This research focuses on speaking proficiency and successful second language speakers' traits using a survey and an interview. The participants in the study were in a short intensive course between four and six months, depending on the language they studied. The successful learner was defined as someone who received 1+ or above on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale in an oral proficiency interview (OPI). The speakers completed a biographical questionnaire and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). The interview consisted of questions regarding motivation, language background, study habits, learning strategies, etc. The SILL revealed that most of the successful speakers showed greater use of metacognitive and social strategies. During the interview, the successful speakers stressed the ideas of approaching the target culture with an open mind, being active in class, taking risks, and controlling emotions and time. Most of the interviewees had prior language experience; those who received level 2+ and above had learned more than two foreign languages before entering this program, which implied the need for a special class for those speakers who achieved higher scores.