montanaro

Actually, I'm not from Russia, I'm from Kyrgyzstan, a country in Central Asia, but as it is a part of the former USSR we speak mainly Russian here. There're no other Kyrgyzs at the college I'm going to study, so there won't be anybody to tell what I miss from my home country, but at last there will always be a topic to discuss for a start (some people get interested when they see where I'm from and start asking questions about Kyrgyzstan. That's on Facebook, I mean).

AspiringInSalem - in fact, the friends I told about in my last post are FLEX finalists. I communicate with about 6 FLEX participants, who lived all over the USA, and their experiences are in general very different from each other. For some of them getting used to the language and culture took nearly no time, but others had many difficulties with growing accustomed to the new way of life. Stories they tell make me aware of many distinctions between my country and the US, they will surely help me to psychologically prepare for life there, but I also understood that the process of adapting to new culture is very personal.

Yes, my school will hold a pre-orientation for internationals, and I'm certainly attending it. For the most part there will be information sessions where we'll be told about our visas and courses and get some necessary documentation filled, but there'll be other events as well. I don't know if my college has a host family program, I'll look it up.

I watched TV (mostly information programs, not shows) and listened to radio in English, I hope it will help me in my studies. But this won't be much effective in communication, the language I hear there is different from the one native speakers normally use. I agree that I'll have to learn more idioms, but I need a good source for that. Most dictionaries give no information whether this idiom is widely used or not. I know that some people got in awkward situations having used obsolete phrases.

Accent? A Canadian I spoke to told me I have "a very good accent". I didn't understand what he meant.

Vladb

Hey, I am from Kazakhstan..we are neighbors

montanaro

Really??? Hey, SALAM! Salem in your variant

atomom

Former ESL teacher here--Through the ESL dept. you might find volunteer American tutors who are studying to be ESL teachers. These tutors can be very helpful for practicing one-on-one conversation, explaining American culture, introducing you to other American friends and attending campus social events, etc. (ESL isn't just about hanging out with other foreigners).

Read newspapers and news magazines. Don't be shy--most Americans are
very helpful and friendly. BTW, your English sounds great!

montanaro

^ thanks!!!
Unfortunately, my future school seems to have no ESL dept. I learned that there are American volunteers at our local university, I will try going there.

elphins

Hi there,

During my first few weeks here, I had the honor meeting Mr. Rogers (the famous kids' show host) and about learning English, he told me to listen to the NEWS radio and try to write it down (which you are doing now)

So, expanding upon his advice, I would say go to itunes U and listen to some of the lectures there. They have hundreds and hundreds of lectures available from many schools. (It's really cool). From there, you can get a feel of how professors talk. Of course, write something down afterward.

For communications part, you will learn it when you get here. . Your roommate might be the best way to start. In my case, I told them to correct me whenever I say something wrongly. They did exactly that.

And to make you feel better, I came to the states knowing very few words (most of them food names) and I can't even write. So, I am sure you will be doing great.

Good luck

randombetch

Watch HOUSE!!!

sup

^Yeeeeeeee

amb3r

Hey montanaro, I don't know how good your English speaking is, but your writing is almost perfect.. it looks very natural. So I wouldn't worry too much.. you probably won't have to learn very much besides slang, idioms, and expressions. You're already well prepared.

lethargytm

Talk with people only in english (who can speak it). Thats what I did when I first arrived at an English speaking country. You're English will improve really fast.

srunni

Keep the accent, it'll get you all the chicks

vicente

I cannot reiterate how important amb3r's advice is.

When you arrive in America, SPEAK ENGLISH. If you only speak your ethnic language with ethnic friends from central Asia and the former USSR, your English will remain terrible.

Before you come, watch American TV and try to find native American English speakers to talk to online. If you don't understand a slang term that they say/write, look it up on urbandictionary.com, as I said. Urbandictionary is a godsend to ESL students. Now, even an eighth grader from Bolivia can find out whether or not he is a "******bag"!

liland

You can google "American idioms" if you want to learn some before you move here. This site seems to have some useful information on idioms and American slang:

American idioms - [Idiom] Learn American idioms

Montanaro, When I mentioned meeting other international students, I didn't necessarily mean those from your own country. My daughter went to high school in a small European country and while her friends from India, Sweden, Mexico, Korea, or Japan may not relate to a specific item that she misses, they can immediately relate to the concept of "missing" certain things in a different way than her American friends. Not that she's always complaining (she's very happy!), but I know that there are times when she misses her life and friends in Europe and it helps to be able to talk with someone who isn't American about her feelings. I think that the best situation is to have a mixture of friends, both international and American.

montanaro

Vicente - thanks for UrbanDictionary.com, it's an awesome source of English slang/idioms. Learning (or just reading) them is so much fun! It's a pity I can't memorize them all. BTW, I notice that now and then I fit an idea I want to express to the word I want to use, not vice versa. Some words just pop up in my mind and I insert them into my speech even if they are somehow irrelevant. Weird

I already found that communicating with internationals has many pluses. At this stage, I seem to have nothing but future college in common with my American classmates-to-be. My conversation with them usually ends after we've discussed how I found out about the school and how much we love it. It's all very different with internationals. We've same concerns (visa, transportation, adaptation, etc.) and same problems. That unites. I feel that my first friends in the US will be internationals. (But that doesn't mean I'm going to restrict my contacts to intls) We speak only English among us, btw.

Amb3r - thanks for appreciation it's very encouraging and gives an incentive to work harder.

mr_chipset

If you have a good vocabulary, nice writing skills (which I think you have) and you're young (<30 years of age) you'll pick up listening language in no time.
Coming from a guy who immigrated to US 4.5 years ago from non-English country with some knowledge of English.