English Harmony Blog Highlights of November 2011

[kontact666]

So how long does it take to become a fluent English speaker?

[EnglishHarmony]

@kontact666 That's a question nearly impossible to answer! It depends on your current level of English understanding, active vocabulary, willingness to speak as much as possible, opportunities to speak with other English speakers etc. Also it depends on whether one has any issues associated with English fluency such as sudden drops in fluency etc. Could be three months, half a year, a year, two years, it's hard to give a definite answer!

[kontact666]

@EnglishHarmony In my case there's a huge gap between level of written English understanding and level of spoken English understanding. I think I am average with written English but less then enough with spoken. Also it's frustrating when you hear native people talk and you catch just as little as 10 to 20% (really not enough to get the whole meaning). I guess practising and practising would help.

[EnglishHarmony]

@kontact666 As for written and spoken understanding - it's only normal that we understand nearly everything we read but struggle to get what we hear. Spoken English is affected by pronunciation peculiarities, different slang expressions, how fast the person speaks etc.

Would I be right in saying you live in a specific region where locals speak in a distinct accent? When I moved to Ireland, for instance, it was very difficult for me to understand locals because of the specific pronunciation!

[TheMax8900]

Helpful video. Thanks for your input.

[EnglishHarmony]

@TheMax8900 No problem!

[rafaelcunha25]

thx bro you´re so friendly! Rafael ( ralf ) here from brazil F1 fan see my laps

[rafaelcunha25]

nice one video , i want to talk with you. do u have skype? :) a lot of doubts but im studying since 2010 and some times im get upset about listening english!! i´d explain to ya my feelings about this :) and i dont give up ! never!

[EnglishHarmony]

@rafaelcunha25 Please understand I have dozens of such Skype requests coming in every day and I simply haven't got time to do it. You can e-mail me here on YouTube and I'll respond to your e-mail in due course.