Foreign language study seems like kind of a scam

[Leucosticte]

Even if you study, say, French for years, native French speakers are still going to tell you that your knowledge of French isn't up to par because you don't know idiomatic French. But French teachers will tell you that you can't really learn idiomatic French in school.

So what's the point, if you gain all that grammar knowledge, but can't apply it because your lack of idioms makes your French seem strange to those who speak it as a mother tongue, to the point where they claim they can't even understand what you're saying, because you're basically translating what are, to them, unfamiliar English constructions into French rather than using these obscure French idioms?

 

[Oxblood]

I need to speak English with a native speaker. Otherwise all my studies are useless. I have lists of words that I learn everyday and I am making progresses but the pronunciation of words available on the Cambridge dictionary online isn’t helping me much.

Most people who study English can’t speak properly and I am one of them.

The next time I will pick a language I will be sure to find a way to use it first.

 

[Leucosticte]

I need to speak English with a native speaker. Otherwise all my studies are useless. I have lists of words that I learn everyday and I am making progresses but the pronunciation of words available on the Cambridge dictionary online isn’t helping me much.

Most people who study English can’t speak properly and I am one of them.

The next time I will pick a language I will be sure to find a way to use it first.

What are you wanting to use spoken English for? Your written English seems fine.

 

[Oxblood]

My sister studied English literature and German language, she is a teacher and can’t speak neither English nor German. It is the way they learn, they can’t speak in a comprehensible way.

When I was in UNI, I had two teachers for the English classroom, one was Italian and she knew grammar perfectly, she was very demanding, asked people to pronounce the words correctly. The other one was a native speaker who told us that no-one cares about your mistakes, and you can keep your accent.

 

[Oxblood]

By the way, studying languages is useful. I have tested a lot of mnemonics techniques, I know different linguistic registers because I used them to fasten the learning process. After all it’s not wasted time if you learn new ways to remember things in the process.

 

[Leucosticte]

By the way, studying languages is useful. I have tested a lot of mnemonics techniques, I know different linguistic registers because I used them to fasten the learning process. After all it’s not wasted time if you learn new ways to remember things in the process.

I had a specific purpose in mind for my language learning, and I wasn't able to fulfill that purpose because I had no way to get my skills up to that level, so from my point of view the time I invested was mostly wasted.