Ask HN: I’m already fluent in English. How can I improve further?

For speaking and listening watch and re-watch seasons 3-10 of the Simpsons, very wonderful, dense humor. Try to make sure you get all the little off-hand comments and subtle jokes

There is a lot of variation among native English speakers. The only thing that sounds non native in what you wrote was “if you spot out anything”. I would always expect “if you spot anything”. But the fact that other posters picked up on different things suggests this could be regional variation (I’m in the UK). I know people who have lived and worked here for a decade and still feel they perform worse in a job interview in English rather than their native language due to the extra cognitive load. On the other hand, my partner has lived here about 10 years since she was a student and finds many things (e.g. work stuff) she can express more easily in English while other things (how she’s feeling) in her native tongue.

I speculate that you get better when you are pushing past your limit, whereas comfortable practice stops you from regressing. For example, being in a situation where you are too tired to speak English but you have no choice. Also, you could try more challenging forms of text such as poetry or older English literature. While I doubt you have need to speak like Shakespeare, forming a bit of fluency with 16th century English may prime your mind to be more aware of the subtle differences you hear in modern English. Anyway, just speculation so take with a pinch of salt!

I am going to suggest you watch a few episodes of 'Only Fools and Horses'. It's an 80s sitcom set in Peckham, South London. The show is practically considered a national treasure in the UK and most people who grew up in the UK are very familiar with it.

The reason I suggest it is that it showcases a very particular dialect of British English that many people struggle with (even native English speakers) if they aren't familiar with it. The show was so popular in fact that many modern colloquial British English phrases/words can trace their appearance to this show, not because the show invented them, but because the show exposed so many people to this dialect.

Some examples of words/phrases popularised by OFAH: dipstick, wally, cushty, lovely jubbly.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/onlyfools/lingo/ for more.

If you want to master modern British English, check it out. It's also hilariously funny.

As a French, half of the questions were about french words, which seem fancy and very formal in english, but very basic in french ;) Couldn't make the other half :D

You don’t need to know the actual meaning, but you do need the context in which it appears. If your coworker puts a new acronym in a code comment it’s likely not a vulgar definition, for example.