Some of you might be thinking that those online schools, though cheap, are still too much money for your pitiful financial situation.

I feel you, man. Believe me, I feel you.

But if you're using “No Money" as your reason for not improving your speaking skills, you're just making excuses. Because you can improve your speaking skills for free. For instance, by using…

MyLanguageExchange.com

MyLanguageExchange.com has this super old school website:

So you might be a bit skeptical. However, I have found that there is a pretty active community of Japanese people on the site. If you're living in Tokyo, it's actually an awesome way to meet new people and make friends.

If you're abroad, though, then you can still make some online friends. Then you can make a deal with them that you have a 1 hour Skype conversation per week: 30 minutes in English and 30 minutes in Japanese.

And if you're super motivated, you can get 7 of those friends, then shower in 言語交換 / gengou koukan / “language exchange."

Oh yeah, there is a paid option for MyLanguageExchange.com, too, but you can probably sneak by on the free version.

italki

By the way, they also have a language exchange feature on italki. So, you could just go on there and talk for free, too. Booms.

Other Options

It seems like a new language exchange website app is popping up every day.

I haven't had a chance to look at any of these thoroughly, but here are some other language exchange communities that I've come across:

• HelloTalk

So, yeah, choose whichever avenue of speaking practice vibes with you and go for it.

Also, don't freak out too much, but… Speaking Prep フィニッシュ！！

Phase #1 Progress

Completed:

• Mindset Prep
• Vocab Prep
• Listening Prep
• Reference Prep
• Grammar Prep
• Speaking Prep