I've been busy all week with work, so I couldn't have time to post Journaly this week.
It's tough for me to write an essay of about 200 words in English. But since I would have liked to do some practice describing something in English, I sometimes tried to compose sentences that describe the situation around me. After I tried that for several times, I recognized my bad habit.
When I'm talking, I have a tendency to decide a verb lastly. In fact, I think about what verb I should use while talking. It might be strange for native English speakers, but it's possible for Japanese because it's natural to put a verb at the end of a Japanese sentence. For example, when a guy has his bag in the train, I can say, "彼は電車でバッグを持っています." As I translate this sentence without rearranging the word order, it's "He in the train his bag has." The verb is last. So I think this Japanese feature has been growing my bad habit. Honestly, it's very intriguing, but I should correct it.
As my first step, I try to reinforce my verb vocabulary via langeek.co.
If you know any effective way, I'll appreciate it if you could tell me.
I studied Japanese in college, and always found it so difficult to have the verb at the end of the sentence. I always thought "I have all these nouns and particles, but I still don't know what they did!" I am not sure because I have never successfully learned another language, but I bet the change in mindset will come naturally with time :)
Verbs come at the end in my native language, too. I think you should listen to lots of easy English stories or whatever makes you hear basic English structures. (Of course, without translating into Japanese in your head.) This way, you'll get used to English sentence structure and also think in English.
Title: My Bad Habit When Speaking English
Hi! Makoto! I'm guessing you're using your cellphone instead of your laptop because you misspelled a very simple word in the title. It might be troublesome to implement corrections using your cellphone, but I highly recommend doing so. The best material, in my opinion, is what you wrote on your own, and you can benefit from them by reviewing after implementing corrections.
I've just explained in the comments section of this post how I go over posts. I'm struggling with English sentence structure just like you, and I'm making progress.
Thank you, everyone. I'm glad to hear that you had a similar experience. I agree that, eventually, all I need is time. Your advice is helpful, and I continue to study English.
Buy the way, I made a terrible spelling mistake in the title... I'll keep in mind that I should check the title before publishing.