@luismtzzz,
luismtzzz wrote:
But it is just listening. And by the way once i get used to the accent causes little problem for me to understand someone. I am quite familirized with the southern US accent. What drives me nuts is the pronunciation problem.
It is really anoying to understand everything a person says, but sounding like a stammerer robot while trying to talk.
I write much better than the way i speak.
Hey luis, I'm not a native English speaker myself. I have a terrible accent, since I'm Dutch and I sound like a German eating a bradwurst while talking when I tackle the english language, which I do with about as much grace and subtlety as a lumberjack wielding a chainsaw to trim the hedges in his garden.
Nevertheless, I don't let these minor setbacks deter me in my goal to stun the whole world (probably quite literally) with my english.
However, if you have a need to speak english for your vocation, as your indication that you read a lot of medical texts seems to imply, apart from the most effective way that ragman suggested, which is, to immerse yourself in speaking and listening to the language as much as possible on a daily basis,
I would suggest the following:
- Listen to english songs, particularly slow ones you are not familiar with. Try to translate the lyrics as you hear them. I found that a good way to pick up more vocabulary in an enjoyable way.
- try to analyze what sentences you say most often during your conversations. I could imagine that, if you have occasion to speak english for your profession, you'll probably gravitate to explaining about certain problems that you may have encountered or not.
If you have a good idea on what words you use most often, try to write down and rehearse some standard sentences with these words in them. It won't take long before those are easy to pronounce, and that allows you in turn to gain more confidence in the way you talk, and might allow you to speak more smoothly and fluently.
Even if you find you can't pinpoint anything in particular you frequently use, the one thing that should be remembered is that most of the spoken language revolves around a limited amount of core words you string together. Not sure how many, perhaps a 1000 or so?
Try to limit your sentences to those at first, and once you use them effectively, you can expand your vocabulary when you speak english.
But who am I to say this anyway? Dutch people with the accent of a German eating bradwurst while spitting out english words have no business helping others expand their own vocabulary. Especially not when you have already the attention of a number of incredible people, who as far as I know are all native english speakers, and whose combined intellect reaches into the 1000's...
