Need Help Learning to Speak Fluently

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Esperar

Sí, pero si yo uso mi Inglés gramática, it comes out like that. When I say I try not to think in English, I try to remember that phrases are formed differently, like "puedo" is "can I," which is two words.

Exactly, and you start to build from there.

[CrOtALiTo]

Already I added my personal list.

I hope exchange a lot of knowledge in the both languages.
When are you online?

[irmamar]

I don't understand your method, Chileno. Do you mean that to start it's better to translate word by word? That can be dangerous, and you see what happens to Crotalito (hola cousin ), that he's always translating word by word and he doesn't improve because he hasn't studied English structures. If you start learning a language translating word by word, you'll get vocabulary, surely, but you won't ever be fluent in this language. And a bad learning can be for life, I mean, if you learn something wrong and nobody corrects you, you can have with that mistake for ever.

I agree with Villa completely. Repetition is the best way for learning a language (and grammar, of course).

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by irmamar

I don't understand your method, Chileno. Do you mean that to start it's better to translate word by word? That can be dangerous, and you see what happens to Crotalito (hola cousin ), that he's always translating word by word and he doesn't improve because he hasn't studied English structures. If you start learning a language translating word by word, you'll get vocabulary, surely, but you won't ever be fluent in this language. And a bad learning can be for life, I mean, if you learn something wrong and nobody corrects you, you can have with that mistake for ever.

I agree with Villa completely. Repetition is the best way for learning a language (and grammar, of course).

I don't agree with you Irmamar.
I can learn the language without follow a study plan.
I had have conversation with people from another countries and my language and their language are completely the same.

I'm not learning the language for teach in any school, I'm learning the language for my tasty to the English and not for another thing.
I have could to learn the language in a way that I could do it, literally I have learn the language in my way reading the post of other peoples here in the forums and reading a lot of text written in English.

Perhaps I know that I wrote bad sometimes and that anyone correct me as I hope it, but anyway you can see that my English isn't bad, you know, you maybe are teacher and my word are bad used for you in English, it's the same if you go to the United States without knowledge of the language, you surely will learn the language as there is spoken the English, mostly the Mexican and the American speak the language bad as I do it, if you're habited to a way to speak your Spanish without all your structures then I can be sure that you speak your Spanish if that you use methods that you teach in the school or that they was taught you in the school.

Therefore, I know that is necessary goes to a school when you need to have a correct methodology in the language when you are studying for teach the language, for my language so as I have could to learn until day, it works for me, because casually the people understand me that it's the most important.

And always I'm improving, please you remember this, always I'm improving although I improve bad the words but I do it.

You know how much time I delay to write this post, only I delay five minutes thinking that I most write you and I don't revised any dictionary for this.

[ookami]

@laepelba Well, there is Skype and a lot of programs to speak.

@Crotalito, first of all, you need to start studying basic grammar, because you confuse elemental things that are quite important. Then you can start with oral training, because your vocabulary is good you can skip it's study for now. But just hanging around here, believing you are writing an aceptable English, without studying(in any form you like)... would not make you improve. I think it's time for you to know that a big quantity of your post are incomprehensibles. This is my opinion, I hope I didn't hurt any sensible fiber but it's time for someone to say it.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by ookami

@laepelba Well, there is Skype and a lot of programs to speak.

@Crotalito, first of all, you need to start studying basic grammar, because you confuse elemental things that are quite important. Then you can start with oral training, because your vocabulary is good so you can skip it's study for now. I think it's time for you to know that a big quantity of your post are incomprehensibles. This is my opinion, I hope I didn't hurt any sensible fiber but it's time for someone to say it.

I continue without understand them.

My post are understanding.
Why do you tell me that?
What part of the post you didn't understand I'm not a professional.

[ookami]

I have given my opinion on where you should start your English study in order to improve, orally or not. About the other thing, you can read it as a spoiler:

Hidden Text: Show/Hide

Click to show hidden text - Da click para revelar el texto oculto

Entendí perfecto que no sos profesional, y la mayoría de aquí no lo son. Pero creo entender que estás para mejorar, seas lo que seas, y mentirte como a un niño para que no te sientas mal, sería reducirte, y es en cierto modo lo que pasa contigo en el foro.

La mayoría de tus mensajes no son comprensibles(ni en la parte lógica, que no tiene que ver con el inglés directamente, ni en el inglés) o lo son con esfuerzo por eso si te fijás, gran parte de ellos son pasados por alto y muy pocas veces se te corrige, porque llevaría una vida hacerlo -ya que posteas mucho.

No digo esto para molestarte, pero es solo que me apena verte ignorado hasta por vos mismo (crees saber más de lo que sabés, cosa seguramente impulsada por muchos comentarios condescendientes de otros usuarios) y ya me siento hipócrita al hacer lo mismo. Dicho esto doy por mi parte terminado el tema, fui sincero, indecoroso y tal vez mi comentario te sirva de algo, o no. Seguramente al pasar un rato, será como si no hubiera escrito nada.

Saludos

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by ookami

@laepelba Well, there is Skype and a lot of programs to speak.

@Crotalito, first of all, you need to start studying basic grammar, because you confuse elemental things that are quite important. Then you can start with oral training, because your vocabulary is good you can skip it's study for now. But just hanging around here, believing you are writing an aceptable English, without studying(in any form you like)... would not make you improve. I think it's time for you to know that a big quantity of your post are incomprehensibles. This is my opinion, I hope I didn't hurt any sensible fiber but it's time for someone to say it.

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

I continue without understand them.

My post are understanding.
Why do you tell me that?
What part of the post you didn't understand I'm not a professional.

@Ookami - you're right, but none of my Spanish-speaking friends are on Skype, nor do they have time to spend chatting online.... I've tried finding Spanish-speakers who are willing to sit down and have conversation with me, but the expectation is that I'd have to pay them as a tutor. I'm not quite ready to go there yet.....

@Crotalito - I have to say that I agree with Ookami on this point. Your vocabulary is good, but your grammar needs a lot of work. I know this isn't the first time you've been told this. Your posts are not always understandable. It has nothing to do with being a professional or not. If you are here to learn to speak English, or to improve your English, it sometimes seems like you don't follow the advice given to you.

Maybe you could try to spend less time writing *many* posts, and just write one or two short posts and ask people to correct them. Then work on making revisions to the things that have been corrected. It might help you more in the long term...

[ookami]

@laepelba I don't have any problem on using skype if you want, but I've to say that my way of speaking isn't too clear, but we can try I'm sending to you my nickname.

[CrOtALiTo]

Don't worry man.

I got it.

Greetings.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

I don't agree with you Irmamar.
I can learn the language without follow a study plan.
I had have conversation with people from another countries and my language and their language are completely the same.

I'm not learning the language for teach in any school, I'm learning the language for my tasty to the English and not for another thing.
I have could to learn the language in a way that I could do it, literally I have learn the language in my way reading the post of other peoples here in the forums and reading a lot of text written in English.

Perhaps I know that I wrote bad sometimes and that anyone correct me as I hope it, but anyway you can see that my English isn't bad, you know, you maybe are teacher and my word are bad used for you in English, it's the same if you go to the United States without knowledge of the language, you surely will learn the language as there is spoken the English, mostly the Mexican and the American speak the language bad as I do it, if you're habited to a way to speak your Spanish without all your structures then I can be sure that you speak your Spanish if that you use methods that you teach in the school or that they was taught you in the school.

Therefore, I know that is necessary goes to a school when you need to have a correct methodology in the language when you are studying for teach the language, for my language so as I have could to learn until day, it works for me, because casually the people understand me that it's the most important.

And always I'm improving, please you remember this, always I'm improving although I improve bad the words but I do it.

You know how much time I delay to write this post, only I delay five minutes thinking that I most write you and I don't revised any dictionary for this.

¡Tranquilo, Crotalito! What I said was for your own good. I don't want to be a teacher, I have my job; but I love languages, and English above all. And I would like improve it. However, vocabulary is not the only thing when you are studying a language, English in this case, and grammar is the only thing which can help you (unless you are living in an English speaking country, which is not the case, I guess). English sentence structures, for instance, are rather different from Spanish, but you keep Spanish structures when you write in English.

Ookami, courageously, has told you something that most of us think but we don't dare to tell you for fear of you get angry. But I agree with him since most of your posts are incomprehensible, both for Spanish and English speakers. I'm not the best to tell you such things, because I'm always making mistakes and my English is not so good as I would like. But I'm going on studying and I hope it'll be better if I make an effort.

But let me give you some examples from your post:

I can learn the language without follow a study plan.

If you had studied some grammar, you would know that an -ing form follows a preposition, so after "without", you should have written "following" (without following). Let me tell you again that I am not the best to tell you these things because this is one of my common mistakes. But if somebody corrects me this, I know why I was wrong. And maybe I would have said "study method" instead of "study plan".

I had have conversation

You should know that that constructions is not correct "had have", but "have had".

And so on. I can find a lot of great mistakes in your posts which make difficult our comprehension. Furthermore, sometimes I don't dare to read your posts because you can spoil my poor English.

Forgive me, I don't want to offend you, but I'm sure that if you study hard, following a good method, you'll be able to improve your English. But if you persist in your idea that everybody from other countries speaks English as you do, I am sure that you won't learn anything else.

I hope you're not really angry with me. I just want to help you. And it would be easier for me not to tell you anything and let this thread to sink into the oblivion.

[Esperar]

Crotalito, as Irmamar said, you have good vocabulary, but your grammar can be poor sometimes. You need to study, I suggest buying some books. My Spanish is very poor, and coming here has helped, but I still read books.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by irmamar

I don't understand your method, Chileno. Do you mean that to start it's better to translate word by word? That can be dangerous, and you see what happens to Crotalito (hola cousin ), that he's always translating word by word and he doesn't improve because he hasn't studied English structures. If you start learning a language translating word by word, you'll get vocabulary, surely, but you won't ever be fluent in this language. And a bad learning can be for life, I mean, if you learn something wrong and nobody corrects you, you can have with that mistake for ever.

I agree with Villa completely. Repetition is the best way for learning a language (and grammar, of course).

I totally disagree. Simply because that's how I started when I came to the US.

I will repeat till I die, that if you know something you better use it the best way you can.

You are implying that because English phrase structures are sometimes different that those from Spanish they cannot be equated. To me it sounds like if you know how to read and write and understand your language, you have to start from zero in another language.

I am sorry, not for me. You see, I didn't get any better with my English because I stayed withing my own level in Spanish, and on purpose, because I am an example of what "cannot" be accomplished...go figure.

Not Crotalito's case.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by irmamar

¡Tranquilo, Crotalito! What I said was for your own good. I don't want to be a teacher, I have my job; but I love languages, and English above all. And I would like improve it. However, vocabulary is not the only thing when you are studying a language, English in this case, and grammar is the only thing which can help you (unless you are living in an English speaking country, which is not the case, I guess). English sentence structures, for instance, are rather different from Spanish, but you keep Spanish structures when you write in English.

Ookami, courageously, has told you something that most of us think but we don't dare to tell you for fear of you get angry. But I agree with him since most of your posts are incomprehensible, both for Spanish and English speakers. I'm not the best to tell you such things, because I'm always making mistakes and my English is not so good as I would like. But I'm going on studying and I hope it'll be better if I make an effort.

But let me give you some examples from your post:

I can learn the language without follow a study plan.

If you had studied some grammar, you would know that an -ing form follows a preposition, so after "without", you should have written "following" (without following). Let me tell you again that I am not the best to tell you these things because this is one of my common mistakes. But if somebody corrects me this, I know why I was wrong. And maybe I would have said "study method" instead of "study plan".

I had have conversation

You should know that that constructions is not correct "had have", but "have had".

And so on. I can find a lot of great mistakes in your posts which make difficult our comprehension. Furthermore, sometimes I don't dare to read your posts because you can spoil my poor English.

Forgive me, I don't want to offend you, but I'm sure that if you study hard, following a good method, you'll be able to improve your English. But if you persist in your idea that everybody from other countries speaks English as you do, I am sure that you won't learn anything else.

I hope you're not really angry with me. I just want to help you. And it would be easier for me not to tell you anything and let this thread to sink into the oblivion.

Don't worry my kiddy. Already you know that I never I upset with you never, and thank you I try to follow your grammatic, if that is possible.
But meanwhile you take this of my

Sincerely yours.

My other friend, I have understood everything you have told me before, don't worry I will procure to work in those mistakes that I have had always.

Irmamar.

Yes it's have had, I'm sorry for my ignorance.

[Esperar]

Crotalito, you should try to correct what you already speak before speaking more.

[CrOtALiTo]

Do you know, well I will.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Don't worry my kiddy. Already you know that I never I upset with you never, and thank you I try to follow your grammatic, if that is possible.
But meanwhile you take this of my

Sincerely yours.

My other friend, I have understood everything you have told me before, don't worry I will procure to work in those mistakes that I have had always.

Irmamar.

Yes it's have had, I'm sorry for my ignorance.

Si en el fondo eres un cielito.

Ánimo y estudia mucho.

[poli]

Look for Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett CD's online or on Youtube. In their singing, they annunciate American English in a very natural way. Obtain the lyrics to the songs they sing, and try to prounouce the way they do. This will help you speak English well.

[ookami]

I love this webpage to practice speaking English:
http://librivox.org
You have tales, books, poems and all that stuff in more than one version. Everyone can upload their recitations there. It's really nice, I've memorized many English poems while listening them many times; and you memorized a good pronunciation of a native speaker.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Si en el fondo eres un cielito.

Ánimo y estudia mucho.

You too.

You know, not always I'm bad boy, only that sometimes I feeling me attacked for something else.

I will continue studying the language.
I promise you.