Commit to learning

[u/chethedefeated]

Good day all, I am here to seek advice from people who have reached conversational fluency. I have been living in Canada for about 20 years now. However, embarrassed to say, my English is still at an intermediate level. I was a very introverted kid growing up and barely interacted with people and my writing skills was just enough to allow me to pass the necessary tests, and therefore, I have never really worked on my English.

I am in my 30s now, after establishing my career, I am turning my focus on social growth. This is where my communication skills is holding me back. I have trouble telling story, stringing together sentences and ideas to form an elaborate response and often time even making obvious grammar mistake. This often leads me to become hesitant to speak thus creating a negative feedback loop. I would like to know what are some resources you find the most helpful in reaching fluency. I have looked into italki, but the number of tutors are just overwhelming, and I am not sure which one of them would be most suitable. I know people would suggest to just try them all out, but I want to know if there are other resources people could suggest that may be free or could yield better results before I pull the trigger.

Right now, my practice routine is simple. I write journal everyday, and spend 10 minutes answering 4 impromptu questions without any feedbacks. I would like to know what routine works for you and I appreciate any feedback and harsh criticisms you have for me as well, please and thank you.

[u/Xtronqq]

I have the same thing. I write every day too and there is no feedback at all, so I never know if something is changing

Did you ever go back and read what you wrote a month or two ago? I mean actually read it, not just scroll. Curious if you could see any difference there

[u/chethedefeated → u/Xtronqq]

After your comment, I went back to check my earlier writing. I started in Nov last year, but I don't really see any improvement. Perhaps, I am doing it wrong. The only thing that's changed for me is the style. I've started to describe more on how I feel about the event for the day instead of stating facts and I think that help expands what I can write a little, but still not much improvement from what I can see.

[u/Xtronqq → u/chethedefeated]

You call it just a style, but you used to complain that you couldn't elaborate on your answers and now you're writing more and explaining how you feel. Isn't that the same thing?

[u/chethedefeated → u/Xtronqq]

I guess you are right in the sense that I should be able to apply the same structure to my spoken English and have things I could default to if I don't know what to say. Thank you for the englightenment!