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I can't think of any specific sounds we struggled with, because I feel that my language lends itself very nicely to English. However, the complication most of us faced in state schools is that a lot of our English teachers didn't have the full grasp of the pronunciation of some English words. It's only when we grew up and started travelling, watching TV etc that we discovered that we were taught the wrong pronunciations. That of course, wasn't a problem for privately educated people!

Thanks for sharing I'm always open to new ways of learning, and I've been considering learning online for a while now. I'll be sure to check it out and see what it has to offer I'm glad to see that one of my favourite languages, French is on there!

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that this is a highly specialised area. I have spoken English most of my life, but I couldn't do this for you if I tried. It'd be like looking at Greek LOL I do hope that someone comes along and is able to assist. Good luck

If I didn't speak a word of English and wanted to learn it, I personally wouldn't have minded if the teacher were a non-native speaker! BUT I have noticed that a lot of adverts in the Far East and Arab countries will specifically state that they want native speakers, it doesn't even matter if they have a teaching qualification or not! That I find shocking. I think it comes down to there being this snobbery over people who speak English as a second language. I'd be interested to know how these people actually fare in those roles. For me, it's all about that person's command of the language and their credentials to a degree. if they came highly recommended, all the better. I lived in the UK for 13 years, and even some of my English friends would tell you themselves that when it comes to the intricacies of how the language functions, they are not very good at English.

First off, welcome to Linguaholic Different people have different preferences in terms of methods through which they learn best. I bet there will be people out there who'll find this a very useful learning tool. I can definitely see this aiding your learning process, especially if you pair it with other methods of learning. I wouldn't mind trying it out myself, as long as it wasn't the only way i learnt

It must hurt when someone throws that in your face, but I would brush it off if I were you. Like another poster said, English is a very tricky language, and even some native English speaker could be considered to have poor grammar. Some people actually speak a lot better than they write, too. Or even vice versa.You also have to consider that there are so many regional dialects that were some of those people to sit a proper English test, they may very well fail it. That wasn't a nice thing for that person to say. Is their English perfect?!

I went with TOEFL as I think it's the most used and one that's readily available across the globe. I believe it's offered pretty much everywhere. IELTS would probably be the second most common. I'd never even heard of the last two!

I suppose it depends on what you're most familiar with. I speak and write British English, so my natural answer is British English. I've never had to use American English in my life, and the one time I took a test for it, I fared far worse than I imagined I would.

Although British English does have the letter Z, It's more widely used in American English. You'll find this to be true in most words. I use British English and find it annoying when my spell keeps highlighting words as wrong because even though my laptop is set to British English...grrr!

I agree with the brilliant explanations given so eloquently here. However, I can see why the two words could confuse learners of the English language. I think it's something that would become a lot clearer the more they use the language.

No, I don't think it should be taught in the classroom because in my opinion, it'll just serve to confuse the learners. They initially need to know the language in its purest form, and then later on they can pick up informal English away from the classroom.This way they'll be able to distinguish between formal and informal English and where each is applicable.

I speak English more than I speak my own mother tongue because it's the official language of Botswana, my country. So as I spend most of the day in work, and English is the medium of communication in all work situations, I'm always speaking it. I'm married to a non-Botswanan, so at home we speak English. English is widely spoken in Botswana, so even among friends, we often speak more English that our own language.

Nyandroid, thanks so much for posting that link! That website looks like so much fun, I just love it! I wonder if they have other ones for say French and Italian. But the thing about the English language is that as easy as I find it, because I've spoken it all my life, those mistakes are made by everyone, including and maybe especially native speakers! I even see it in some of the eBooks I read and just cringe. The one that really gets my goat but seems to have become acceptable is "could of", which should really be "could have"! I hear it, I see it written and I'm just like .....grrr!! I know language evolves, but this is something else!

I would definitely be up for this if I had someone willing. I think it would also take away that element of shyness and timidity. But I've never come across such people, because as we all know, a lot of people do speak English. All of my French and Italian friends speak very good English. Maybe I'd have to take to the internet to search for one.

This is definitely a plus, but will depend on where you are in your learning process. When I was learning French, we had Oral skills, Listening Comprehension, Reading and Written Skills and I found this combination very suitable to my way of learning. I actually preferred writing to speaking, because I always wrote better than I spoke.

This is so true, reading and writing is one good way of practicing and gauging your progress. I'm also huge fan of mixing with the native speakers and learning from them. If they can't speak much English, even better, because we can help each other along. Depending on where you're at with your skills and learning, I'd also suggest watching TV and listening to music in your chosen language because that way you improve your listening skills.

I personally learn a language best through a combination of methods. I prefer the classroom set up where I'm learning from a teacher and interaction with other learners. I also like the use of workbooks. Where possible, I also like to be surrounded by native speakers against whom i can do some practicing, if they don't mind LOL

I often hear that it's easier to learn a new language through your boyfriend/girlfriend! So you're very lucky there. I'm happy to hear that you guys also have a good old laugh, while at it. I have always maintained that learning a foreign language should be FUN, and clearly you're having fun while you learn. I wish you the best of luck in learning German, although you probably don't need it.

That's fantastic, thanks for sharing, Eugene111! This has actually given me an idea. I'm wondering if I could do a Google search for something similar but for French or Italian. It would be great if I could get my hands on it. That way I could just slowly work my way through the vocabulary before I go back to studying either one of or both languages, which are my favourite foreign languages

-and as we all know, if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is! if it were possible, I'd be multilingual, that's for sure. The sad thing is that there'll be people out there who'll fall for this obvious scam.

Isn't it weird how we all have that certain word that trips us up?! Yet it's usually a word that the next person finds very easy to say, and they probably don't even think about it? I would be interested in knowing the reason for it, because it's just WEIRD LOL

This is a huge problem for me when I'm learning a new language. Because I'm wary of making mistakes and having people laugh at me, I shy away from practicing my oral skills. Of course, nobody really laughs at people making an effort, but I have it in my head I'll get laughed at LOL It's silly, really.

So interesting you should say that, CorieHens! I think this is something similar to what Jamaicans have! It's also interesting that you cite the influence of teachers who taught you the wrong pronunciations, because we also had that when I was in school. I went to state schools throughout and in my country, there's a distinct difference in our English accents depending on where we went to school. Those of us who attended state schools tend to have broader English accents, while those who were privately educated tend to have posher English/American accents.

I know that football manager also tend to learn several languages as they move around the world managing different teams in their host countries. English Roy Hodgson speaks five languages fluently – Norwegian, Swedish, Japanese, German and Italian. Hodgson even speaks a bit of Korean, Danish and Finnish. The man is very clever and clearly has an aptitude for languages. Wherever he goes, he seems to soak up the language!

Honest_Abe, I'm afraid I can't offer any life changing miracles! The way I stay motivated is by striving to do more and learn faster. The better I perform, the more I am motivated to keep going. Just the achievements in themselves are motivation enough for me to keep at it. I'm not sure how you can get around hitting a plateau. You reaching that stage, does it have anything to do with you giving up? Being in a classroom setup also spurs me on, because I have a bit of a competitive streak. So when I'm around others I want to do better. It helped me at uni that we also had an incentive that spurred us on. Each year, 2 best performers got to go to France for a few months to attend a Language University, and got to be taught by native French speakers, all expenses paid, so it was something to work towards. I'm very proud to say, I got to grab this opportunity one year