Hi,
I chanced upon this site while doing a search on spoken and written English and have spent an hour reading the threads on this forum. I am glad to find out I am not alone having difficulties with spoken English.
Foremost, allow me to share a brief background of myself, English is not my native language and I have always wanted to learn it well. I am fairly eloquence in my native language and have won recognitions by having my articles published on the newspapers and was actively involved in school debates team. I have a quilksilver mind, I am witty, persuasive and influential with my spoken and written skill. I am a fast and adaptive learner. That being said, I am utterly disappointed and frustrated with my progress of learning English as a second language which leads to self doubts and insecurities.
I must be missing an important step or one of my approach is wrong. I am airing my problem here hoping someone who was in the same situation or knew of a way to overcome my problem could correct me and shed a guiding light.
You may want to know the steps that I have taken to learn English. I learn English by reading books of interests, I have to admit, it wasn't a pleasant journey. The process was frustrating, time consuming and annoying but I reckon that is an absolute step to take.
Grammar is not my main concern as I tend to grasp it intuitively. I wouldn't confidently claimed that I could write grammatically correct sentences all the time but I wouldn't failed it too badly.
I practiced writing by participating in forums of interests and chat with the members on the message board. My written English doesn't failed too badly either.
My core problem is my spoken English. The problem is apparent when I joined my current company when there are many English speakers, I am thrilled with the chance of having a good practising ground to improve my English but confronting the fears of embarrassments on a daily basis has come to a point of nerve wrecking.
Written English and spoken English is constructed differently. I remembered when I first heard my colleague saying "wanna lunch?", I couldn't help but responding "pardon me?" with a dumbfounded look. On another occasion when we were wrapping up a discussion on a client's office relocation project, my boss ends the meeting saying "ok, lets move" indicating we can vacate the conference room, but I responded in awe "where are we moving to?", the room is filled with laughter in a second. There is another incident when I have to do a presentation to my boss, with an eagerness to impress, I spent two weekends writing scripts and rehearsing my speech umpteen times until I could do it flawlessly. On my presentation day, in less than two mins, my boss yawned and told me to cut the chase. My mind hits an instant blank and I speak incoherently. My tears are all welled up. These are only few of the thousands embarrassing situations I caught myself in and the pressure of losing this job is enormous. I can't communicate with the people I work with. I can't speak English the way they do.
My work environment is not forgiving, I couldn't afford to take my own sweet time to pick up their communication style, I have tried to listen to my colleagues how they communicate and it is at the same time conflicting with what I have learned. I am confused and seem to lose my ability to write coherently too.
I am now trying to look for resources that could help me with daily conversations with people but not sounding too proper English. Not knowing if this is the right way to learn, but if you know of any resources, websites, materials that could help me to overcome my problem, I'll appreciate if you can share your knowledge and experience with me generously.
Thanks!
I chanced upon this site while doing a search on spoken and written English and have spent an hour reading the threads on this forum. I am glad to find out I am not alone having difficulties with spoken English.
Foremost, allow me to share a brief background of myself, English is not my native language and I have always wanted to learn it well. I am fairly eloquence in my native language and have won recognitions by having my articles published on the newspapers and was actively involved in school debates team. I have a quilksilver mind, I am witty, persuasive and influential with my spoken and written skill. I am a fast and adaptive learner. That being said, I am utterly disappointed and frustrated with my progress of learning English as a second language which leads to self doubts and insecurities.
I must be missing an important step or one of my approach is wrong. I am airing my problem here hoping someone who was in the same situation or knew of a way to overcome my problem could correct me and shed a guiding light.
You may want to know the steps that I have taken to learn English. I learn English by reading books of interests, I have to admit, it wasn't a pleasant journey. The process was frustrating, time consuming and annoying but I reckon that is an absolute step to take.
Grammar is not my main concern as I tend to grasp it intuitively. I wouldn't confidently claimed that I could write grammatically correct sentences all the time but I wouldn't failed it too badly.
I practiced writing by participating in forums of interests and chat with the members on the message board. My written English doesn't failed too badly either.
My core problem is my spoken English. The problem is apparent when I joined my current company when there are many English speakers, I am thrilled with the chance of having a good practising ground to improve my English but confronting the fears of embarrassments on a daily basis has come to a point of nerve wrecking.
Written English and spoken English is constructed differently. I remembered when I first heard my colleague saying "wanna lunch?", I couldn't help but responding "pardon me?" with a dumbfounded look. On another occasion when we were wrapping up a discussion on a client's office relocation project, my boss ends the meeting saying "ok, lets move" indicating we can vacate the conference room, but I responded in awe "where are we moving to?", the room is filled with laughter in a second. There is another incident when I have to do a presentation to my boss, with an eagerness to impress, I spent two weekends writing scripts and rehearsing my speech umpteen times until I could do it flawlessly. On my presentation day, in less than two mins, my boss yawned and told me to cut the chase. My mind hits an instant blank and I speak incoherently. My tears are all welled up. These are only few of the thousands embarrassing situations I caught myself in and the pressure of losing this job is enormous. I can't communicate with the people I work with. I can't speak English the way they do.
My work environment is not forgiving, I couldn't afford to take my own sweet time to pick up their communication style, I have tried to listen to my colleagues how they communicate and it is at the same time conflicting with what I have learned. I am confused and seem to lose my ability to write coherently too.
I am now trying to look for resources that could help me with daily conversations with people but not sounding too proper English. Not knowing if this is the right way to learn, but if you know of any resources, websites, materials that could help me to overcome my problem, I'll appreciate if you can share your knowledge and experience with me generously.
Thanks!