It's been a year and a half since I began learning English. Recently I've noticed that no matter how much time I spend trying to improve my English (by watching movies, reading books, posting on the internet, etc), I can't seem to progress past a certain point. I don't make grammatical errors in writing as often, sure, but I'm not satisfied with not being able to express myself in a natural/eloquent way, like a native speaker. I realize that there's always room for improvement, but I'm simply out of directions at this point, I've learned the basic as well as more advanced grammar, some expressions, words and that's it, I don't know what I should learn next. Any recommendations, mates?
P.S. I should probably mention that I live in a non-English speaking country and teach it to myself without help from a tutor or a teacher.
You've reached the limit of what theory can teach you, unfortunately. Textbooks can't explain nuance and intent, such as sarcasm and irony. You need to immerse yourself in the language and spend time with native English speakers to truly progress past the current plateau you find yourself on.
A working holiday/time as a student would do the trick in that regard. You need to come here if you want to improve, to put it simply. If that isn't possible, then you're shit out of luck unless you can find an ex-pat Brit to talk to wherever it is you currently live.
>>6034 >You've reached the limit of what theory can teach you
That's exactly what I was afraid to hear. I guess it's true. Looks like I don't have any options other than visit and stay in an English speaking country for an extended period of time to actually improve my speaking skills. The difficulty here is that I come from a poor family and as sad it is to admit I can't afford such a luxury at the time. Anyway, thanks for the reply.
If you saved up and managed to get to Britain, would your family struggle without your income if you left them behind?
For 1 years travel, it would provide you with an invaluable learning experience and cultural journey that you'll treasure for the rest of your life. "Come, sit on Papa's knee and let me tell you about the time I visited historic London, seen the architecture of Edinburgh and walked in the Highlands of Scotland." That could be you.
Follow your dreams, if you can find a way to earn the money to do it. If your family would be safe and they support your journey, don't make a decision you may then come to regret. No one got anywhere in life without working hard, my friend. Don't let a little thing like being poor stop you from realising your dreams.
Given my own difficulty with learning a second language, I'm astounded at how fluently you can write English if it's genuinely only been 18 months. Can I ask what your first language is?
>>6039 Don't want to speak on OP's behalf, but from what dem forrins have told me, many of them sort of have a leg up over us simply because they've been exposed to a lot of English due to the pervasiveness of Anglo cultural output. They've never "studied" English formally, and often wouldn't even consider claiming to even know "a bit of English", even if they're more competent than a typical GCSE foreign language student over here, but in a good number of countries it's almost impossible not to pick up a decent vocabulary without even trying.
This. Find language study groups in your native language and offer language exchange via Skype. Christ, the going rate to teach via Skype is 25 quid an hour. This may allow you to earn enough money to take a gap year.
Improvement in any subject requires conscious and active practice. Language exchange chat via Skype is an excellent option, as other people have mentioned. Google "language exchange" and you'll find plenty of options.
Think about other opportunities to use English. You might want to take a free course on Coursera or Udacity in a humanities subject. These courses usually include a weekly written assignment that is graded by your peers.
You could try writing for money. Judging by your post, your English is probably good enough. Sites like Upwork and Onespace have lots of entry-level writing jobs available. These jobs don't pay very well by western standards (a few US dollars per short blog post or product description) but that may be an attractive rate of pay in your country. By doing these jobs, you're essentially getting paid to practice your writing skills.
If you want to travel abroad, there are often cheap or free ways to do so. Look into volunteering opportunities and working holidays. Because English is the lingua franca, you don't necessarily need to visit an English-speaking country to get lots of speaking and listening experience.
>>6043 >You could try writing for money. Judging by your post, your English is probably good enough. Sites like Upwork and Onespace have lots of entry-level writing jobs available. These jobs don't pay very well by western standards (a few US dollars per short blog post or product description) but that may be an attractive rate of pay in your country. By doing these jobs, you're essentially getting paid to practice your writing skills.
This. There's plenty of demand for translators out there, and if what you've written here is anything to go by, your ability isn't going to hold you back.
