The Only Way to Improve My Speaking Skills

In Japan, we start learning English in 7th grade. and (it's better to break this into two sentences so the it's not too long) We usually study writing and reading plus a bit of listening but NO speaking. Now, I'm 23, so I've studied English for more than 10 years! (Actually, I'm even (the word 'even' isn't necessary but it works well here) surprised at this that ('that' is better here) number!) Though I have studied it for a long time, I think my speaking skills aren't very good. When I was 21, I decided to go to the US to learn English more efficiently. As a result, I've been in the US for more than 2 years. Even though I'd studied English almost 10 years, I literally couldn't speak English at all. I could say something super simple like "I'm from Japan. Nice to meet you. How are you? I'm fine. " To be honest, I was very shocked that I couldn't do well with my spoken English. I had struggled a lot. I still have trouble with speaking English sometimes, but it has gotten so much better. I've been here only 2 years but at least now I can communicate with native speakers. Of course, I have a hard time with understanding what they mean or hearing what they just said. The reason why my speaking skills gets better is simply because I have to talk in English. I have to use it as a tool to communicate with people here. Since I'm a very shy person, it took a long time to get used to it. The more I become ('become' sounds more natural here than 'I am') used to talking in English, the more I can speak English. Language is a tool for me and you have to figure out how to use it, that's the answer that I've come up with. It's very simple but my personality(being very shy) interrupted stalled/delayed (I think one of these verbs gives a better idea of what you're trying to say) my progress. It was very challenging for me to not be afraid of making mistakes and to talk to people in English. Though I said my English is much better than before, I still want to improve it as much as possible and that's why I'm here, italki. There are so many chances to be friends with English speakers here. I thought "if there's a chance that you can grab it, then why not?" Well, I don't know how to wrap up my notebook entry... I just wated to say, all you have to do is speak, speak, speak, and speak! to be able to conversationally fluent converse/speak fluently in another language. Thank you for reading and have a good day.

Great job! Speaking is definitely the hardest part of learning a new lanuage from me as well & you made a good choice moving to a country that speaks the lanugage you want to learn! I hope you continue improving & talking to native speakers in English! Your entry was great & there are only little things that can should be changed so keep up the great work!

The only way to improve my speaking skill

In Japan, we start learning English from 7th grade and we usually study writing and reading plus a bit of listening, but NO speaking. Now I'm 23. So I've studied English for more than 10 years! (Actually I'm surprised at this number) Though I have studied it for a long time, I think my speaking skill isn't good enough. When I was 21, I decided to go to the US to learn English more efficiently. As a result, I've been in the US for more than 2 years. Even though I'd studied English for almost 10 years, I literally couldn't speak English at all. I could say something super simple like "I'm from Japan. Nice to meet you. How are you? I'm fine. " To be honest, I was very shocked that I couldn't do well with my spoken English. I had struggled a lot. I still have trouble with speaking English sometimes but it has gotten so much better. I've been here only 2 years but at least I can communicate with native speakers now. Of course I have a hard time with understanding what they mean or hearing what they just said. The reason why my speaking skill gets better is simply because I have to talk speak in English. I have to use it as a tool to communicate with people here. Since I'm a very shy person, it took a long time to get used to it. The more I'm used to talk speaking in English, the more I can speak in English. Language is a tool for me and you have to figure out how to use it. That's the answer that I came up with. It's very simple but my personality(being very shy) interrupted my progress. It was very challenging for me to not be afraid of making mistakes and to talk to people in English. Though I said my English is much better than before, I still want to improve it as much as possible and that's why I'm here, italki. There're so many chances to be friends with English speakers here. I thought "if there's a chance that you can grab it, then why not?" Well, I don't know how to wrap up my notebook entry... I just wated to say, all you have to do is speak, speak, speak, and speak! to be able to conversationally fluent fleuntly converse in another language. Thank you for reading and have a good day.

PS: Wow! Your written English is really good, Yohei! I'm sure you are capable of speaking good English too. It's just that you're shy and not very used to it. I'm also a very shy person, so it scares me to speak in the language I'm learning (French). But it's so true that practising is the best way to improve a language. Well, keep on practising! You'll definitely improve quickly. Ganbatte! :D