I've had my first language exchange on italki this site.
Well, I'm pretty new here on this. I've registered a week or so ago or so, and I am still trying to figure out how this site works. The free account limitation is a pain in the ass by the way. Whatever, I'm beating around the bush. The point is I had my first language exchange yesterday and I'm so glad about it.
It's was a great experience. I met a nice guy from the United States, who's learning Spanish and we decided to practice our speaking and comprehension skills by on skype call for around an hour.
Then I realised a few things about my English. The first of them was that my comprehension is ok, it seems like all these years of watching English movies in their original version, has been useful after all. I understand understood everything he said him all the time, except when the connection get broken failed for a of couple seconds. However, I know he spoke speaks to me in an understanding comprehensible, easy way, which I appreciate a lot, but I'm not sure if I'm doing the same thing for him (I guess I'll solve this doubt when he reads this, lol).
In the second place, my speaking skills are miles from being milles away to be ok. It's kinda kind of frustrating actually. My pronunciaton is a mess and I forget words lose all my vocabulary when I try to say something anything. I sometimes feel like a dumb mute sometimes, because I make basic mistakes that I wouldn't make do in black and white. My mouth speaks faster than my brain thinks and I can't find the words to express myself as I wish. It's also a little weird also, when I get stuck to say a more difficult, not simple but hard neither, word. Damn it! I wasn't able to say "European" properly. What a shame...
To conclude, I also realise that my speaking is better when I practice i'm practicing all by myself in front of the mirror. Maybe because when I'm talking with someone, I'm afraid that I won't be to not be understood, especially if that one person is a native English speaker. I have to fight that handicap to improve.get better.
I recently had my first language exchange on this site.
Well, I'm pretty new to on this. I've registered a week or so ago or so, and I am still trying to figure out how this site works. The free account limitation is a pain in the ass by the way. Whatever, I'm beating around the bush. The point is that I had my first language exchange yesterday and I'm so happy glad (glad works fine, but happy is used more often) about it.
It's It was a great experience. I met a nice guy from the United States, who's learning spanish and we decided to practice our speaking and comprehension skills by (another word for 'by' that you could use if you want to sound really native is 'via' . 'By' works great though as it is) skype call for around an hour.
Then I realised a few things about my english. The first of them was is (needs to be present tense, the thing that you realized in the past IS something that exists now, it is a fact/idea.) that my comprehension is ok,. It seems like all these years watching English movies in the original version, has been useful after all. I understand him everything that he says all the time, except for when the conection breaks get broken for a couple seconds. However, I know he speaks to me in an understandable, understanding easy way,. (This is another example of a run-on sentence. I seperated the sentence into two in order to help isolate each thought and give your writing more clarity) which I appreciate this a lot, but I'm not sure if I'm doing the same thing for him (i guess i'll figure this out solve this doubt when he reads this lol).
In the second place, my speaking skills are milles away from being to be ok. It's kinda of frustrating actually. My pronunciaton is a mess and it seems like I lose all my vocabulary when I try to say something anything. I feel like a dumb (or maybe you were trying to say 'I feel like an idiot') sometimes, because I make basic mistakes that I wouldn't do in black and white. My mouth speaks faster than my brain thinks and I can't find the words to express myself as I wish. It's also a little weird also, when I get stuck to say a word that is neither simple nor hard (if you can avoid seperating thoughts with commas, then avoid it) not simple but hard neither, word. Damn it! I wasn't able to say "european" properly. What a shame...
To conclude (or 'in conclusion'), I also realise that my speaking is better when I'm practicing all by myself in front of the mirror. Maybe because when i'm talking with someone, i'm afraid of not being to not be understood, especially if the listener that one is a native english speaker. I have to fight that handicap to get better.
Great work! Your english is definitely better than my Spanish. A couple of notes:
- Some of the things that I corrected were just better or more common ways to say things. I tried to poin this out when it was the case.
- One thing that an American English teacher would kill you for is your extended use of contractions. I know that you are trying to sound casual with your writing, but it seems as though every time you got the opportuinity to use a contraction, you did. It just started to make me cringe a bit. Contractions are ok to use, but try to use them sparingly. If you want to write something formal or eloquent, never use them.
-To respond to your statement; yes sometimes I find it a bit difficult to understand you when you speak quickly. That is probably due to my poor vocabulary and lack of listening ability though. Also, a lot of times it is probably just due to the connection. Don't worry too much about it though haha, I'll probably ask you to repeat something if I didn't catch it the first time. That's what learning is all about. (Another note about contractions, they are fine to use when you are talking to someone or sending them a message, because the context is much more casual. I just noticed myself doing it now).
