I want to improve my English skills

[EnglishStudent]

I want to improve my English skills

I have been studying English for a while but there are many things that I don´t undestand.

I would like to practice my English in order to improve my skills, can you help me?

Thanks in advance

[Tomisimo]

Hi, English student, and welcome to the forums. If you want to improve your English skills, I think you've come to a pretty good place. If you have any questions or uncertainties, just ask and I'll try my best to answer (or someone else here will). If you want to practice right here, we can start a conversation. For instance, what is your next-favorite hobby after studying English?

[EnglishStudent]

Hi Tomisimo

Thanks for your kind offer; I take it.

My first question: For instance is like by the way?

One of my favorite hobbies is reading. Now I´m reading "My Lyfe" the autobiography by Bill Clynton, in English. It´s a 600-pages book, and it´s really good. Also I´ve read in English: The Alchemist, The Power of Positive Thinking, and The Seven Habits of the High Efective People.

I really like to improve my English, specially my listening and speaking, in that order. I can read in English pretty well.

Thanks.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by English_student

For instance is like by the way?

For instance is basically a synonym for "For example"

Originally Posted by English_student

One of my favorite hobbies is reading

I like reading too. I'm into newspapers, magazines, novels, biographies, history- you name it, I'll read it. (almost )

Originally Posted by English_student

"My Lyfe" ... by Bill Clynton

Ya like that "y" don't you? => "my life" "Bill Clinton"

Originally Posted by English_student

It´s a 600-pages book

It's a 600-page book.

Originally Posted by English_student

Seven Habits of the High Efective People

Seven habits of highly effective people.

Originally Posted by English_student

I really like to improve my English, specially my listening and speaking, in that order. I can read in English pretty well.

Yes, it's a pretty well-known fact that reading is usually the easiest, then listening and lastly, speaking is the hardest. But if you keep on trying and practicing, you'll keep improving. Do you have someone there near where you live that you can practice speaking with?

[EnglishStudent]

Thanks for the comments and corrections.

No, I have nobody here for practicing my English. Recently, I´m trying in the messenger chat rooms with voice (Cultures and community); sometimes turned out well.

I´m looking for somebody to talk with, in order to improve my listening and speaking. Could you recommend me something to do?

I confess, sometimes I want to quit, because after all these years I can´t understand all I hear in English. There are some TV programs I can understand better than others. For instance (the word you teached me) I can understand Larry King Live, CNN news and NPR (almost everything); but I can´t understand ER, friends, desperate wives, that kind of TV programs. My friends tell me it´s a procces and I suppose they are right, but sometimes it´s hard.

Thanks for reading me.

[Neophyte]

tal vez yo puedo ayudarte tambien y tu tambien me ayudas. necesito ayuda en espanol. Gracias

[johnny007]

Originally Posted by English_student

I confess, sometimes I want to quit, because after all these years I can´t understand all I hear in English. There are some TV programs I can understand better than others. For instance (the word you teached me) I can understand Larry King Live, CNN news and NPR (almost everything); but I can´t understand ER, friends, desperate wives, that kind of TV programs. My friends tell me it´s a procces and I suppose they are right, but sometimes it´s hard.

Don't quite man. I know it can be hard, and I'm having my own problems with learning spanish, but if you hang in there I think it gets easier, at least that's what they tell me. Good luck man.

[EnglishStudent]

Neophyte

Con mucho gusto te ayudo a mejorar tu español. Quizá podríamos hablar (messenger), es decir, no sólo escribir.

Si me mandas un mensaje, nos ponemos de acuerdo, saludos.

E mail: stdnt_english@yahoo.com

[vswezie]

English_Student:

Don't be discouraged by the fact that you have trouble understanding shows like Friends, Desperate Housewives, etc. They use a lot of slang and humor that is very "American". Slang and humor are two things that are very difficult to transfer from one culture to another. It's not just a question of language skills! Instead of being discouraged, take pride that you can understand programs (like those on NPR and CNN) that use complicated sentence structures and advanced vocabulary!

[shruti]

Wow. I'd just like to say you speak English really well. I know native English speakers worse than you, so don't be discouraged - honestly. I'm a third-year Spanish student and I recently visited Spain - and understanding people talk is hard. TV? Forget it.

Anyway, if you'd like to converse, I'd be happy to.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by shruti

Wow. I'd just like to say you speak English really well. I know native English speakers worse than you, so don't be discouraged - honestly. I'm a third-year Spanish student and I recently visited Spain - and understanding people talk is hard. TV? Forget it.

Anyway, if you'd like to converse, I'd be happy to.

What part of Spain were you in? I've never visited, but I'd like to some day.

[shruti]

I was only there for ten days, which was sad; we started in Madrid (with which I'm pretty much in love) and went farther south from there.

[MortgageBroker]

Shruti,

Necessito practicar me Espanol. Escribe a me en Engles y responde en Espanol.

Vale?

[Eric]

Originally Posted by MortgageBroker

Shruti,

Necessito practicar me Espanol. Escribe a me en Engles y responde en Espanol.

Vale?

Necesito practicar el Español. Me escribe en ingles y les reponderé en Español.

[MortgageBroker]

Yo comprendo, "el Espanol", gracias!

Porque no Ingles pero ingles, cuando usa Espanol, no espanol?
Porque "les repondere"? Not "I will respond"? Is that "I will respond to them"?

[EnglishStudent]

En inglés, los idiomas se deben de escribir con mayúsculas, ejemplo: I speak English; She speaks French; He speaks Japanese. Esto es para diferenciarlo del adjetivo, ejemplo: He is a japanese citizen; She is a French musician.

En español no, en ambos casos se escribe con minúsculas, ejemplo: Yo soy español; Ella es japonesa; Él es chino.

Espero haber sido claro.

[Eric]

I was not aware of that. Thank you. I'm used to proper nouns being capitalized. ;D

[matches]

Hey English Student,

One of the best ways you can learn to speak English, is find a type of music that you enjoy thats done in English and start singing along with the words. Don't be concerned with the meaning of what you're saying at the first, just get the inflection and annunciation down first, then go after the meaning. You say that you do alot of reading , thats good; but whatever you read, read it out loud get used to hearing yourself speak whatever language you desire to learn. As far as getting discouraged, there is nothing wrong with that, it's when you quit because of the discouragement that you cheat yourself. As one respondent has already said, you already are better at English than some native speakers.


Until...

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Eric

I was not aware of that. Thank you. I'm used to proper nouns being capitalized. ;D

Yep, there's just different rules in Spanish ;D

[Chorbdaddy]

Originally Posted by matches

Hey English Student,

One of the best ways you can learn to speak English, is find a type of music that you enjoy thats done in English and start singing along with the words. Don't be concerned with the meaning of what you're saying at the first, just get the inflection and annunciation down first, then go after the meaning. You say that you do alot of reading , thats good; but whatever you read, read it out loud get used to hearing yourself speak whatever language you desire to learn. As far as getting discouraged, there is nothing wrong with that, it's when you quit because of the discouragement that you cheat yourself. As one respondent has already said, you already are better at English than some native speakers.


Until...

In case English Student is trying to translate and understand, I believe this word should be enunciation.