I can't imagine anybody waking up one morning and exclaiming, “I need to learn to speak better.”

Better than what?

You get invited to an interview. It's not that you want to speak better. You want to find the language that will enable you to secure the job.

When I was still teaching, a thin, weedy-looking boy approached me because he wanted to join the Speech and Drama Guild.

I asked him the question I always asked.

Why?

And he said he'd met a girl, and he felt stupid when he talked to her.

He wanted to speak better...