<p>watch FRIENDS without subtitles - helped me get an actual accent :p</p>
<p>guys!!! this is a good thread. Thanks to all of you who have postedd ur suggestions and opinions here…</p>
<p>yeah!!! as someone posted earlier, we must be able to laugh at our own mistakes to succeed. take positive criticisms and suggestions amiably and try to make good use of them…Ask professors how to improve your writing and work with your frens to attain the accent and local terms (i forgot the precise word!!!)…and if any of ur frens make fun of you or humilate you, just tell them to get lost. There r lots of those kinds…you don’t need frens who do not appreciate u for what u are. </p>
<p>Have confidence, u’ll succeed!!!</p>
<p>Many thanks to everyone who replied!!! Now I really feel less worried. All posts were very helpful and supportive and gave me some fresh ideas how to improve my English (I’ve signed up at dictionary.com and found some American newspapers’ sites) and how to behave at college. I also looked up how my future school helps with English, it appeared to have a special center where it is possible to prepare written assignments with a qualified advisor. By the way, as I understood there will be very few people who speak my language, so there won’t be a community big enough to permanently stick to, which is beneficial to my language skills.</p>
<p>Liland - Thanks for this great post. In fact, I want to improve both my Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and my Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). As for the first point, I have a problem with spoken English. While speaking, I first form an idea in my mother tongue (Russian), translate it into English and only then speak. This makes my speech rather slow and I sometimes have difficulty recalling some words (sometimes even elementary ones) quickly. And, besides, while looking through this forum I became aware that there are so many everyday words/phrases I don’t understand. I know I simply need more practice, but I have no opportunity to do this at the moment. My writing is more or less good because I have the time to think and to look up something in a dictionary if necessary, and this makes the difference.
As for academic language - I was taught in Russian for 11 years and I don’t know all those necessary terms that natives know well, so I’m afraid my academic performance will be far from good, at least in the beginning. </p>
<p>Oh, and about lectures. Because of very low Internet speed that I have I can’t watch them. In one book I found a suggestion to record a lecture and then listen to it as much as needed to understand it. I think I’m going to resort to this. 
Do you think this will help?</p>
<p>Again, thanks to everyone!</p>
<p>lol!! it’s kinda funny, but I had the same worry last year… i could read and write quiet well in English, but my speaking was terrible… </p>
<p>At the end, I traveled to Germany (took a gap year!), and without notice, my speaking has improved a lot (cuz I don’t speak German)… so yeah now people even say I don’t have any accent, which I know it’s not true, but anyways… it seems that after speaking for about 5 days only english, my mind was in english also… now I even dream in English… haha
I bet once u get to the states, u’ll manage ur english quite well =D
Good luck!</p>
<p>See if your college offers a conversation partner program, where you can practice speaking with a volunteer who is fluent in english.</p>
<p>A couple of my friends who went to the US said that after 2-3 months you get so used to speaking and listening to English that you even think in it. Now, after 8 months in the US they say it’s easier for them to express themselves in English. I couldn’t believe them at first. </p>
<p>Well, I decided to look more accurately for more movies in English (it’s so difficult to find them here!). And, when filling out my housing form I asked for a double room and a native-English-speaker roommate. Perhaps it won’t be very helpful since some students who live together barely speak to each other, but… well, this is just what I did</p>
<p>I don’t know where you are from, but many cities have a club where people who want to speak english get together with American or UK expatriates (Americans or Englishmen living in a foreign country). In Shanghai, for example, they’ve met in a park on one day of the week for years. Ask around. Look for American expat clubs in your city and ask them. Lots of times expats are glad to help you because you can help them with your native language, too.</p>
<p>Friends are the very best way to learn. There’s nothing like the back and forth of conversation to help you learn spoken language.</p>
<p>your friends are right. Your English (writing/speaking/listening) will improve after 3 months.</p>
<p>Would you be interested in making contact with young Russians in your area who spent a year as high school exchange students in the USA? The Freedom Support Act / Future Leaders Exchange has sent thousands of Russians to the US on a scholarship program over the past 15 years. Many of them have joined alumni associations after they returned to Russia. I have worked with some of these students here in the US. Most of them want to maintain their English and share information about their experiences, once they return home. There likely are at least a few alumni in your area. The American Councils for International Education may be able to help you locate local alumni (you might know of them as ACCELS)- [Index</a> | American Councils for International Education](<a href=“http://www.americancouncils.org/]Index”>http://www.americancouncils.org/) The students who are currently here in the US will be returning to Russia within the next several weeks, and probably would love to talk with you!</p>
<p>As an immigrant who came to U.S at age 14
I advise you to do the following
Don’t go to ESL unless you want to be awarded a cookie every time you spell “cat” right.
You will learn English in a very rapid pace. I tried to remember 20 words per day, and I succeeded! Read books while doing your vocabulary. I recommend hardcore Russian novels for starters. If you can get 500 pages through, then you will be pretty much settled for your college book reading. One of my friend, whom came to U.S to do the master in AI, spent nights after nights reading textbooks. Believe me, it is painful. You will take 5 times the amount of time reading textbook compare to an average American. So, good luck with English, After 2 years, your English will be very fluent. But again, it depends. If you from Europe or south America, kudos for you. You will pick up English so easy that you will not even put any efforts to it. If you are asian, especially east Asians(Chinese, Koreans,Japanese) then English will take a hell lot amount of time to learn. Determination is the key.
Watch television and talk to American people. American people are really impatient with foreigners and they always have these weird questions such as:“OMG, do you eat dog in china?” “Are you a ninjia in japan?” or “Are you doing arrange marriage in India?” Americans are very friendly despite their obvious cultural bias. But some immature americans can be very hardcore. They just hate everything foreign. Watch out when you see someone force you to pray at dinner.
Also, as for language, americans have tons of slangs such as What’s up! You answer: Not much or what’s up back. Don’t take it seriously. I had serious problems with slang years ago, I remembered i said:" How do you do?" instead of “how are you?” to like everyone. LOLOLOL So awkward.
Integration is a two part processes. You certainly need to be integrated linguistically, but also culturally. You will soon find that culture is the biggest barrier to your learning experiences. America is not mere McDonalds and pretty women with minskirts. To comprehend what Americans are saying, you better read American history and get a basic grasp on American politics/constitutional principle. Without knowledges of American history and politics, you will be like the rest of the international students, stuck in their dorms and enclosed in their little study circles. Oh by the way, sport is also important. Understand NFL and crap like that. I hate sport. 
But don’t be like me. lol</p>
<p>Montanaro, Yes, it would be a very good idea to record your professors’ lectures (at least in the beginning) so that you can listen to them later and ask your friends to explain any parts that you don’t understand. So that you don’t waste a lot of time, the main thing is to try to determine the important information in each lecture, something that we can usually do without any problem when it is our native language, but it becomes more difficult when we’re listening to a second language. Remember to try to focus on the main ideas and don’t get overwhelmed by trying to understand all of the words. The same thing goes for reading textbooks.</p>
<p>Even though you’ll probably be very tired at first because it is a challenge to be immersed in another language all day, please remember that the people who admitted you to your college have confidence in you. Also, you have a unique point of view because of your experiences in Russia, so you will enrich the lives of the American students who take the time to get to know you!</p>
<p>If your university offers a special orientation for international students, I would highly recommend that you go to it. You will learn about the services that are offered as well as meet other international students. From your other posts, I realize that your goal is to interact with American students, but I think that you’ll want to have some friends who understand when you tell them that you miss …(you fill in the blank) from Russia.</p>
<p>To everyone residing in the United States - this post is a good opportunity for me to ask that any students and parents reading this thread think about inviting an international student to their home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Many of the international students stay in their dorms and watch all (or at least most) of their American friends leave for the long weekend. </p>
<p>For the past three years, we’ve invited international students to our house and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I would highly recommend it!</p>
<p>Montanaro- </p>
<p>Your biggest concern should be American slang/idioms. They show up a lot, so bear that in mind. We also like to contract our verbs a a lot, but looking through your posts, it seems that you’ve got that down pretty well. But yeah, just beware of idioms. Once you’ve got those mastered, you’ll sound much better. </p>
<p>About intolerance, you’ll find a few people here and there who will call you a Soviet or a communist or something like that. It depends, though.</p>
<p>Right. Personally, I don’t think there is much racism in the United States-certainly there is some, but much of it is done in jest and sarcasm which often doesn’t make itself realized through the language filter.</p>
<p>Montarano, do you know if your school has a get away or host family that can take you out on week end if you want and let you stay at their house during break?</p>
<p>Just read a bunch of books. It helps.</p>
<p>When in America, make friends with Americans. Don’t stick to people from your home country, otherwise your English will stay crappy.</p>
<p>Visit [Urban</a> Dictionary: Define Your World](<a href=“http://www.urbandictionary.com%5DUrban”>http://www.urbandictionary.com) every time you come across a word you don’t see in the dictionary.</p>
<p>So I find that non-natives have less issues with writing and more issues with day-to-day. As silly as it sounds, watch tons of TV. That will make you be able to understand what’s being said. </p>
<p>The hardest part is usually the talking part - and the only way to make that better is by talking! Don’t be afraid of how you sound, just talk to everyone! Confidence + accent = hot, so people aren’t going to care. They’ll have trouble understanding you sometimes. It’ll be OK =D</p>
<p>Yes, don’t worry about having an accent, just talk!</p>
<p>If people don’t understand your question, don’t keep repeating the same question. Ask a different question instead. Your English will improve faster if you live on campus and your roommate is not international.</p>