/b/ - Random

myself i did have very good english teachers in school, but i also spent a lot of time on the internet since i was like 7

>>103917
School and media

>>103917
ok, this always bothers me. did you not have any english lessons at first from school or parents, even if just the basics? it's impossible to pick up a language just from tv if you know nothing about it.

>>103917
reading
video games
english medium school
but i can't read or write too fluently in my mother tongue so that's a backdraw

>>103917
it's all thanks to my autistic creepypasta roleplays i did in 2012

I spent my teens on second life because I was afraid of people. I still am. Then I discovered chans and social media. I was always afraid of getting attacked outside but honestly I don't think I am even worth the bother anymore.

I am almost 25 and I have no idea what people mean when they say "places to go". I am going to die alone. I have never adressed a random person in public.

I wasted my youth, and what beauty I could have had. I want to at least learn how to function like a human being before I hit 30.

Please, please, please help.

Have always been a loner due to troubled parents who had me when they were bordering 40. They're also not the most social of beings so I ended up being raised by foreign TV and videogames and music. when I was 12 I realized could understand spoken English pretty well without ever having studied.

>>104164
Where are you from? My situation is pretty much the same, never had a relationship and am almost 25. I have to function more or less normally because of work but other than that I don't leave my house.
I'm from Brazil.

I was taught the basics in elementary and secondary school of course, but through using it online is how I became comfortable using it. Searching for info, participating on boards, pirating e-books in english (easier than finding them in my native language), watching youtube videos in english etc. generally just consuming a lot of english content. Currently I'm following a course on verbal English and I'm surprisingly decent at it despite not really having used it verbally in the past.

>>104167
I'm not anywhere near unfortunately, I'm czech.

>>104164
wrong thread buddy

>>104164
Plz post in the friend finder thread if you wanna chat, I'm in a similiar position. I'm also Euro and same age

>>104167
I'm from brazil too anon! Leaving the house here is hard because is waaayy too dangerous really, I'm 22 and also never had a relationship, brazilians have too much energy and I just enjoy the comfy life. On the topic of the thread tho I did some english courses at an young age, was fluent by the age 16

>>104122
>it's impossible to pick up a language just from tv if you know nothing about it.
I don't think so, I learned English almost entirely by myself as a kid back when I still went to preschool, just by watching Cartoon Network. I'd see Cow or Chicken from Cow and Chicken and with repetition I'd learn that Cow was the English word for cow, etc.
It's not ideal, I never learned how to write in English until late elementary when they started teaching us, but it's not impossible.

And I don't think it has to do with your intelligence either, I'm pretty stupid m

>>104179
Macaca ;^)

Love from Portugal <3

>>104179
>>104181
That's true, I forgot to meantion but I watched a lot of friends, they talk very slowly so it's easy to pick up, plus, video games also thought me a lot of the basics. It's not about intelligence, a baby can pick up lenguage in one year, at least we're as smart as babies really

>>104122
oh i did!! i grew up in china & the english lessons were absolutely shit so i took it upon myself to learn thru tv shows and the internet

>it's impossible to pick up a language just from tv if you know nothing about it.

technically you can, i’ve known many people in china who just picked up the language through watching english tv shows, it’s quite common especially if you start at a young age because you pick up linguistics easily at that period of time, it’s especially easy since english isn’t that hard of a language to learn & learning through subtitles is also pretty common where i grew up

>>104176
It's the truth. The way I spent my teens shaped my command of english and my regrets. I apologise for being emotional.

>>104178
I will, but I'm probably not the person you're looking for…

>>104195
>I will, but I'm probably not the person you're looking for…
meaning?

>>104198
Sorry. I best not post in FF. I appreciate the thread for being sympathetic, I apologise if I derailed it.

>>104174
Ah, well. Not sure if it applies to you, but something that got me a little more confidence in social settings was working out and eating better. I was a complete sedentary up until last year. Then in April I bought a rope to try some rope-skipping, then I started doing some bodyweight exercises like squats, lunges, burpees and that improved me a lot. not just my body, but my confidence too. And for 23 years I thought that I didn't like exercise, turns out I just don't like gyms and collective sports.
>>104179
>BR in Crystal Cafe
Many such cases! Where are you from? I'm from RS.
Você conhece o Magalichan?
>>104182
Ó, pá, como é que vais?

>>104203
no problem, hope you can figure things out for yourself

I'm from Europe and we're taught English at school from a young age on. That doesn't necessarily translate to actual fluency, though, since some people around my age struggle with it more than me.
My English improved thanks to spending a lot of time on the internet, browsing forums and the like, and reading books in their original language which is mostly English. But my listening skills are still bad. I can't watch movies without subtitles and have a hard time understanding British accents.

>>104214
How do you feel about thick American accents? I think the ones I'm thinking of specifically are southern with that long drawls that are difficult to understand. Thick Australian accents can be difficult to understand as well. Oh and when people pronounce "my" as "me" that breaks my brain for some reason.

>>104212
you too anon, thank you for your kindness

>>104211
I have finally started going to the gym this year, I found a nice one that doesn't have the usual obnoxious roid-moids slamming their weights on the ground and arguing over machines. It makes me happy but people don't really come there to make friends, sadly.

I also developed something of a skincare obsession, which would've probably helped had I done so before my cheeks were covered with acne scars. Regardless it somewhat fixed my ego, even if my skin isn't so smooth as people I follow around my age, such as keekihime. I don't know how she managed that.

Nutrition I still need to fix. I always fucked up my diets.

I just don't know how to form a social circle. Way back when I tried to join a group of amateur cosplayers but they were not really interested in friendship. Maybe I'm too autistic.

I have always consumed media in english and the fact that I dated an american once (really a mistake) helped.
My native language is spanish and I wonder if there's some spanish speakers here, most of the people from latam I've seen in CC are from Brazil </3.

I had some knowledge of the language that I had acquired in public school, but around 2011 I discovered 4chan, and used Google translate to understand words I didn't understand. My pronunciation is still quite shitty, I used to pronounce "awesome" as Ave (like the Legion in New Vegas) - suhm.

>>103917
> i learned it through watching tv shows
ditto. For me it was Batman TAS and Star Trek TNG

German here, learned it in school + talking to natives on the web. school does help but it can only take you so far imo

>>103917
Another Germanon here. I obviously learned English in school, but never actually used it beyond that.
I think that only changed when I started taking an interest in technology as a young teenager. You learn fast once you start using English for personal, non-academic endeavours.

As a loner brazillian kid, there was nothing I liked more than staying in my room all day watching mtv music videos. They were all subtitled so I started making connections.
When I became a teen I got into fanfiction, so I started reading the english ones that were a lot more interesting, and that's where I started to understand written english and to think in english.
After that it was mainly tv shows and youtube that improved my listening abilities to a point where I could understand >95% spoken english (unless with thick irish/scottish accents).
Speaking is a bit tough for me since i'm shy, and i'm sure i'd get really nervous speaking to a native. So I just keep talking to myself all day.
Now i want to learn a third language but it's way tougher since this time i'll actually be trying and not just passively consuming media.

>>104420
>another Brazilian
Anon, you got some friends here!
>>104179
>>104211

>>104473
Anyways, it was video games and my little pony, both with subtitles. I guess the english classes kinda helped too.

Italian here. I learned the basics in school, and practiced by browsing the internet with a big italian-english dictionary on my knees. I wanted to read fanfiction of my favorite videogame, and roleplay on gaia online, so I ended up getting both reading and writing practice this way.

>>103917
Become persuaded to hate the country and language you were born into while also getting exposed to English media and learning, and you will become a cringey "anglophile" who will never be White at a very young age.

Thanks to this, I have become a much better English writer and speaker than a Spanish one, and so, at this point, I just get myself to live permanently in the English internet since I do not feel like I fit in in the Spanish internet whatsoever.

>>103917
I immigrated to Canada from Russia and although the school system there (or here!) didn't teach me much my mother was an English teacher and tutored me. I didn't speak fluently until I was 15-16.
>>104473
Nyet Sistra

My dad brought me some of those old video classes for English and after that I just did really well in English class, then I started to use the internet and I stuck to the English side of it (specifically YouTube, which also helped a lot because I practiced my oral comprehension)

>>104537
I don't feel like I fit in on the Spanish side of the internet either, but not always. I've tried to stop being an elitist about it but some of my aversion to Spanish-language content and comments is still there. However, I think it balances out with my hatred towards certain parts of the English-language side and of Americans in general.