Learning English as second language

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Hi All,

I'm 40 years old Naval Architect from Spain studying a Master's Degree in New Jersey. My grades are all A's, GPA 4.0, but learning English it's being a nightmare, mainly my speaking ability. I've been here for eight months and I still speak awkwardly. It is very frustrating. I wonder if someone has some mysterious secret to boost my speaking skills, or at least a good advice.

Thank you all,

Javier

Don't feel too bad; I'm a native English speaker and I still speak awkwardly.
English is an awkward language. Awkwardness is easily forgiven.
English is a bit difficult to master, mainly because it is derived from a variety of sources and uses a variety of rules and pronunciations.
The only advice I can truly give is to practice. The more you practice, the more fluent you become. This seems to be the universal trick for learning any language.
Best of luck in your learning.

it might be interesting to learn english as a second language. i already speak english as my first language, and to learn english as another language would be quite enthralling. i wonder how the 2 would differ.

Inglis spoke heer.

Read books, listen to the radio, talk to people, and watch TV. It will all help you learn and practice your English. The TV will also rot your brain, so be careful what you watch. Maybe you should stick with Masterpiece Theater.

I took 3 years of German (Deutsch) in high school, and liked the course, but that was decades ago. I can still speak a little of it, though. Auf Wiedersehen!

French-speaking Canadian here.

The most important thing is practice. Just go out and talk to people. It will get right. Obviously, talking skills are more difficult to polish than writing, reading or listening (for which Internet and movies are sufficient), especially for someone with Asperger's syndrome, but it is to only way. Your being in the United States is truly a good step.

Do you have more problems finding the words quickly enough or just with pronunciation and accent?

I lived in Sweden 12 years and got to speak fluently. Never got the accent/ dialect and that was embarrassing, so I mostly let the Swedes practice their English on me.

Maybe finding someone to speak with via Skype? I reguralry speak with someome, and although he's not a native English speaker, I enjoy our conversations.

I think writing and reading on forums like WP is a huge help too.

[Moved from General Autism Discussion to Random Discussion]

I learned English as a second language when I immigrated from China to Canada, but that was when I was 7.
I had to force myself to talk to people, so I started picking up English very quickly.

I came to Canada at 19. I learned to read English pretty fast but it took me several years to speak well. It's not until 10 years later I could start thinking or dreaming in English. Unless you're gifted in language, most people won't speak fluently for a few years, especially if it's a very different language from your first.

First off, you write fine, and I'm sure you read okay, too. Speaking any language is helpful, but it can take years to speak well. My grandfather came to the U.S. from Italy, and spoke poor English for the next 60 years. He didn't try nearly as hard as you are trying.

Are you worried that you can't keep up in class, or that you have trouble interacting with other Americans? If the latter, many Americans do know Spanish, especially in the Northeast. If the former, talk to your adviser at the university. Chances are that university provides some sort of remedial service for non-native English speakers. You're probably paying a lot of money to attend school, and you deserve assistance in your studies.

I hope that my English is not as bad as I think.
I think that it is important to dare to speak the foreign language, even if you makes mistakes.

maybe it would be a useful idea if the OP found some native english speaker who wanted to learn to speak castillian spanish. maybe you could practice speaking with each other and teach each other proper speech in a symbiotic relationship. just a thought.