I know we’re not supposed to be able to speak if we’ve never practised it before but I’m shocked at how terrible I’ve been during my first 5 lessons with a tutor. Not only can I not utter so much as half a basic sentence but I’m finding it almost impossible to understand even slow basic speech. I listen to stuff much faster and more complex outside of lessons with much less trouble.
Could this be because I’m not used to being spoken to directly? My tutor will ask me a basic question, speaking really, really slowly and I have to ask her to repeat it 2 or 3 times and even then I can’t understand very well, yet if I heard something more complicated and said at a faster speed whilst listening to a podcast I can understand quite well, and often first time.
What’s going on here? Is this simply a matter of pressure? Do other people have this problem?
i’ve never had a tutor as such but when i first tried to speak a language i believed i was ready to talk with natives and i had listened to people that said you speak from day one ,and i did a video chat with some teenagers and adults in a rio de janeiro language school .it was so embarassing and humiliaating i could not remember alot ,my pronounciation was terrible ,and clearly some of the people were annoyed and some were giggling. .so yes i understand trying to speak under pressure unfortunately there is no magic pill just keep on doing what you are doing it’sgoing to sink in it has to
somedays when i’m listening and reading to content it sinks in the next day it does not as quickly
If you asked me what my hobby was, I would not be able to answer the question at once.
I should think about it for a few seconds. “Well, I don’t know. I wonder if taking a walk can be considered to be a hobby… I have been learning English for a long time, but I don’t know if learning English has been done completely for the purpose of enjoying the process of learning itself …”
I would begin feeling distressed; I would not be able to tell what my hobby was. Should I ask the person on the other end of the line what the word “hobby” meant exactly?