord: someone is always there, and it’s easy to chat
• ④ VRChat: you’re an avatar, but it feels just like talking face-to-face
• ⑤ Online lessons: the things you couldn’t say get corrected
• ⑥ English events: you meet people in person and make friends
• ⑦ A weekly partner: a set time to talk with someone can last for years

Finding places to speak English seems hard, but it’s actually pretty easy.

The technology is amazing, and because of COVID, everyone is comfortable with video calls. Even while staying in Japan, it’s not studying abroad, but you can talk with people from other countries.

Depending on what you do, there are endless places to speak.

Look around and give it a try first. o(｀ω´ )o

English expressions from this post (B2–C1)

Suitman is working toward Eiken Grade 1 (the top level of Japan’s best-known English test), so here are a few useful phrases from this post, picked out by AI.

① strike up a conversation (= to start talking with someone)

At language exchange events, it’s easy to strike up a conversation with strangers.

This is how you say you start a conversation with someone you don’t know. It fits events and VRChat perfectly.

② language exchange partner (= someone you teach and learn languages with)

I’ve had the same language exchange partner every Saturday night for almost a year.

A person you teach your language to while they teach you theirs. You can say it just like this in English.

③ step out of one’s comfort zone (= to leave a situation where you feel safe and relaxed)

Going to my first English meetup made me step out of my comfort zone.

To boldly jump into something unfamiliar. Looking for places to speak English is exactly that.

Dictionaries I used to check the meanings:

• strike up｜Cambridge Dictionary
• language exchange｜Collins Dictionary
• comfort zone｜Cambridge Dictionary

References

• Meetup (official)
• VRChat (official)
• Tandem (official)
• HelloTalk (official)