<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I've been living in Canada for 10 years. I came here when I was in grade three. I can communicate well, or at least express myself clearly and fully, via written forms of communication like email, but I can't do that in person or via telephone; my oral communication ability is lacking.</p>
<p>Many natives often tell me that, in writing, I give off an impression that I'm a fluent speaker of English; in person, however, some even ask me if I'm new to Canada. It's not that I have a weird accent or anything. It's probably because, in oral communications, people expect others to talk off the cuff, usually taking no more than 5~10 seconds to respond. If you take more time than that in oral communication, you'll often, but not always, look unnatural and strange. Because of that, to avoid awkwardness and embarrassment, I'm usually forced to express myself in 5~10 seconds by using simple sentences which never convey myself fully and clearly. And, my saying mostly simple sentences gives others an impression that I'm a beginner of the English language and that I'm unable to formulate complex sentences.</p>
<p>Why my written English is far superior to my oral English is that I usually have infinite time to say, edit, and add what I want to say, while trying to minimize any mistakes in grammar, word choice, and many other things that might interfere with listeners' understanding. </p>
<p>One of the reasons that contributes to this problem would be that I can't think in English. It's faster and more comfortable to think in my native language, and, usually, I even have do a direct translation between my native language and English. It amazes me when I see non-natives speak and communicate really well to fully express themselves just as native English speakers do. I really envy those people. What could be the secret, with the exception of just being born in an English-speaking country?</p>
<p>Thank you for reading.</p>
<p>P.S: Sorry for such a not-so-short post, but I don't want to try to modify or condense it anymore, because I already spent 40 minutes on this. (I usually don't have this much free time. I could do this only because tomorrow is Saturday)</p>