How to Sound Natural in English

Oh no! You're at the office and the printer isn't working. You know you have a coworker who is good at fixing tech issues, so you go and find him. Using your best English, you ask him: "I would like to request your assistance regarding a technological matter." Totally correct, well-conjugated — so why is he looking at you so strangely? What you didn't realize is that you've hit a wall that is all too common for advanced English speakers, especially in a professional context. Focusing too much on "correct" English leaves your speech sounding so unnatural that it can be distracting. In order for your English to sound natural to the point where you sound like a native speaker, you must focus on three areas: collocations, hedging language, and discourse markers.

The Gap Between Correct and Natural Speech

It is first useful to cover how speaking correctly and sounding natural can differ. Grammar rules in English describe what is possible and what is considered incorrect. However, within those rules there is a wide range of possibilities. Native English speakers choose from those possibilities according to habit, register, and social context. What is correct in the office may not be appropriate when talking to coworkers at the bar after the work day is finished. In fact, natural English is made up of ready-made chunks, rather than being assembled word by word. To sound truly natural, speakers string these chunks together, using discourse markers and hedging language as the glue (we'll talk about those later). Advanced English learners can feel frustrated by this, especially since there's no concrete rule that indicates which phrasing to use.

Collocations: The Words That Belong Together

Let's start with collocations, which is perhaps the most student-friendly of the three areas. Simply put, collocations are words that habitually go together, even when other options are possible. Some well-known examples include:

• Strong accent
• Heavy rain
• Deep sleep
• Bright future

Would it be incorrect to say "big accent", "strong rain", "heavy sleep", or "excellent future"? No, not at all. However, English speakers' ears are so used to hearing the aforementioned examples that any variations will draw attention. Instead of the focus being on the message, the phrasing is what sticks out.

Why does this happen? In most instances, the student learned the adjectives, nouns, and verbs separately, and then combined them following the rules of their L1. This direct translation into their L2 creates what is called a "calque" — sometimes they can be understood, and sometimes they can't. The best strategy is to find out each new word's typical partners as you learn it, so you don't have to relearn them later. A collocation dictionary or example sentences showing the word in context can help.

Hedging Language: How Fluent Speakers Soften What They Say

The next way to make English sound more natural is to use hedging statements. Think about how you speak in your L1: do you sound 100% confident about everything you say, all of the time? I didn't think so — and neither do English speakers. In order to indicate this hesitancy, they use phrases such as:

• Kind of
• Sort of
• It seems like
• Might be
• I wonder if…

The effect of these words is to make any sentence sound more nuanced, more polite, and less aggressive or blunt. For example, saying "That's wrong" sends a far different message than "I'm not sure that's quite right." In cases such as these, not hedging enough may cost you your colleagues' goodwill!

A word of caution: while not hedging makes you sound curt, hedging too much can have the opposite effect and make you sound overly evasive. In order to sound natural, pay close attention to native English speakers in different situations and contexts. That way, you will be able to calibrate your speech so that it has the effect that you are looking for.

Discourse Markers: The Glue of Natural Conversation

So you have mastered using collocations and hedging, and are feeling good about your English. There's one piece of the puzzle left in order to sound as natural as possible: discourse markers. These are words that have diverse functions: changing topics, showing contrast, buying thinking time, checking understanding, and more.

• Shifting topic: anyway, by the way, speaking of which
• Adding an opinion or clarifying: to be honest, actually, I mean
• Buying thinking time: well, let me think, hmm
• Wrapping up or moving on: so, right, anyway

Some learners treat these words as filler and don't bother using them, or choose one or two and overuse them. But in order to see just how important they are, let's look at two answers to the question "How was your weekend?"

• A: "It was good. I went to the beach. I watched the new episode of my favorite TV show."
• B: "Well, it was pretty good! I went to the beach, actually, and then I watched the new episode of my favorite show. It was great, by the way."

A sounds stilted and robotic, while B sounds natural and fluid — something a native speaker would actually say. Of course, not all discourse markers are created equal. Some sound more formal (that said, to be quite honest) while others are best left for casual situations (like, you know). Like everything we have discussed so far, context is key when it comes to choosing what to say.

How to Sound Natural Every Day

Now that we have looked at these three areas, what would be the best way to incorporate them into your speaking? There are a few things you can do:

• Keep a "natural phrases" notebook: when you hear something that sounds right, write down the whole chunk, not just the new word.
• Listen for hedges and markers in podcasts, interviews, and series, and notice where they appear.
• Try shadowing: repeat short stretches of native speech aloud, matching rhythm and phrasing.
• Ask a teacher or conversation partner to flag moments that are correct but sound unnatural, which is exactly what grammar checkers cannot do.

By using these strategies, you may find that you get fewer odd looks at your turns of phrase, and instead receive compliments on how natural you sound!

Sounding natural in English comes down to a handful of small habits: choosing the word that usually sits beside another, softening a statement with the right hedge, and using a well-placed "anyway" or "to be honest" to carry a conversation from one idea to the next. Each one feels minor on its own, and together they make your English sound like yours. The best place to pick them up is in real conversation, where you can try a phrase, hear how it lands, and get feedback straight away. If you're ready to put these tools into practice, book a free trial lesson with Craving and start sounding more natural today.