I was thinking about how many people from different countries there are around here, and most have a prety good English. So how did you learn the language?

I left Spain when I was 18 and went to the UK, just because I wanted to experience something new. I left the UK just a few weeks ago after spending 7 years there. I never studied the language, but I learnt by using it in my everyday life (working, studying my degree and socialising).

How about you?

Uh mainly by watching movies, learning dvd's (mickey mouse english learning lol) as well as speaking it at home, picked it up fairly easily.

(Moved to a non english native country when I was 3 so I think it sort of counts)

I learned the basics (structures and things like that) at school, and most of my vocabulary comes from videogames. I used to play with a dictionary by my side. Then I took a year of conversation classes because even though I could read and write, I couldn't speak very well.

i went like 3 yrs to institutes, i've expanded my vocabulary by interacting with people on forums and such, but my speaking skills are not very good. overall i'd say my english is an intermediate level.

Seeing Mohasus's post I just remembered how much I learnt with videogames! I loved point-and-click adventure games in my early teens and I sometimes played the games in English, also with a dictionary next to me and with subtitles. In order to beat those games you need to know what's going on and there is a lot of repetition in sentences, etc., so I learnt a lot like that.

I start taking English classes when I was 14, and I keep practicing with movies, video games, etc. I went to the U.S a couple of times to also improve my vocabulary and I always play video games and movies in English to practice (even if there is the option to change the language to Spanish, which is my native language)

You made me laugh. I remember the good old days when I did the same with my rpgs!!
Gaming has helped me to engross my vocabulary and keep my english as sharp as possible along the years, (the same with series and movies, of course), but the truth is I hardly speak it anymore and I hate that fact because I love doing it.

I learnt english in an institute. I started when I was 10 years old and did about 7 years there.

I have never taken English courses. I learnt it with videogames and TV shows. Maybe some films too. Due to this I am very bad at basics but I have a good vocabulary.

TMNT and power rangers.

What if your own language is English and there's no extra language classes in school that you really care about? (I know 3-ish so I don't mean me, but my extra option in school was French, which I really don't care to learn...)