Hi

My situation is probably a little particular. I'm an Italian national who lives in the US since 2002. I came here with a relatively good knowledge of the language, and of course since then it has improved a lot. I do write without having to make particular efforts and speak pretty fluently, I've done it also in public in many occasions.

The problem is that I feel like being kind of stuck, after the first year or two I haven't seen any real improvement in my English. I tend to be relatively flat in my constructions, and I do have a probably evident accent. While people usually define it as "funny" I'm really not that satisfied about being recognized as foreigner after ten words.

I know that there's a wall between what a non-mother-tongue can achieve and a real native speaker. But I love English and I really would like to better myself.

I've tried with some local schools, but they are not on my kind of thing. How would you suggest me to do? Is this website going to help on my specific problem?

Thanks

Miriano:

Your situation is fairly typical, and the Open English community can certainly help. First, we offer, and will continue to offer even more, online exercises to help you practice. Second, you should always feel free to ask questions of our teachers in this forum if you have a particular problem that you want to address.

But the only proven way to improve your English speaking ability is regular instruction from a qualified teacher. Even though you have plenty of opportunity to converse with native English speakers, I am sure that no one stops to correct your grammar or instruct you on pronunciation. However, with a teacher, you can benefit from that type of feedback.

Although I am sure that there are many excellent schools in your area, it sounds however like you have not found the right school or the right teacher yet. If you would like to try another teacher, we can certainly set you up with a teacher to match your schedule and interests. The teacher would contact you directly over the internet or by phone for regular lessons. If this is of interest, feel free to contact me directly at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Best,<br><br>Post edited by: mescalero, at: 2005/12/29 11:52

Thanks Mike

I'll contact you in the next days.

Have a wonderful new year!