The short answer: five languages, one test shape
Every speaking and listening SELT asks the same kinds of questions at A1 and A2 (your name, home, family, work, routine, food, travel, weather, plans) and adds opinions and reasons at B1. Whichever provider you book, the Home Office needs a pass at the level your route asks for. So what differs by first language is not the questions but the two or three habits that make an examiner unsure whether they understood you, or whether you understood them. For Bengali and Sylheti speakers it is v and b, s and sh, and dropped final consonants. For Gujarati speakers it is v and w and the stress on the wrong syllable. For Tagalog speakers it is p and f, b and v, and a politeness that shortens answers. For Arabic speakers it is p and b, short vowels and the missing "is". For Yoruba, Igbo and Nigerian English speakers it is th, consonant clusters and a rising tune on statements. Each section below gives the tendencies, why they cost the pass, the fix, a sixty-second drill and four model answers written by TalkDrill at the level named. The Home Office publishes no results by first language; this is our judgement, from how each language's sounds and grammar carry into English. The rules behind the page are the GOV.UK family visa guide (A1 first visa, A2 at 2.5 years, B1 at settlement and citizenship) and the GOV.UK SELT guidance (updated 12 October 2026), which lists the providers available outside the UK as PSI Services (Skills for English UKVI), the IELTS SELT Consortium (IELTS Life Skills), LanguageCert and Pearson (PTE Home).
- A sound habit is fixed by a mouth position and a minimal-pair drill, never by "speak more clearly".
- A grammar habit is fixed by one rule and six of your own sentences.
- A format habit (short answers, missed follow-ups) is fixed by the rule of three and the second question, explained on the Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi page, which applies to every language here.
Bengali and Sylheti speakers: v and b, s and sh, final consonants
The tendencies. Standard Bengali has no v, so "very" becomes "bery" and "village" becomes "billage"; Sylheti goes the other way on some words and softens p and f. The s and sh sounds merge, so "she sells" and "sea shells" can sound alike, and "sit" can come out as "shit", which is the one we fix first. Final consonants are often dropped or swallowed: "five" becomes "fi", "last week" becomes "las wee", "I lived" becomes "I live". Articles disappear, as in every South Asian language, and the question word often comes last, as in Bengali: "You live where?"
Why it costs the pass. "Bery good" is understood. "I have fi children" is not, and the examiner will ask again, which uses your time and shows a doubt on a number. A dropped -ed is the bigger problem at A2 and B1: "Yesterday I cook" leaves the examiner unsure whether you heard "yesterday", and that becomes a listening doubt, which in our judgement is the costliest kind at A2 and B1. A question with the word order "You live where?" is understood by a patient examiner but marks the grammar as below A2 when you are asked, at B1, to ask the examiner something.
The fix. For v, top teeth on the bottom lip and a buzz: "very", "visa", "seven", "eleven", "village". For b, lips together: "big", "bus", "brother". For sh, push the lips forward and make the sound long: "she", "shop", "wash"; for s, smile and keep the tongue behind the teeth: "sit", "sister", "bus". For final consonants, over-pronounce the last sound for two weeks: "five", "last", "lived", "worked"; it will settle to normal by test day. Put question words first: "Where do you live?" The minimal pairs guide has the full list.
Sixty-second drill and four model answers (written by TalkDrill)
Pairs, three times each, then in a sentence: very / berry, vote / boat, sit / shit (yes, practise it), sell / shell, five / fie, lived / live. "I have lived in Tower Hamlets for five years. We vote in the school." A1: "Where are you from?" "I am from Sylhet in Bangladesh. It is in the north-east. My parents still live there." A1: "What do you do every day?" "I take my children to school. Then I cook and clean. In the afternoon I go to English class." A2: "What did you do last weekend?" "Last Saturday we visited my husband's brother in Oldham. We ate together. On Sunday I washed the clothes and rested." B1: "Why do you want to settle in the UK?" "Because my children were born here and their school is here. I have worked in a restaurant for four years. I feel this is our home now."
Gujarati speakers: v and w, and the stress on the wrong syllable
The tendencies. Gujarati, like Hindi, has one sound between v and w, so "wife" and "vife", "west" and "vest" merge. The habit that is more Gujarati than Hindi is stress: English words get the Gujarati pattern of even syllables or stress on the last one, so "comfortable" becomes "com-for-TA-ble", "vegetables" becomes "ve-ge-TA-bles", "hospital" becomes "hos-pi-TAL". Gujarati speakers who have used English for years, in the UK or East Africa, often have a different habit: speaking fast and softly with an even rhythm, so the examiner misses the key word.
Why it costs the pass. English listeners find the word by its stressed syllable. "Ve-ge-TA-bles" said fast is a word the examiner has to reconstruct, and three such words in an answer about shopping leave a doubt. At B1, where you talk for longer on a subject, the even rhythm makes it hard for the examiner to tell where one idea ends and the next begins, and that reads as a lack of structure even when the grammar is perfect.
The fix. Learn the stressed syllable of the thirty words you will actually say and hit it harder and longer: FAmily, HUSband, CHILdren, VEgetables, HOSpital, COMfortable, INteresting, BREAKfast, SAturday, toMORrow, imPORtant, toGEther. Slow down at the end of each sentence and drop your voice; that is the full stop the examiner hears. The v and w positions are on the v vs w page, and the word stress page covers the patterns.
Sixty-second drill and four model answers (written by TalkDrill)
Clap on the stressed syllable: FA-mi-ly, VE-ge-ta-bles, HOS-pi-tal, COM-for-ta-ble, to-MOR-row. Then one sentence with three of them, slowly: "To-MOR-row my FA-mi-ly will buy VE-ge-ta-bles." A1: "Tell me about your family." "My family is my husband, my daughter and me. My husband works in a pharmacy. My daughter is seven and she likes drawing." A1: "What do you like to eat?" "I like dhokla and khichdi. I am vegetarian. I cook every evening." A2: "What is your town like?" "Leicester is a big city with many Gujarati families. There is a market near our house. The buses are good but slow in the morning." B1: "Do you think children should learn their parents' language?" "Yes, I think so. My daughter speaks Gujarati with her grandmother, and it keeps the family close. At school she learns English, so she has both."
Tagalog speakers: p and f, b and v, and the polite "po"
The tendencies. Tagalog has no native f or v, so "family" can become "pamily", "Friday" "Priday", "very" "bery" and "visa" "bisa"; many Filipinos correct this consciously and then over-correct, saying "fassport" for passport. Stress often falls on the last syllable ("ca-TE-go-ry" becomes "ca-te-go-RY"). Grammar habits are mild, because most Filipino candidates had English at school: "I am a nurse since 2019" (for "have been"), "he" and "she" swapped mid-sentence because Tagalog has one pronoun, and "open the light" for "turn on". The habit that matters most in a test is politeness: answers are shortened and softened ("Yes, sir", "It is okay, ma'am"), and an opinion at B1 comes out as a question ("Maybe it is good?").
Why it costs the pass. The sound swaps are mostly understood from context. "Yes, sir" is the problem: it is a one-word answer with a title attached, and it gives the examiner nothing. At B1 the examiner asks for an opinion and a reason, and "Maybe it is good, ma'am?" is neither. A confident Filipino speaker can lose the pass this way with no grammar mistakes at all.
The fix. For f, top teeth on the bottom lip, no voice: "family", "Friday", "fifteen". For p, lips closed and a puff: "passport", "parents", "Philippines". For v, teeth on lip with a buzz: "very", "visa", "seven". Drop "sir" and "ma'am" for the day; the examiner's name is not needed and the English test does not reward the title. State opinions as statements: "I think it is good because ..." Use "he" for men and "she" for women and slow down when you switch. The rule of three from the Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi page is the main fix here.
Sixty-second drill and four model answers (written by TalkDrill)
Pairs: pan / fan, pine / fine, best / vest, berry / very, pass / fass (the second is wrong; feel the difference). "My family passed through the fine gate." A1: "Do you work?" "Yes, I work as a care assistant. I work in a care home in Reading. I work four days a week." A1: "How do you go to work?" "I go by bus. It takes thirty minutes. Sometimes my husband drives me." A2: "What are your plans for next year?" "Next year I want to take my driving test. I also want to visit my parents in Cebu. We have not seen them for two years." B1: "Is it better to live in a city or a small town?" "I think a small town is better for children, because it is quieter and safer. But a city has more jobs. We live in Reading, which is between the two."
Arabic speakers: p and b, short vowels, and the missing "is"
The tendencies. Arabic has no p, so "parking" becomes "barking" and "people" "beoble"; some speakers over-correct and say "pig" for big. Short vowels are reduced or merged, so "ship" and "sheep", "bit" and "beat", "sit" and "seat" can sound alike. Consonant clusters get a helping vowel: "istreet", "sipring". In grammar, Arabic has no present-tense "is", so "My husband doctor", "She at home now", "It very cold"; articles follow Arabic, so "the Egypt", "I go to the school" for a general habit; and "there is" becomes "there" or "have". Arabic-speaking candidates on family routes range from near-fluent to beginner, and the habits above appear at every level.
Why it costs the pass. "My husband doctor" is understood at A1. At A2 and B1 the missing verb makes longer answers hard to follow, because "is" and "was" are how the examiner tells present from past: "My father teacher in Baghdad" could be either. P and b matter in the words the test actually uses: "parents", "passport", "party", "pay", "pet". A candidate who says "I have a bet" to "Do you have a pet?" has given a listening doubt and a speaking doubt in one word.
The fix. For p, lips closed, a small puff, no voice; hold a tissue and make it move: "parents", "passport", "park", "pay". For short vowels, make "ship, bit, sit" very short and "sheep, beat, seat" long with a smile. Put is, are, was and were back in: "My husband is a doctor. My parents are in Cairo. My father was a teacher." Drop "the" before country names (except the UK and the USA) and before general habits ("I go to school" when you are a pupil). Our minimal pairs page has the vowel sets.
Sixty-second drill and four model answers (written by TalkDrill)
Pairs: pin / bin, park / bark, pay / bay, ship / sheep, sit / seat, street / istreet (the second is wrong). "My parents park by the bay and sit on a seat." Then six "is/are" sentences about your own family. A1: "Where are you from?" "I am from Egypt. I am from Alexandria, near the sea. I came to the UK in 2023." A1: "Tell me about your home." "We live in a flat in Manchester. It has two bedrooms. It is small but it is warm." A2: "What did you do yesterday?" "Yesterday I took my son to the doctor. He had a cold. After that we went to the park because the weather was good." B1: "What is the most difficult thing about living in a new country?" "For me it was the language, because at the beginning I could not talk to the teachers at my son's school. Now I go to English class twice a week. It is getting easier."
Yoruba, Igbo and Nigerian English speakers: th, clusters, rising statements
The tendencies. Many Nigerian candidates speak English every day, so the habits are about a different variety of English, not about learning it. The two th sounds become t and d ("tink", "dis", "dat", "brodda"). Consonant clusters at the end of words are simplified ("firs" for first, "las" for last, "ask" becomes "aks"). Vowels follow Nigerian English ("work" and "walk" close together, "bird" with the "bed" vowel). Intonation follows the tone languages underneath: Yoruba and Igbo pitch carries meaning, so English statements can end on a rising pitch, and a British examiner hears a question or an unfinished thought. In grammar, Nigerian English forms are fluent but non-standard to a UK examiner: "I am having two children", "She is not around" for "She is out", "I will be going" for "I am leaving", "Sorry" for any misfortune, and the all-purpose "Please" at the start of an answer.
Why it costs the pass. At A1 and A2, in our judgement, little here fails a candidate who uses English daily; the risk is a casual tone and answers that stop early. At B1 and, from 26 March 2027, B2 for most settlement applicants, the rising intonation on statements is the costly one: the examiner waits for you to finish, you wait for the next question, and the conversation has a hole in it. "Tink" and "dat" are understood; "firs" and "las" in dates and numbers can create a doubt. The format risk is the paired or recorded task: strong speakers who have never done a computer speaking test lose time to the microphone instructions.
The fix. For th, tongue tip between the teeth, air through: "think", "three", "thirty", "Thursday"; voiced for "this", "that", "brother", "mother". Our th sound page has the week-long plan. For clusters, over-say the last sound in "first", "last", "asked", "months". For intonation, drop the pitch on the last word of every statement and practise with a hand gesture, palm down, falling, at each full stop; raise it only on yes/no questions. Keep "have" for family ("I have two children"), say "I am leaving" and "She is out", and drop "please" from the start of statements. If you book PTE Home or Skills for English, do the official practice material first so the microphone instructions are not new on the day.
Sixty-second drill and four model answers (written by TalkDrill)
Say with the pitch falling at the end, hand falling with it: "I have two children." "I live in Peckham." "My husband is a nurse." Then th: "Thirty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty-three." "This is my brother and that is my mother." A1: "Where do you live?" "I live in Peckham in south London. I live with my husband and our two children. We have been there for three years." A1: "What do you do at the weekend?" "On Saturday I go to the market. On Sunday we go to church. After church we cook jollof rice and eat together." A2: "What was your job in Nigeria?" "I was a teacher in Lagos. I taught primary school for six years. I liked it, but the pay was low." B1: "Should parents choose their children's career?" "No, I don't think so. Parents can advise, but the child has to do the work for thirty years. My father wanted me to be a lawyer and I became a teacher, and I was happy."
Which provider you can book in Dhaka, Ahmedabad, Manila, Cairo and Lagos
The only authority on centres is the GOV.UK list of approved test centres outside the UK, an ODS spreadsheet on the approved tests and centres publication, updated on 12 October 2026 ("Updated the list of approved test centres in and outside the UK") after earlier refreshes on 5 October and 25 September 2026. This page does not name a centre in any of the five cities, and our fees, booking and centres page, which counts centres by country from the October 2026 list, is a guide, not a substitute for the file; a centre that was approved last month can be removed next week, and the Home Office rejects results from centres that were not approved on the test date. What we can say from the provider pages, read 21 October 2026: Pearson says it has test centres "in over 115 countries"; PSI runs Skills for English UKVI at "Home Office-approved test centres in over 130 countries outside of the UK", and its availability page lists Afghanistan and Ukraine as closed; LanguageCert runs its SELT at "200+ locations worldwide"; and ielts.org says Life Skills is taken "in person at any of our UKVI-approved Secure English Language Test (SELT) locations in the UK and across the world". Trinity GESE is in the UK only, per GOV.UK.
| You are in | Likely first language | Providers approved outside the UK (GOV.UK) | How to confirm a centre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dhaka or Sylhet | Bengali, Sylheti | IELTS Life Skills, PTE Home, LanguageCert ESOL SELT, Skills for English UKVI | Open the outside-UK ODS list, filter the country column for Bangladesh, then book only a centre named there |
| Ahmedabad, Surat or Rajkot | Gujarati | Same four | Filter for India; compare LanguageCert's "from INR 14,040" with the PTE Home price shown at booking |
| Manila or Cebu | Tagalog, Cebuano | Same four | Filter for Philippines; if you are already in the UK, Trinity is also open to you |
| Cairo, Amman or Baghdad | Arabic | Same four | Filter for the country; some countries may have no approved centre at all, and PSI's availability page lists closures |
| Lagos or Abuja | Yoruba, Igbo, Nigerian English | Same four | Filter for Nigeria; book early, and bring the original passport used in the visa application |
Fees, booking links and the country sections are on the fees, booking and centres page; the two outside-UK tests are compared on the LanguageCert and Skills for English page.
Your two-week route on TalkDrill
The two-week roadmap gives every day as one task with minutes. For the five languages on this page we weight it, in our judgement, as: days 1 to 4, five minutes a day on your two sounds in the read-aloud practice (v/b and final consonants for Bengali and Sylheti, stress for Gujarati, p/f for Tagalog, p/b and short vowels for Arabic, th and falling intonation for Yoruba and Nigerian English), then six three-sentence answers; days 5 to 11, ten questions a day in the AI mock interview set to simple personal questions, so every answer is followed by a second question you did not script, plus one opinion-and-reason answer a day for B1 candidates; day 12, a full mock in the format you booked, under the published minutes (PTE Home 30 minutes; Skills for English A1 30, A2 35, B1 50 minutes; Trinity Grade 2, 3 and 5 at 6, 7 and 10 minutes; IELTS Life Skills around 20 minutes); day 13, the sounds again and an early night; day 14, the test. The practice bank has fifteen questions per level with the follow-ups. The rules this page relies on are the GOV.UK SELT guidance and the family visa knowledge of English page; every official link, with the date we last checked it, is on the official resources page.