How or where did you learn English? How do you practice it?

Question

I learned it at school but I realize that it gets worse everyday. I can read books and understand them. However, as most of the Turkish people who learn English at school, I have difficulty in speaking fluently :(

Answer 1

Originally at school. But then my job got me into "weird" countries where speaking English was not an option but a means to survive. Currently, I am writing and speaking English all day long and I have found some people that they would even pay me for that! And all they get is Greeklish! And I keep doing that since -rumors have it- I am damn good at it. Oh well! So few out there can compete with me in Greeklish...:)

Answer 2

I lived in English speaking countries for 7 years in total and I'm 17 now. While I was in Turkey all of the schools I attended taught English. My grammar sucks too. But I speak it very fluently. I know some people who write perfect English but they can't really speak it which is -for me- the most important case of all. But of course my Turkish is way better than my English. Some people abroad unfortunately do not have any kind of national consciousness, they don't teach their kids their mother tongue. Then when they come back to Turkey, they can't speak Turkish properly and as it appears they can't even speak English properly. What a pity it is.

Answer 3

Watching television in English is the best because you get to learn a lot of vocabulary and sentence structure, which is the key to learning how to speak English. Reading would be the next step. Read lots of magazines in English or simplified books. Then don't be afraid to mess up when you speak. If you are able to find an English speaker where you live, you can have conversations and that person can correct you while you're speaking.

Answer 4

English is my native language, but my Mother's boyfriend who's from Romania learned English simply by watching television for the first couple of years after he moved here. He couldn't talk to anyone, so he would just sit at after work and watch with his dog. Now he speaks it quite fluently.

Answer 5

I learned English at school...however, I practice it by reading a lot of English newspapers, articles and books. Watching English shows on TV also helps.

Answer 6

I learned at school first. You can write or read with the education you get from school, but if you want to speak fluent you need to practice.

I didn't take any special lessons or anything. Only i speak everyday. Also watching movies without subtitles or with English subtitles helps a lot.

But spellchecker still finds lots of mistakes :D

Answer 7

I've been learning english since i was in fourth grade. You can improve your english by watching DVDs without subtitles. Also you can memorize the lyrics of the song you liked and sing it a loud while listening it. If you have a enough bugdet there are teacher who comes to pratice your speaking and talks with you english all the time

Answer 8

i lived abroad for three years, it wasn't an English speaking country but i attended a British school.

How i practice: i read English books, plays, watch English movies, Y!A, at the moment I'm trying to find a kind of club where i can go and i practice my speaking as well.

Answer 9

why don't you go to a dersane? If you are in Istanbul I suggest English Time in Taksim. Read books.
I learned Turkish from movies and Turkish friends, (Thank you Baran) (And tarakakan and turkan suray)
So get an English friend and go to a language school.

Answer 10

well i learned English to an foreign language school, as 95% of Greeks do!

we learn foreign languages at our schools as well but the teaching lever is too low, so everyone prefers to go to private sector and pay in order to learn

practising is the key to learn a foreign language well

:)

regards from Greece