Why Can’t I Speak With My Fellow Native Speakers in English Fluently?

By Robby

If you are new here please read this first.

Have you ever found that you can’t speak normal, fluent English with people who speak your own language?

It may sound weird at first, but it happens more often than you may think ❗

The reason why I’m touching upon this phenomenon is the following comments I received on YouTube recently:

Cant' speak with my own language speakers in English

Well, I have written about the inability to speak with certain people in English.

I’ve also looked at various reasons as to why it might be easier to speak in English with native English speakers and why sometimes you’ll actually find that other foreigners provide better conversation partners than native English speakers.

I haven’t, however, looked at this specific situation yet when a foreign English speaker being otherwise quite fluent becomes too self-conscious and finds it hard to say the simplest things in English to someone who speaks their language – hence the video above which you’re welcome to watch and post your comments below!

Regards,

Robby 😉

P.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out the English Harmony System HERE!

Robby Kukurs

Thanks for the comment!

There’s only one reason you’re experiencing the said problems – the content you’re reading is a tad too difficult for your current level of English.

Make no mistake – I’m not being condescending or anything – personally I wouldn’t read a lot of literature just because it’s too difficult for my brain to process.

You’re having a unique issue, however, simply because you have to read this particular kind of literature for your work, so the only thing I can advise is to keep reading.

If it’s something you absolutely MUST do, there are no shortcuts – keep going the way you’re going by trying to infer meaning unknown words from the context as much possible plus using a dictionary whenever you absolutely have to resort to it.

Yes, it’s tough, but it’s the only way you can ever achieve reading fluency with the said pieces of literature!

Regards,

Robby
Subho

Hi Robby! Interesting video! I’ve read quite a few of your articles and found them unconventional and useful. Your words are always powerful and inspirational. I’m not too concerned with my spoken skills though, but the problem I’m struggling with is regarding reading.

As part of my work, I need to study a lot of English books. I come across too many new English words and soon get exhausted. I’ve read your articles about ‘reading-fluency’ and ‘reading with limited vocabulary’. But while it is easier (for me) to work out meanings from context in case of easy fiction, the same, I find harder in case of non-fiction, old literature – basically reading and grasping ‘abstract concepts’ as opposed to concrete ideas, which I can’t ignore – I must read them. Even dictionaries sometimes fail to help!

Also, I’ve noticed that when I read in my native tongue, I retain much more than I do after reading something in English – which is indeed another big problem, because what’s the point of reading something if its merits don’t stay in my brain?! I hope you can understand what I’m going through and am hopeful of getting your valuable advices. Thanks in advance!