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How to improve my English?

thuiop2345
I'm 19 years old and since I was born a few weeks early I'm missing my left ear. This influenced my learning of my native language (Italian) since I can't distinguish sounds well and I also have some slight mental retardation... So if I find my language difficult and when I find some new word I can't get it into my head, imagine with English. I consider myself quite good at reading and writing English but when I have to listen to someone in English I can't understand anything and when I have to speak English I can't make certain sounds with my tongue etc and I completely mispronounce every word even though I'm always corrected.. I watch movies in English but without subtitles I can't understand. I'm very jealous of people with English spawning in their heads fr and I've always been quite bullied for the fact that I can't speak Italian and English well.

3 comments

HagRespecter•
Practicing skills in isolation (reading, writing, mental convos, tv watching, speaking out loud) gets you good at this things individually. But conversational fluency needs conversation. If you can't listen, recall, think and reply in a natural conversation then try language immersion; I'd suggest plunging into an exclusively English environment, you'll learn it much faster than you will using traditional teaching methods. Say, instead of movies, how about youTube videos? >Rachel's English (phonetic lessons, natural accent lessons, mouth placement, rhythm and intonation. She even breaks down on idiomatic expressions.) >English with Lucy (for confidence and fluency in speaking) >English with Emma (if you need to strengthen your grammar and vocabulary or you need proficiency exam tutoring)
confusedafterECThelp•
Do you have a friend or someone you could see and hang out regularly or video call with a friend and practice just chatting about anything. Cause practice and repetition are whats going to slowly but actually help you learn and grow. Also idk if it's just me but I thought if you had someone you could ask, it'll be just like a few hours of hanging out or chatting or video calling or whatever where you can ask questions and figure out how to work around any issues you might have with your hearing
benboy250•
I know this is not the subject of the post but "mental retardation" is considered offensive in modern English. Obviously if you want to use it to describe yourself, you can do so, but some people might be offended. If you have difficulties learning, the proper term is "learning disability". If you also have below average IQ and issues with daily living, the proper term is "intellectual disability".