English depresses me!
I mean, I love English! I've been learning English for quite a long time but I think I'm stuck. I feel like I can only say simple things and most of them have mistakes. And by the way I don't anyone to practice with so my pronunciation is awful. :( If I were to go to and English speaking country by my own, I would be completely lost.
Do you have any advices? Have you ever feel the same? Does this have mistakes?
Please correct me.
I didn't know in what category this should be, so I'm sorry if it's in the wrong one.
11 Answers
English - maybe of all languages - is the most difficult when one considers pronunciation.
There really is almost no correlation between the spelling and the way a word is spoken.
Try to listen to as many spoken words with the spelling - as in our dictionary here.
"Do you have any advices?" advice is never plural.
Have you ever feel the same? Have you ever felt the same?
Yes I have very frequently.
Your written English is good - so keep listening while reading.
Update
Most of us love it when someone is learning our language,
We also feel good when we are able to help.
Making mistakes is the best way of learning a language.
I encourage my students to make mistakes.
Hello Mileva, please don't be discoouraged...I am sure your English is better than you think!
Your standard of written English in this post is good ..so please be encouraged by this fact! Yes, it does have some (a few) mistakes, but hey...so does my Spanish lol I will offer some corrections:
I don't have anyone (missing word) with whom to practise (my English) etc...
If I were to go to an (not and). English speaking country on my own etc...
Do you have any advice ?(singular)
Have you ever felt (simple past tense/preterite) the same?
I sometimes feel the same way about my Spanish and have made some bad/silly mistakes in the past ...my funniest one was when I was trying to say I feel embarassed and yes, you can probably guess, I said: Estoy embarazado jajaja (I am pregnant) which for a guy is very funny hahahaha. I wanted to say: Tengo vergüenza /Me da pena/ me da vergüenza.
When I was taking lessons for a while from a native Spanish girl, living in my town who comes from Seville she helped me to laugh at my mistakes without feeling embarrassed.
Making mistakes is all part of the process of learning anything, especially a new language so please relax, and don't worry .... as the English expression says, 'we are all in the same boat' (como dice el refrán Inglés: 'Todos estamos en la misma situación') so nobody has the right to judge you for any mistakes you make!
I hope this helps you 
I feel the same way about Spanish. Only now are the doors opening up and I have more opportunities to speak with people on Skype or at work, but before I was lost. I had to rely on my own judgment and the judgement of others.
By the looks of it, your English is great! Pronunciation takes time, trust me.
I know the one way to cure this "learning slump" is to travel to a foreign country that speaks English, but of course that costs money and time and many people can't afford to lose both.
I've been working at a golf course for the past 4 years, and only now am I daring to speak with the workers there who are natives from Mexico, and I love it! It's just short converstations but it's boosting my confidence a lot. Maybe you could try something similar, perhaps finding some Brits/Americans to talk with or someone on Skype?
Mileva,
I know it is very hard. I feel the same in Spanish. Just when I feel I am progressing, I get totally lost in a conversation. Do you have any English speakers near you? The best way to improve pronunciation is to have the feedback of someone who is a native English speaker.
Could you fill out your profile a little more? It's very helpful for fellow learners, i.e. country, male or female.
There is a site called vocaroo. You can practice pronunciation on that. Others have used verbling and they have this link as a user here on SD to answer any questions you have.
I'll send a Private message (pm) to you.
Chinese is the most spoken language in the world only because of the amount of people living in China.
India with a similar population, also speaks English. Add to that all the people like me, born in Chile or other countries that speak English, and all of the countries that speak English as a native language... I wouldn't be too sure if English is not the most spoken language....
hmmm?
Hello, Meliva! Please do not give up or get depressed.
For hearing English in an American accent you can go to this You Tube address and find many more "News in Slow English" topics. At the "show more" tab below the video you will find everything the person says printed (the transcript). You may want to not look at it until you have listened a few times. There will also be more topics on the right you can click on to hear English spoken. Looking at the transcript while listening may help you remember how to say the words.
Note: I do not know how to make these links active. You can copy and paste it into your browser or maybe someone will fix this for me.
The problem with language learning is that:
the more we know the more we know we don't know.
El problema con el aprendizaje de idiomas es que:
cuanto más sabemos, más sabemos que no sabemos.
Hola:
Go to my Blog
Once you read everything in there, if you want to talk to me, just contact me on Skype. My name there is chileno74
Don´t worry or become depressed.
Think about if for a moment. You came to a predominantly English speaking site, and asked for help in English, and that request was understood. It shows you have already accomplished a lot. Be happy.
Dicho eso. These are totally normal feelings. And they will recur. It happened with me in German, even though I had the advantage of living in the country. It has happened to me in Spanish several times over the past year and a half. Also normal. Sometimes, when you feel you aren´t making progress, it is just your brain taking a little break, to store and assimilate and put order to what you have already learned. That´s just the way our brains work. Then suddenly, you´ll start making recognizable progress again.
But here´s a helpful coping mechanism for those times when you´re frustrated.
Think about all of the things that you do know, and can say. (it will probably be many things)
Do not think about mistakes and the things you can not yet say.
That´s stressful, and unrealistic.
Prop yourself up by focusing on what you can do.
Good luck.
Don't bother with English. It's quickly going to become useless. Focus on improving your Spanish skills .Most English speakers need to improve their English ,including me.But time is running out .Learn Chinese.Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language followed by English,then Spanish. By the year 2020 English will be fourth.Can you guess what will be third? Spanish! So what will be the number two language? C'mon.Take a guess.
No creo que nadie te vaya a dar la respuesta correcta, más bien te aconsejarán según su experiencia, y eso te puede confundir todavía más. Si crees que no hablas con la suficiente fluidez, deberías, creo, tratar de identificar la forma en que se te haga más fácil practicar la pronunciación: cantando una canción, repitiendo diálogos de películas, leyéndote un libro en voz alta, o lo que se te ocurra que se adecúe a tu tipo de aprendizaje.
Eso de ir a una clase a "repeat after me" te lo hace más difícil si es que te frustras con facilidad; se nota que tienes dominio gramatical, no creo que te falte mucho.
