Can a foreigner learn to speak English perfectly?

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Reply 20

Cephalus

Original post by danny111

I speak better English than Wayne Rooney. Fact.

Yeah but to be honest, Wayne Rooney isn't even native to this planet :smile:

Reply 21

Doglamlico

Original post by Kecupochren

Hi.
So I am from Slovakia, I learn English since I was 6 (kindergarten) and right know I feel like I could survive in an English speaking country without any troubles. I did IELTS few months ago and I have scored 6.5 on writing (I forgot paragraphs and I was bit off-topic), 7 on both listening and and reading and 8 on speaking. I could definitely improve both writing and listening if I would have to take it again, but there is a thing which bothers me a bit.
As I am going to the Uni next year in the UK and as I probably will stay there and work there, it makes me wonder if as a foreigner I can learn to speak English perfectly, nearly as good as a native speaker. And most of all, if it possible to drop that "Slovakian" accent and catch British one a bit.
Right now, I don't have any troubles understanding texts written in English, same as it is no big deal to watch movies and stuff in English, but... (it may sound silly), when I listen to Eminem for example, I really struggle to understand what he is saying. Of course, slow tracks such as Stan aren't a problem, but Loose Yourself... I just cannot keep up. And I guess only a native speaker can keep up and understand perfectly. All though, is it possible to get on the nearly same level? And if so, how long would such a process take? Is it enough just to live in the UK to improve accent or are some private classes required?
Generally, I think watching movies in English helped me the most with pronounciation, but I still catch myself pronounciating "course" as "curse" and so on. :biggrin:

Thanks

Firstly, no one can make out every word Eminem is saying at full speed, so don't worry at all about that :smile:

I think some private classes may well be necessary for you - if you've been learning since the age of six, but you're still not getting some tenses right, then it implies that you've picked up some bad habits which need correcting - habits which native speakers will not correct you on in everyday life. "if I would have to take it again, but there is a thing which bothers me a bit." These little mistakes will not be completely ironed out for a long long time unless you get some tuition to learn the grammar.

Original post by Cephalus

I disagree. I do not believe that a non native can speak English as well as the natives do.

It can happen. Someone I know didn't start learning English until around 14-15, and I only discovered this a couple of years ago - there is no way anyone could even guess at him not being a native speaker. It does take a huge amount of time and effort, though, especially once you're an adult.

Reply 22

Kecupochren

I see. My grammar is not that good; usually when we have a test in a school, I don't prepare by studying certain topics, I just select whichever answer "sounds the best". As I watch and read nearly everything in English since I was maybe 14 y.o., I most of the time can tell when something is wrong, just because it doesn't sounds correctly. Even in the sentence you've highlighted, I knew that there was something wrong when I was writing it, but as it is not that important to have a proper grammar around here, I just ignored it.

(edited 11 years ago)