I’ve been learning English for years, but my recent trip to the UK made me realise how bad my listening skills actually are.

I recently spent a few days in Scotland and then travelled to London. I was really excited to finally use my English in real-life situations, but honestly, it was a pretty frustrating experience.

I struggled so much to understand what people were saying, even in simple everyday situations like ordering food, talking to shop assistants, or using public transport.

Most of the time, I could only catch a few individual words, which wasn’t enough to understand the whole sentence. People seemed to speak so quickly, and the words sounded completely different from how I expected them to sound.

The frustrating thing is that I’ve been studying English for years. I’ve used Duolingo, taken lessons on Preply, listened to podcasts, and tried reading in English. I can understand quite a lot when I read something, but when native speakers talk naturally, I often feel completely lost.

It’s really discouraging because I thought my English was much better than this. Now I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been learning it the wrong way all these years.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?
How did you improve your listening comprehension, especially when it comes to fast, natural speech, different accents, connected speech, and everyday expressions?

Should I focus more on listening practice, watching TV shows with subtitles, or speaking with native speakers?

I’d really appreciate some practical advice, especially from people who have managed to overcome this problem.
My ultimate goal is to understand everyday conversations naturally, without having to translate every sentence in my head.

Is the book "Raymond Murphy - Essential Grammar in Use" recommended for beginners?

Is anyone interested in speaking english with me to improve their speaking skills ? I am. Looking for people who speak with me in english daily . i will send you my Instagram account to speak .

Let's start practicing to improve our English . HMU

AI keeps insisting that using "what with" with only one reason after is wrong and that the only correct way is to say 'and' and give at least one more reason ("...what with this AND that") or 'all' ("what with this and all"). I'm pretty sure I've seen it used with only one reason plenty of times though. Is there any proof of what AI says being true (preferably provided by humans)? If any native speakers are reading this, how do you say it?

Thank you!

Apparently, native speakers have an intuitive understanding of grammar and therefore, by definition, can’t make systematic errors. I agree that native speakers have an intuitive and thorough understanding, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make grammar mistakes. Any native speaker of any language can make mistakes in their own language, so I don’t see why English would be any different. Leaving aside spelling mistakes, which arguably aren’t grammar mistakes, there are some common errors native speakers make. For example:
- should've went instead of should've gone
- might can do something
- there is instead of there are for plural nouns
- Me and someone did something instead of someone and I did...

It might be argued that grammar is modelled on the way native speakers use the language. But then why do we have grammar rules in the first place?

I’m building Oxford 5000 Words, a free offline-first vocabulary app.

Current status:

- 4,954 words

- CEFR levels A1–C1

- 11 interface languages

- Multiple-choice review

- Spaced repetition

- GitHub Pages deployment

- Public Update 1.0 release

This week I’m focusing on improving example quality, translations, and the onboarding experience.

Live demo:

https://sofyanol.github.io/oxford-5000-words/

What should I improve first?

I got a message from an extended family member after a close relative passed and they said 'I think you're like me and little bit short of them in the first place.' What exactly does that mean? The rest of the message is compassionate/condolences in terms of tone.

I'm 23 years old girl looking for a study partner ti learn english with everyday we speak in english and fix our mistakes together till we become native

I started watching "The Boys" and I have watched two episodes already. I had known only a few things about the series before.

I chose to use past perfect here because I talked about the knowledge I acquired before I started watching the series. Though, I'm not sure if I'm right or which tense is better here.

It rained so hard that it splashed up to the front door.

I guess you can just say that the porch or the door got wet, but I'm wondering if you can use the verb "splash" or some other verb here just like how I structure this in my language.

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for someone who would be interested in building a long-term friendship while helping me improve my English grammar through everyday conversations.

My English reading and listening is B2, but my writting and speaking ability is B1, and my goal is to reach C1, especially in writing.

I'd love to find someone I can chat with naturally about different topics, just like friends. We can message each other whenever we're available.The main thing I'm looking for is someone who enjoys explaining English grammar and wouldn't mind pointing out mistakes in my messages.

Ideally, when I make a grammatical mistake, I'd appreciate it if you could:

- Point out the specific mistake.

- Explain why it's incorrect and which grammar rule applies.

- Help me figure out how to correct it myself rather than immediately rewriting everything.

- Occasionally give me a short exercise to practice the grammar rule.

I'm hoping to find someone who genuinely enjoys chatting, is patient with language learners, and would be interested in staying in touch long-term.

If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to tell me!

Thanks!

i.e the vowel in 'lawyer'? Or does one of them sound more like 'more'?

EDIT:
Sorry for the typo. I meant 'borne'

(NOT asking about pronunciation or accents!)

For example:

Not using articles, or using them when not needed.

"I have car" "I have A hair"

Not using prepositions

"I will explain you" Instead of "I will explain TO you"

These are just 2 examples so you better understand the question. What are some others?

Are there any native English speakers or people learning a foreign language who can tell me how to listen to a conversation or watch a video and, at the same time, really get immersed in the context and understand what people are saying while also paying attention to the specific words and expressions they use?

I feel like whenever I'm fully focused on understanding what's being said, I tend to lose track of the actual wording. I don't really notice which words they're using. I don't know if that makes sense, but I hope you get what I mean.

I'm pretty sure I've heard these words pronounced as inteREsting and admiNIster (especially inteREsting), but when I Google them, it seems like neither pronunciation is considered acceptable. I'm starting to feel like I'm going crazy. Can these words actually be pronounced this way, particularly in American English?

(If the flair is wrong, please say so)
I’m Finnish, and as you may know we don’t do smalltalk and we take things very literally. This is why I have a difficulty with these greetings or Questions(?) You have. In finland if we ask you ”how are you”, it’s usually followed by an honest answer. We don’t ask people this unless we know them.

What is the correct answer?

Could I describe someone as an "well published author" (or "well-publised"?) and is it correct and common?

If yes how does it come across if someone would call themselve a well published author? For example when they're writing a potential employer? And what would you imagine that means in terms of their work?

Hello everyone, I am from Serbia and already very fluent in English, but have felt difficulty choosing the correct accent for my needs. Growing up I obviously learned American since thats the language in most movies and tv shows we watch.

But the idea that it is the most “basic” variant of the language coupled with the fact that I lived abroad in the UK, my accent is unfortunately quite over the place. I can use three different accents within the same sentence.

Given that I want to learn something authentic and shock the locals who speak English, I decided to learn AAVE. Not only is it a rich dialect with an incredible history, but my knowledge of regular American English will serve as an incredible base.

Im looking for any advice as far as resources, things to look out for, and what to avoid, as well as any experience of people in my situation.

Thanks!

I have been living in an english speaking country for 8 years. I do use english at work but I feel I need more practice expressing ideas in more complex topics beyond the ones I discuss at work. I love non-fiction, documentaries, news and movies. I’m up for discussion relating to wide variety of topics. If you live in the Eastern time zone (GMT -5), DM me, we can figure out the logistics.

I get that job is what you have, and work is what you do, but what about them? Are there regional variants? Or do you need to stick to something like "my workplace" is near my house?

There are actually quite a few free celpip resources out there now. Some AI mock tests even give feedback on speaking and writing, which sounds pretty useful. HZad Education has free practice tests for all 4 sections too.

But tbh, not sure how much people should rely on AI feedback. Like, does it actually help you understand your mistakes or just point them out? Feel like proper lessons might still be needed for some things.

What do you guys think?