>>>>I wish to my problem about accent. But I'm not sure. My problem about practice. I can fair read and difficulty write but I can't speak. I can undestand a lot of things when I watch TV but when I speak... :(
>>>
>>>That seems to be quite common with learning a foreign language. When I was stationed in Germany I knew several American soldiers who could understand German reasonably well but who could hardly speak at all. I also knew serveral Germans who understood English but couldn't speak it.
>>
>>Just like there are Americans who understand English but can't speak the language? :-)
>
>Indeed.
>
>Of course, there are also those of us who, regardless of our ability to speak English, understand it reasonably well but still need subtitles to understand The English.

You mean in British films, like "The Long Good Friday", "Snatch" et al? I can understand that, as they tend to use a lot of London argot, although they do tend to use the whole rhymning slang expressions (which doesn't happen in reality) for their uninitiated audiences, e.g "Aplles" for stairs - apples and pears.

The thing I don't get is that WE can understand all US dialogue, be it Bronx, Texan, southern drawl, Cajun English, Louisiana, African American "street" talk, etc. yet Americans have trouble with ours. Is it because ours is so diverse in comparison, or maybe there've been SO many US films and TV progs, since movies and TV began, that make it over here, compared with vice versa, that we're used to all the US accents.

BTW, it's not just "The English" - how about the Jocks (Scots), esp. Glaswegians? And if you have trouble with cockneys, you've NO chance with geordies (those from Newcastle and the NE of England) - they seem to speak another language, with lots of romany and viking words thrown in, and the weirdest accent and sing-song intonation: "I'm gannin yam" = "I'm going home", "yer ahh" = "you know", "a barry yag" = "a good fire", "raj dyoogle" = "mad dog".

:-)