Hello Amanda, It is quite improbable that you would be really practicing for 10 years and you won't feel any tangible progress in your English language. I am not sure if you are applying methods that are effective enough and if you are aware of it or not .Maybe you didn't really dedicate enough time during the last 10 years for learning English or you did that occasionally with an absent mind without real concentration. You might have not practiced enough or your practice was one sided, you didn't do any speaking with others for example; you say you get nervous when speaking with natives, so you most probably didn't try it many times. Maybe it is a matter of confidence that is blocking your ability to speak . You may have acquired a lot of vocabulary but your speaking skills were not developed the same . To develop your speaking skills you have to practice speaking with natives the better . Make mistakes and be confident enough to make them .We all do when learning a language!. Read more and try to listen a lot to English through any media whether songs, watching movies , any online audio/video materials . Try to improve your grammar by learning the rules adequately and doing exercises. Make learning fun by doing some word games where you increase your vocabulary , use dictionaries to look up new words. All this should help you improve your English on a long run, that is less than 10 years for sure, if you studied hard and effective enough . Wishing you good luck :)

Hi! I've heard this question many times from people who studied and are still studying English. The reason why some people have difficulty putting things into reality especially speaking is because of the following reasons: 1. They memorize sentences that don't have any practical use in their lives. 2. They are afraid of making mistakes even if you tell them 100 times that it's just OK. 3. They try to find topics that are not very popular to other people. 4. Speaking is a skill that you have to practice constantly and it's a skill that you can learn and master. 5. There are just some people who are not meant for their chosen language. Choose something that you like and something that you will use for a long time.

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Many people think that exercises and tests aren't much fun. However, by completing exercises and taking tests you can really improve your English. One of the best reasons for doing lots of exercises and tests is that they give you a benchmark to compare your future results with. Often, it is by comparing your score on a test you took yesterday with one you took a month or six months ago that you realize just how much you have learned. If you never test yourself, you will never know how much you are progressing. Start now by doing some of the many exercises and tests on this site, and return in a few days to see what you've learned. Keep doing this and you really will make some progress with English. Nobody likes to hear their own voice on tape but like tests, it is good to compare your tapes from time to time. You may be so impressed with the progress you are making that you may not mind the sound of your voice as much.

There are some good English teachers that have had to learn English as a second language before they could teach it. However, there are several reasons why many of the best schools prefer to hire native English speakers. One of the reasons is that native speakers have a natural flow to their speech that students of English should try to imitate. The closer ESL / EFL students can get to this rhythm or flow, the more convincing and comfortable they will become. This is not only a fun way to learn but it is also very effective. By watching English films (especially those with English subtitles) you can expand your vocabulary and hear the flow of speech from the actors. If you listen to the news you can also hear different accents. Music can be a very effective method of learning English. In fact, it is often used as a way of improving comprehension. The best way to learn though, is to get the lyrics (words) to the songs you are listening to and try to read them as the artist sings. There are several good internet sites where one can find the words for most songs. This way you can practice your listening and reading at the same time. And if you like to sing, fine. Only by studying things like grammar and vocabulary and doing exercises, can you really improve your knowledge of any language.