At the University, I studied Translation and Interpreting, and I had English as my major and French as the minor (I started French from scratch). So in the first year I had some classes in English with native speaker teachers, but they were more focused on general culture and history rather than on actually teaching the language.
I finished my degree, and did a postgraduate degree in localization (the adaptation of computer software for nonnative environments, especially in other nations and cultures) and I started to work as a freelance translator.
I've been working in this for the last 8 years (apart from also proofreading and translating between Spanish and Catalan).
Reading and translating, reading and translating... Contrary to popular belief, translating is not about communicating (in its interactive meaning); it is about understanding an original text and trying to say the same things or express the same ideas in your own language, and in a natural way.
So what happened after a few years of just reading and translating? My speaking skills got worse and worse. I also forgot a lot of basic, everyday's vocabulary because I just read technical English.
A couple of years ago, at a friend's party, I met a German guy and when I tried to speak to him in English I felt really uncomfortable and a bit embarrassed, especially when I told him that I was a translator! “Yes, I know, it's weird, I'm not really fluent in English, but you know, I just read boring technical manuals all day....” Oh God, it was a disaster! It is true, I do not need any speaking skill to do my job properly, but anyway, for my personal pride it was unacceptable.
Therefore, my first move to change that situation was to spent a month in an English speaking country, such as Ireland.
After spending four weeks there I could not say that I became fluent, but it was a first step towards losing my fear of speaking. It was the first time I had ever lived surrounded by English, and I had to use the language everyday in order to survive there. It was a great and very useful experience.
