Frequently asked questions

Go to the log in page and enter your email: we’ll send you a 6-digit code (check your spam folder if it doesn’t arrive). You can also continue with Google, or log in with your password if you have one.

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Welcome! On the timetable you’ll find your Get started checklist: book your first meeting, take the one-minute level test, join, rate your meeting and start a streak. Finish all 5 steps and, in most countries, you get a free week of Premium.

You can use the Find a partner search form.

If you find someone you’d like to talk with, send them a friend request. Once they accept, you can message each other and arrange a time to chat. You can also add the partners you met in a meeting, from the popup after the meeting or the Social card on the timetable.

To keep things friendly and prevent spam, you can have up to 10 pending friend requests at a time.

If you see "Limit Reached", you have 10 sent requests that haven’t been accepted yet. To send more, you can:

• Wait for some of your requests to be accepted.
• Go to your profile and cancel older requests that weren’t answered.

Note: members with a paid plan don’t have this limit.

Go here to add your social networks.

Here are the current badges:

   Host: become a Speaking Club host

   Premium: get a Premium membership

   Top reviewer: write 5 reviews

   25 Meetings attended: attend 25 Speaking Club meetings

   50 Meetings attended: attend 50 Speaking Club meetings

   100 Meetings attended: attend 100 Speaking Club meetings

   200 Meetings attended: attend 200 Speaking Club meetings

   500 Meetings attended: attend 500 Speaking Club meetings

After a meeting, when you come back to the timetable, a short popup asks how it went. You can:

• Give the meeting 1 to 5 stars.
• Write a review (public), or tick Private to send a message only our team sees.
• Rate each of your partners with a face. Add them as a friend, or choose Don’t pair us again.

Your partner ratings are only seen by you and our team. Reviews help other members choose their meetings and help us keep the quality high.

On the timetable, tap Book under the part you want. Most meetings have two parts of 30 minutes (Part 1 and Part 2): you can book one or both.

Free and Standard plans have a weekly limit. When you reach it, the button shows Upgrade instead.

Tap the red Cancel button on the part you booked. There’s no penalty, and if you were at your weekly limit, you can book another meeting straight away.

The green Enter button opens 5 minutes before each part you booked. It opens the meeting in Zoom.

After you press Enter, a Can’t join? Report a problem link appears under the button. Choose what happened (for example, the host hasn’t started the meeting) and we’ll be told straight away.

Meeting times are shown in your local time zone, from the time set on your device. The timetable shows it at the top, for example "Times in Paris (UTC+2)".

Meetings with a gold Free tag are open to all members, whatever their plan. We offer them in the languages we’re growing.

We use Zoom for the meetings.

Each meeting shows its host’s badge:

• Native host: a native speaker of the language of the meeting.
• Pro host: one of our experienced hosts.
• Host: a community host from somewhere in the world, trained by us (see Community meetings).

Remember that during the meetings you’ll mostly be speaking with other learners, in one-on-one conversations.

Practice: with an intermediate level minimum, you can have one-on-one conversations that give you plenty of practice speaking in a real-life setting.

Confidence: confidence is a key part of speaking fluently. To gain it, you just need to practise in an environment where speaking the language is the only option.

Active vocabulary: one of the main difficulties in reaching a higher level is learning to use all the vocabulary you know. Many learners understand lots of words but can’t remember them when they speak. To move vocabulary from passive to active, you need to hear and use the words many times, ideally in many places.

The minimum age for the regular meetings is 16 years old.

If you feel your partner’s level is too low, feel free to call the host to your room. Hosts are trained to deal with this. We try to make sure everyone meets the minimum level.

If your partner disconnects and you’re alone in your breakout room, press the Ask for help button in your Zoom breakout room and wait for the host. Please be patient: the host may be helping someone else.

If you’re uncomfortable with your partner for any reason, you can leave the breakout room, go back to the main room and tell the host you’d like a new partner. You can also leave the meeting, come back in, and explain the situation to the host.

After the meeting, you can choose Don’t pair us again for that partner in the feedback popup.

No, the hosts don’t take requests.

No, meetings are not recorded. The only exception is the Speaking Club Show, which is recorded and posted on YouTube. The host tells everyone at the start.

We ask for it once, the first time you press Enter. If you type it exactly as it’s written in Zoom, the host can find you and we can greatly improve your meeting experience.

You can follow this tutorial from Zoom to change your Zoom name.

Of course! If your name doesn’t match, we can’t use your data on the site during the Zoom meeting, but you can still join the meetings normally.

Community Meetings are hosted by members of the Speaking Club community, from all over the world. They host as part of the Host Exchange Program.

It’s a community host from the Host Exchange Program. Their meetings work the same way, and they’re trained the same way, but they may not be native speakers of the language of the meeting.

Community Hosts are part of the Host Exchange Program.
To host English meetings as a non-native speaker, you must have attended at least 20 Speaking Club meetings.

The AI Coach is a live English speaking assistant included with the Pro plan. It listens to the conversation during your Speaking Club meetings and gives you real-time feedback to help you improve. It currently supports English only.

The AI Coach includes four main features:

• HUD: an on-screen panel during your meeting that brings together several tools: user tags (add a friend or block someone directly, and hover to see extra info like attendance, country, plan level and hobbies), live metrics (🗣️ talk %, 🖌️ sentence length, ⚡ words per minute and 💬 filler words), the Vocab Quest, and your AI settings.
• AI Tips: live suggestions on your speaking as the conversation unfolds: corrections, phrasing, and things to work on.
• Meeting Report: a summary after each session of how you did and where you can improve. Open it from the AI Report button next to the meeting on the timetable.
• My Progress: how your speaking is developing over time, across sessions. Your latest score also shows in the Progress card on the timetable.

After each meeting, the Coach gives you a score out of 100. The largest part of that score reflects the CEFR level (A1 to C2+) the AI judged you to be speaking at. The rest comes from three measures of how you used the language: the mix of vocabulary across CEFR levels, the variety of words you used, and how much of the session you spent talking. The score is meant to track your progress over time, not to serve as a formal certification of your level.

During the meeting, captions are generated through Zoom, and Zoom shows a privacy notice whenever a participant has captions enabled. When a Pro member is in the room, the AI Coach uses the meeting transcript to generate your tips and report. We keep transcripts for two weeks to produce these features, then they’re deleted.

To generate tips and reports, transcripts are sent to a third-party AI provider (OpenAI) for processing. This data is used to produce your feedback and is not used to train AI models.

We don’t plan to change the price, but because the AI Coach relies on third-party AI services, we reserve the right to adjust the Pro plan price if the cost of those services changes significantly.

A one-minute speaking test: you get a question, answer it out loud, and AI gives you your level (A1 to C2) with feedback. It’s available in English, French, Spanish and German. Your level shows in the Progress card on the timetable.

Once a week. When you can take it again, a Test your English link (or your timetable’s language) appears in the Progress card.

Speak Now is instant one-on-one practice. Pick a language, and we match you with another member who’s ready to talk right now for a 15-minute video call. Discussion questions appear in the chat to get you started, so there’s no need to arrange anything in advance. You’ll find the Speak Now button on the timetable.

Speak Now is available on the Premium and Pro plans. While we’re testing it, Standard members can use it too, for a limited time.

Choose the language you want to practise and press Speak Now. We’ll place you in a queue and find you a partner. Once matched, you start a video call and chat for 15 minutes, using the discussion questions if you like. When the time is up, you can choose to meet again with the same partner, meet someone new, or finish.

Yes. Speak Now is face-to-face practice, so your camera needs to be on for the call. If you’d prefer to practise without video, our regular meetings may suit you better.

You must be 18 years or older to use Speak Now.

We pair you with another member who’s waiting in the same language and is a good fit for a practice conversation. If you’d rather not be matched with someone again, you can block them: you won’t be paired with anyone you’ve blocked.

Yes. If you enjoyed talking with your partner, you can send them a friend request from the call, and carry on the conversation later through your profile.

You’re always in control. You can leave the call at any time, or block your partner so you’re never matched with them again. If something more serious happens, use the report button (the ⚠️ icon): it ends the call immediately and stops that member from being matched with you again. Serious reports are reviewed by our team.

During a call, press the ⚠️ report icon. Your partner’s video is hidden straight away, and you can choose a reason. Sending the report ends the call, blocks that member, and passes it to our team to review. If you ever feel unsafe, reporting is the right thing to do: it helps us keep the community safe.

If a member is reported, or our safety checks pick something up, we pause Speak Now on that account while we take a look. If you see this message and think it’s a mistake, email contact@speakingclub.com and we’ll review it.

Occasionally, a short sample of your speech may be analysed by AI to gauge your level (which helps us match you well) and to help keep calls safe. This only happens now and then, not on every call.

The audio sample is not kept: it’s analysed and then discarded. What we keep is the result: your estimated level and a short written note from the analysis. To produce it, the sample is sent to a third-party AI provider (OpenAI) for processing. This is used only to generate your level and is not used to train AI models.

No. Speak Now calls are not recorded. Apart from the occasional short speech sample described above (discarded after analysis), we don’t keep any audio or video from your calls.

The Speaking Club Debates are meetings to practise speaking in a more argumentative way. It’s a great way to learn to defend your position and challenge another. The meetings are friendly and only meant for debating practice.

• No shouting
• No insults
• We avoid religion and politics, as these topics usually become too emotionally charged.

The meeting lasts one hour. There are debate rounds on a wide variety of topics, then a final round to pick the debate winner.

To take part, you need a Premium membership and to have attended at least 10 regular meetings.

You must be over 16 years old to take part in the Debates.

The Speaking Club Group discussions are meetings to practise public speaking in a friendly way. It’s a fun way to discuss a variety of topics with friendly people from all around the world.

• No shouting
• No insults
• No interrupting
  Always be respectful and listen to the other participants when it’s their turn.

The meeting lasts one hour. The exact format changes often, but the idea stays the same: topics are discussed in small groups, with a moderator to guide the discussion.

To take part, you need a Premium membership and to have attended at least 10 regular meetings.

IELTS Preparation Meetings help members prepare for the Speaking section of the IELTS exam.
It’s a great opportunity to practise the three parts of the IELTS Speaking exam with partners from all over the world.

Round 1 (15 mins): IELTS Part 2 Cue Card
A random cue card: 1 minute to prepare, then take turns speaking for 1 to 2 minutes.

Round 2 (15 mins): IELTS Part 3 Role-play
You get a list of questions related to Round 1. One participant plays the examiner and asks questions for 4 to 5 minutes (not necessarily all of them), then you switch roles.

Round 3 (15 mins): IELTS Part 2
Round 4 (15 mins): IELTS Part 3
All rounds are one-on-one

Absolutely, anyone can join!
However, participants are encouraged to give long answers. In the IELTS exam you have to speak for 2 to 4 minutes without stopping, so don’t be surprised if the answers are longer than usual.

The Job Interview meetings help members practise English for job interviews.
The questions are ones you might be asked during a real job interview.

Round 1 (15 mins): Basic interview questions
Round 2 (15 mins): Intermediate interview questions
Round 3 (15 mins): Advanced interview questions
Round 4 (15 mins): More interview questions
All rounds are one-on-one

Absolutely, anyone can join!
However, all the questions are about job interviews.

The Daily Check-In helps members start their day with a short English practice session, while planning the day and talking about their goals for the week.

The meeting lasts only 15 minutes, in one round.

The Check-In meetings are for Premium plans, and you must have attended at least 3 meetings to join.

The Daily Streak counts how many days in a row you’ve practised. It’s a fun way to stay consistent and motivated on your language journey!

You earn a flame 🔥 for the day, and add to your streak, when you join a meeting or spend at least 10 minutes in Speak Now. Days run from midnight to midnight UTC.

Only you can see your streak. You’ll find it in the Streak card on the timetable.

The Speaking Club Show is a recorded event hosted by show-runner Rabok from Australia. It’s a fun experience, and every show is edited and posted on YouTube in the Speaking Club Show Playlist.

The Members Show is a fun, community-led event where Speaking Club members take turns hosting and sharing their ideas. Each show has a different theme and style, which makes it a unique way to practise English in a relaxed, creative setting. Every episode is recorded, edited and posted on our YouTube channel in the Members Show Playlist, so you can rewatch, learn, and celebrate our community together.

The Speaking Club Certificates of Completion show how many meetings you’ve taken part in, for each language.

You can show them to potential employers, or just print them as a reminder of your amazing progress.

In your profile page, look for the Certificates tab.