Thank you for all your feedback guys!! I think then the main tactic to improve my speech will be to have days at a time without speaking English, I know using English will just hinder me over there when trying to pick up the natural flow of speaking. In fact there is this really interesting video where these guys stopped speaking English for a year as they travelled to 4 countries to learn each language!
They were very conversational in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Korean from 3 months in each country, madness
I’ve mentioned this in another thread and will pass it on here:
Your speaking ability will approach (although always remain less than) you level of listening comprehension with not a lot of practice (but some practice still nesessary).
It will take you thousands of hours of study and listening practice to get to where you can understand basic everyday conversation spoken at normal speed.
So you should totally practice speaking, but don’t trick yourself into believing that you will somehow be able to speak at a level higher than you can understand native content (a drama you have never seen before, no subtitiles, or a podcast).
So to the OP original question, there really isn’t a whole lot of correlation btw WK lvl and speaking. That being said, knowing alot more vocab does help with listening comprehension, but that still has to be practised.
As far as just general speaking, I’m fairly fluent (though my spoken grammar can be pretty basic). In regards to recall of WK words in conversation, it does happen, but it was a lot more intrinsic when I was using both WK and KW, but now I just don’t have the time to do both.
I take the example sentences with complete seriousness. My wife, who sometimes can hear them, from time to time will say I have managed to sound like a white-guy dubbed in to a Japanese crime drama. I speak to the wall until the sentences for a word sound as if I were being casually informative to someone who had asked a question to which the S was an answer. Would a Japanese visibly hitch his shoulders and hide his teeth? No idea. But he might turn the corner in the right direction to actually get to the convenience store. Someday I will go back to the sentences, treat them as dictation, and play stenographer. As with the interesting Leebo, sometimes I can sight read the S. pretty well, no peeking at the English. Kodansha stays beside my desk if I am feeling my oats and want to try taking a real shot. I do not have the time to try alternatives to WK but, for me, I will touch fists with anyone and, on 3, shout “WK”.