Is it normal that i’m still not fluent in english?

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Hi. Is it normal that I’m still not fluent in English despite living here in the US for over 6 years? I came here when I was 12-13 years old. I did learn basic English in my homecountry. I can understand native speakers and I can answer just fine when they have questions. But I can’t hold a normal conversation. I often stutter or can’t find the right words when I speak to them. I don’t have any problems writing essays or reading books or watching movies in English. In short, I can read, write and listen but I can’t speak. Sometimes I don’t speak at all, just because of the anxiety that I might embarass myself, unless they speak to me or have a question. I don’t have an accent when I speak in English (accd to my cousins) and so people at school don’t know that I’m not fluent and so I tend to come off as a snob. I know that I have to practice speaking in English but I just can’t seem to come out of my shell.

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Comments ( 8 )
  • [Old Memory]
    5 years ago

    Read the books aloud, even when you are alone. It helps with enunciation and builds confidence for holding conversations, and even public speaking.

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  • McBean
    5 years ago

    Instead of typing your reply to comments here. Say them out loud.

    When I lived in Spain one summer, I repeated everything that was said on the news on television every night. After 3 weeks, people were unable to detect an accent.

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  • EnglishLad
    5 years ago

    Sin duda mejorarás tu nivel. Sigue practicando y ahí va. Ánimo!

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  • [Old Memory]
    5 years ago

    Try working actively on it. When you speak, remember exactly where you get stuck, write it down and then go to the book and learn the right way to express an idea. Then go say it again (about 3 times should do) in the conversation, to make sure you have fixed that. Otherwise, you might have the same problems again and again, and it makes you feel like you are not fluent, but there are just some isolated constructions you didn't work on specifically. Repeat this with most/all the situations (where possible) and ask yourself this question in 1 year of working hard on this. It is very likely that you worked on your language a lot, but not on those particular problems, and that is why you feel bad about it.

    For me it's that I never worked on some grammar issues and even though I can write great essays, I have little control over entangled relative clauses or something like that and I just avoid them. People don't feel these problems because I hide them very well, but they still exist and it would be a pity not to correct them. So it means I need to practice and that's that.

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  • Shackleford96
    5 years ago

    Comparatively, six years isn't THAT long. I still struggle with it sometimes and I've been in it my whole life.

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  • Nickvey
    5 years ago

    you have identified a weakness. What are you going to do about it?

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    • Turbo10
      5 years ago

      fuckin motivational speaker sounding shit over here

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  • RoseIsabella
    5 years ago

    Practice makes perfect.

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