Guess it depends where you pick up english from. TV / Books?
I went from the former before parents sent me to a tuition center. It worked out in the end since David Hasselhoff and Richard Dean Anderson was great role models for spoken english.

Wow Black Cat, you can't speak english? Like, at all? How is that possible when you write perfect english?

Also, what rpg are you pnplaying, and where will you be playing it?

@Andhaira

It's Pathfinder Andy. As to where we are going to play - normally it wouldn't be a secret, but just for you we will make an exception. Do you feel special, Andy?

@rk47
There's some truth in what you are saying, though I must admit I learned spoken English much later, in the course of my education. I have never had problems with understanding people talking to me, unless it was some dialect of the language. But even then getting used to it took a week or two.

Now, speaking the blasted language was a great deal trickier - I think it applies almost to everyone who didn't grasp English as a wee kid. The greatest problem was classic 'ok, he told me this and that - now what do I reply?'. In other words unnatural flow of communication, when you start planning conversation as you speak instead of just going on with it. To be honest it still isn't perfect in my case.

The best way to learn english IMO is the one my uncle forced on me. He'd sit with me on a table, then make me read Donald Duck comics in my native language…and force me to read it aloud after translating it to english, panel by panel.

This is how I actually learned how to communicate effectively.
Eg:
"Uncle Donald..?"
"What is it, Huewey, Duwey and Louie?"
"Can we have some cookies?"
"No!"

"Where did those kids take the cookie bottle-"

Then my uncle would interrupt, "No, it's a jar. Not a bottle. Bottles are for drinking."

Then I'd continue reading the rest. It was fun. Too bad he's an asshole after he grew older. After learning English that way, I spent my time larping with Transformer toys and narrate everything in english to the shock of my parents. Childhood was fun.

@rk47

to your uncle then. It's uplifting to hear of an adult taking its time to teach his kin some skills. Learning at young age really pays off.

I wonder how it would work in my case. Personally, I found translating and retranslating stuff to be ineffective method of learning to speak. I always ended up with 'what do I say now' syndrome - and attempting to translate word for word from mother tongue to English. Maybe it was more of a personality problem than lack of skill - a kind of inhibition. If I tackled it as a kid perhaps, I wouldn't have so much trouble later on.

For me working in English environment for some time did wonders - as far as fluency, and pronunciation are concerned. It's still far from perfect RP or SAP, but it's 'serviceable' and 'adjustable' to a range of dialects.

That "salute" smiley is lame here.

Yeah I miss the old one. Even the lol emoticon's lacking the giggly effect.

The second phase is important though - self practice. I mean, when you're a kid, you wanted to sound like Optimus Prime and the rest of the TV cast, so it came naturally to me. For adults it's harder to do, obviously, cause you're afraid of embarrassing yourself.

The second phase was somewhat forced on me when my parents sent me to this English Tuition center where the hall monitors and security guards make you do push ups if you're caught speaking non-english language. It was awkward, but I get used to it. The teachers were patient and conversed real well, except for the Pakist teacher who kept falling asleep during class. Lazy ass.

Two years later, my parents made the biggest mistake of sending me overseas. I never wanted to come back after that.

Well, kudos to you bros.

Wish I had taken the time and trouble to learn a second language when I was younger. English (of the Aussie variety) is all I've ever known.