Off topic: From good to very good Thread poster: Iulian Prodan
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Iulian Prodan
Румыния
Local time: 03:52
English to Romanian
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Hi
I've been struggling for some years with a mediocre level of English, and I do speak English every day, it's just that I'm using more my intuition and my bad habits rather than the grammar rules and the fancy vocabulary (that only sometimes comes fluently).
How shall I approach reaching a better level of English?
I think that I need a private tutor that could identify my mistakes and actively correct them, because all my interlocutors even the native English on... See more Hi
I've been struggling for some years with a mediocre level of English, and I do speak English every day, it's just that I'm using more my intuition and my bad habits rather than the grammar rules and the fancy vocabulary (that only sometimes comes fluently).
How shall I approach reaching a better level of English?
I think that I need a private tutor that could identify my mistakes and actively correct them, because all my interlocutors even the native English ones they do not stop and say, hey jimmy you've made a mistake here, you should have said this instead of that.
I've tried reading grammar (Murphy's applied grammar) and it's working, but two days after I would forget the rules and go back to my old habits...
I call it Hollywood English, meaning you learn it from movies.
I'm ready to invest some money and time in it.
Do you have any ideas on how to approach it? is it with a private teacher(one to one(more expensive but more efficient), or in a group(less efficient but also cheaper)?? is it study more grammar? or maybe some website with varied exercises, that would combine in one exercise several grammar rules, but not the classical approach here is the grammar rule, here are the exercises, to make you think a bit beyond what's obvious.
I was thinking that I could find some English teacher/ tutor even over the internet, with so many countries having English as native language, or do you think lessons over Skype won't work?
I also have a slight preference for American English, as I was saying Hollywood English....
Any help would be appreciated....
If this is not the place to ask such questions could a moderator move it to the right section of the forum. Thank you
I have a feeling that I'm not the first one experiencing these kind of difficulties.
Many thanks ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tim Friese 
Америка Құрама Штаттары
Local time: 19:52
Member (2013)
Arabic to English
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| Tutoring / shadowing | Mar 12, 2014 |
I very much appreciate your dilemma - for me it is of course the opposite direction. It is hard to really approach native-like fluency! (PS I'm a former Arabic and English teacher not to mention a successful language learner so I like to think my recommendations are somewhat sound...)
I think tutoring can be very good. If you do choose tutoring, I recommend a 2-step process: first, you ask your tutor not to interrupt you during the flow of conversation but to instead record your err... See more I very much appreciate your dilemma - for me it is of course the opposite direction. It is hard to really approach native-like fluency! (PS I'm a former Arabic and English teacher not to mention a successful language learner so I like to think my recommendations are somewhat sound...)
I think tutoring can be very good. If you do choose tutoring, I recommend a 2-step process: first, you ask your tutor not to interrupt you during the flow of conversation but to instead record your errors and corrections for them. Second, you have to practice producing the corrections - this can be as simple as repeating a sentence a couple of times or keeping a list each day of 5 words, expressions, or structures you want to incorporate into your written or spoken English at some point. Speak with them, comment on a blog, write a post on proz, whatever - anything so you use it in an authentic communicative setting at least once!
You shouldn't discount a little bit of "mechanical practice" - it can be very helpful to even just write out a sentence with a structure that you don't always use correctly (perfect tenses, "it's been X time since I V-ed", embedded questions, whatever) and pronounce it as you write it.
The free and solitary option would be shadowing - have you ever trained shadowing for interpreting? You can put on an English-language source and sit there and repeat it as it goes - this unconsciously puts English structures into your brain. I think TED talks are good for this as they generally have interesting topics with varied but still basically oral as opposed to written language. Alternatively try memorizing passages of a TED talk (or other text) and then read them. Record yourself. Listen to the recording. Have your tutor listen to the recording.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Triston Goodwin
Америка Құрама Штаттары
Local time: 18:52
Spanish to English
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| Tim's advice worked for me | Mar 12, 2014 |
Tim Friese wrote:
Record yourself. Listen to the recording. Have your tutor listen to the recording.
I have several recordings from when I started with Spanish and I still get a good laugh listening to myself try to pronounce "entusiasmo".
Tim's offered some great advice and there really isn't anything else that I can add to it. I recommend trying the techniques he mentioned.
^_^
[Edited at 2014-03-12 17:52 GMT]
[Edited at 2014-03-12 17:52 GMT]
| | | | Phil Hand
Қытай
Local time: 08:52
Chinese to English
| Do some writing | Mar 13, 2014 |
One exercise you can do is writing in your target language. Not translation, just free writing. As with recording yourself, it gives you something concrete to correct, and of course there are a lot of good guides to good writing out there.
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Iulian Prodan
Румыния
Local time: 03:52
English to Romanian
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you and which one | Mar 13, 2014 |
Many thanks for all your replies,
I think your advises are valuable and stem from years of experience, both in terms of the tutoring approach as well as the free writing exercises.
I do not know though which tutor to choose, because the quality of the tutor can make a huge difference, and then we have the price...
... See more Many thanks for all your replies,
I think your advises are valuable and stem from years of experience, both in terms of the tutoring approach as well as the free writing exercises.
I do not know though which tutor to choose, because the quality of the tutor can make a huge difference, and then we have the price...
I've googled a bit and found http://www.verbalplanet.com/publicmarketplace.asp
where you can filter only the English teachers.
It looks like a good quality/price ratio, with prices / hour starting from 17$ which I consider acceptable.
I can spend more money on a per hour basis provided that the quality is better.
If you have any advises or have worked with some good tutoring company I'll be happy to give it a try.
I'm targeting online tutoring.
Your opinions are welcomed ▲ Collapse
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