How do you practice? Still struggling to speak english today I came up with an idea. We can often hear that if there is no one around to talk to in a language you're a learning then you can talk to yourself. You can pretend having a conversation with an imaginary friend. Well, I've been doing this for quite a while and it really works but my problem is that I don't have much of time to do that. I'm constantly busy with work so the only time I was practicing was the time on my way to work and back home. Since I don't drive I usually talk to myself going down the street or in the subway. But what does it look like?)) even though I'm trying to be as quiet as possible barely moving my lips people around don't easily get it. I bet you don't often meet a person talking to himself/herself on the street. So I thought I could pretend talking on a phone! I tried this out. People wouldn't stare at me as though I'm a weirdo anymore. And I can speak as loud as I want. That's cool.

I seriously consider YouTube to be the best educational resource for language learning purposes I've been learning english for 2 years now on my own and I sincerely believe that I've gone quite far in it. And mostly for that I owe YouTube which is the best way for self studying. This surely can't fully substitute for a real experience of communication with native speakers but it's the best what you can get instead. And it's free. Well, yeah, distant Skype lessons with a native speaker are obviously really helpful but YouTube is much more affordable. But it also should be used in a smart way. Watching tons of videos in a row with no slight comprehension of what this is talked about isn't a good way to do it. It would bring no result. What I learnt from it is that the best way to develop your listening comprehension skills and vocabulary (yes, it's not gonna improve your speaking abilities significantly) is to learn the subject that you're most interested in. So along with learning the language you can learn something beyond it. For example I've always been so much into religion/atheism/science stuff. So I've watched so many atheism/religion debates, plenty of scientific and religious documentary videos. At first with no understanding whatsoever I started researching it via YouTube (mostly, not exclusively). This was tough. I had to set a video on a pause to look up an unknown word almost every half a minute or so. Yes, it may turn you away from learning if you're given a subject you have no interest for but when you're genuinely curious you wanna know by any means! So there eventually comes the time when you are through these difficulties and you've developed the vocabulary needed. And it's rewarding! I had a list of 5000 most frequently used english words and after about a year of learning the language there left approximately 1500 words that I still hadn't removed from the list but I was so tired of learning words I didn't need as I felt at the time. So I quit. After a half a year of learning english on Youtube I just accidentally came across that list and surprisingly enough crossed nearly all the remaining words off the list. The thing is that I started learning words I needed at the time. While watching videos I was always taking notes. There is a special corner for my vocabulary note on my laptop. It's always open so I could type a new word and it's there until I memorize it. So learning words that are necessary for understanding the subject you like the most is the best way to expand your vocabulary. And they get memorized way faster!

I seriously consider YouTube to be the best educational resource for language learning purposes. I've been learning english for 2 years now on my own and I sincerely believe that I've gone quite far in it. And mostly for that I owe YouTube which is the best way for self studying. This surely can't fully substitute for a real experience of communication with native speakers but it's the best what you can get instead. And it's free. Well, yeah, distant Skype lessons with a native speaker are obviously really helpful but YouTube is much more affordable. But it also should be used in a smart way. Watching tons of videos in a row with no slight comprehension of what this is talked about isn't a good way to do it. It would bring no result. What I learnt from it is that the best way to develop your listening comprehension skills and vocabulary (yes, it's not gonna improve your speaking abilities significantly) is to learn the subject that you're most interested in. So along with learning the language you can learn something beyond it. For example I've always been so much into religion/atheism/science stuff. So I've watched so many atheism/religion debates, plenty of scientific and religious documentary videos. At first with no understanding whatsoever I started researching it via YouTube (mostly, not exclusively). This was tough. I had to set a video on a pause to look up an unknown word almost every half a minute or so. Yes, it may turn you away from learning if you're given a subject you have no interest for but when you're genuinely curious you wanna know by any means! So there eventually comes the time when you are through these difficulties and you've developed the vocabulary needed. And it's rewarding! I had a list of 5000 most frequently used english words and after about a year of learning the language there left approximately 1500 words that I still hadn't removed from the list but I was so tired of learning words I didn't need as I felt at the time. So I quit. After a half a year of learning english on Youtube I just accidentally came across that list and surprisingly enough crossed nearly all the remaining words off the list. The thing is that I started learning words I needed at the time. While watching videos I was always taking notes. There is a special corner for my vocabulary note on my laptop. It's always open so I could type a new word and it's there until I memorize it. So learning words that are necessary for understanding the subject you like the most is the best way to expand your vocabulary. And they get memorized way faster!

Job description is a boring subject! I work as a sound engineer which is quite fun sometimes. I'm not one of those guys sitting in a luxurious recording studio but my field is live concerts. Still sounds fun? Yeah, sometimes as I said before... I'll tell you what an average live sound engineer's job really is in Russia. (well, it may be so not only in my country but around the world). I wake up at 6 a.m because it takes about an hour to commute to the warehouse but I also need time for shower, food etc... So to get to the warehouse I need to take the subway. I'm glad I live near the station. The whole trip in the subway takes around 30 min. But it's not the end! 15-20 minutes on a bus that passes with the interval of 15 minutes so when coming out of the subway there is nothing worse than seeing my bus drive off the bus stop. It's pretty annoying. Alright, if you've ever been to a live show you might have seen all those massive loud speakers, subwoofers, light projectors and other stuff. Guess who delivers them to the venue and sets them up? Correct. When the sun rises from the horizon a team of brave stage technicians are loading a van so you can enjoy your favorite band's performance later. After everything is installed and plugged in it's time for soundcheck which is the most important part of any show. And this is the time when I start doing what I'm supposed to. You may also have seen that guy behind you back standing in the middle of the house at the big desk with numerous knobs, faders and lights. That nervous guy always looking down at the desk and having no interest for the show is me. Well... I wish I could tell you more about those knobs, faders and what they are for. But I'm afraid I'd be the only person not finding this boring. ) After the show is finished there is a few hours of demounting all the equipment and bringing it back to the warehouse. So my day at work lasts for at least 20 hours. It doesn't seem that fun anymore? Well, I apparently don't have the best job ever but I used to work at one of the biggest concert venues in Russia where I happened to work with many famous foreign bands from the UK and the US, see them and even talk to them in person. Which also was the first time I had a chance to practice english in real life. Unfortunately the venue closed. Now the bands I work for are mostly local. But what I love about my current job is the opportunity to work at different venues every time and meet so many different people. Each experience is absolutely unique.

Dreams must come true. I guess I have accounts on at least 6 or 7 language exchange social networks. But for whatever reason I never succeeded at making friends among english native speakers there. I live in Saint Petersburg Russia now. Yeah, there aren't as few foreigners here as for example in Siberia where I was born and raised but it still remains a problem. So It's been a two years long journey of learning english by myself with no one around to practice the language with except a few Russian friends speaking english. A half a year ago I finally became able to travel abroad so It allowed me to expose myself to a foreign environment a little bit. Recently I came across this web site so I decided to give it a shot one more time and see how it'll come out. And yeah, I'm going to the US next summer or earlier. It depends on money obviously. I'm gonna stay there for a couple of moths or so. The biggest life's dream is about to come true. But there still are many things that are undecided yet. The scariest thing is that I'm coming alone or maybe the fact that I also have no friends, relatives, or at least occasional acquaintances there. So It's gonna be the real experience. Btw you have anything on you mind, advise or something on the topic, I'd like to take it!