Describe a person who is good at learning and speaking new languages
IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card with a full sample answer, a Band 9 model of the two-minute long turn.
The cue card
Describe a person who is good at learning and speaking new languages
You should say:
- how you know this person
- how this person learns new languages
- how many languages this person can speak
- how you feel about this person
Sample answer
I'd like to describe a person I know who has a remarkable talent for learning and speaking foreign languages — a good friend of mine from university named Leyla.
I've known Leyla for several years, ever since we studied together at university, where we quickly became close friends. It was during that time that I first became aware of her extraordinary linguistic abilities.
The number of languages she can speak is genuinely impressive. She is completely fluent in four languages — our native tongue, English, Russian and Turkish — and on top of that, she can hold a decent conversation in French and is currently teaching herself Spanish. So she's well on her way to mastering six languages, which I find astonishing.
As for how she learns new languages, she has a very active and immersive approach. Rather than relying purely on textbooks, she surrounds herself with the language as much as possible. She watches films and series, listens to music and podcasts, and, most importantly, she isn't at all afraid to speak and make mistakes. She actively seeks out native speakers to practise with, both in person and online, and she treats every conversation as a learning opportunity. She's also incredibly disciplined, dedicating a little time to studying every single day.
There are several reasons why I admire her so much for this. Firstly, being multilingual is an incredibly valuable and practical skill that opens up so many doors, both socially and professionally. Secondly, I know from my own experience just how much time, effort and courage it takes to learn even one foreign language, so her ability to master several is truly remarkable. What impresses me most is her fearless confidence and her genuine love of communicating with people from different cultures.
Honestly, she's a real inspiration to me. Watching her has motivated me to work harder on my own language skills, and I often turn to her for advice and encouragement whenever I feel like giving up.
330 words — roughly 3–3 minutes at a natural speaking pace.
Reading a model answer is not the same as saying one. The sample above shows what a strong Part 2 answer sounds like. What it cannot tell you is how yours sounds — whether you hesitate, repeat the question back, or run out of things to say at forty seconds.
You can record an answer to this exact question and get it marked on fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and pronunciation — the same four criteria the examiner uses.
Common questions
How long should I speak for in Part 2?
Between one and two minutes. The examiner stops you at two, so aim to still be talking at the ninety-second mark rather than finishing early — running out at forty seconds is the most common problem in this part.
What do I do with the one minute of preparation time?
You get one minute and a pencil and paper. Most candidates waste it writing full sentences they then read aloud, which sounds flat. Note a few keywords against each bullet instead, so you have four things to say and can speak naturally from them.
Do I have to cover all four bullet points?
They are prompts, not a checklist, and you are not penalised for skipping one. In practice they are the easiest way to fill two minutes, so covering them is usually the simplest way to keep going.
Does it matter if the story is not true?
No. You are assessed on your English, not on whether the events happened. Inventing detail is fine and often easier than recalling a real memory under pressure.
Model answers written and reviewed by The English All-in-One IELTS team. They are teaching models showing what each band looks like, not real candidate scripts.