[General] I think I'm the most qualified person to talk about this topic.

[Silverobama]

I'm going to give a talk about how to study English in China. I've never studied abroad or traveled abroad. Many people think that my spoken English is good. (I don't think so.) Since they think my spoken English is good and have asked me many times to give a talk about how to speak English. I then will go. One thing I will say at the talk will be the fact that most of you have went to many foreign countries but I have never studied or traveled abroad. So, I think I'm the most qualified person to talk about this topic.

Is my sentence "I think I'm the most qualified person to talk about this topic" natural?

 

[Rover_KE]

Your italicised sentence is fine, but unfortunately your preamble is rambling and repetitive, and 'have went' is ungrammatical.

 

[Tarheel]

I agree with Rover. Also, I don't see how not having traveled abroad makes you the most qualified to talk about that.

 

[Skrej]

While your sentence is fine, it could potentially sound like you're boasting or trying to sound impressive. It's also at odds with your previous statements not thinking you're necessarily the best candidate for the task.

Even if we accept the logic that visiting foreign countries makes one's language stronger (assuming you visit a country where your target language is spoken), then wouldn't that make them more qualified to talk about learning English? I don't necessarily agree with that logic, but that's what it seems to say to me. There's a disconnect between your view about your English ability and your statement about being the most qualified to speak on the subject.

 

[Silverobama]

I was being modest when I said "I don't think so". I know why you don't understand this, Skrej.

My peers did learn English when they were at school but they didn't improve their English. I asked more than 15,000 questions here and elsewhere because I want to speak and use idiomatic and natural English. People I know also learn but they don't have any questions. God knows if they also learn this language from reliable sources.

I was invited to give a talk about how to study without going abroad. The host is a Australian-Chinese and he lived in Australia for more than 20 years. He talked to many people whose English are good before they studied abroad and finally he decided to ask me to give a talk there. I was the second one. The first person was Chris, whose English is good.

I don't know how to explain this because it's such a long story that I can talk about it for a week. To put simply, I will give a talk about how to learn idiomatic English because the host and some members think that my spoken English is good. They're curious why because I've never studied abroad. In my country, we know that we can't always talk to native speakers and we can't access Google freely like you do. However, this guy Silver can speak fluent English and doesn't make noticeable mistakes while others can't say a word or even they speak fluent English, they are speaking Chinglish and using obsolete English words.

Feel free to visit China and join our English club.

 

[slevlife]

Silverobama, your response to Skrej does a much better job at explaining the situation and context. A lot of the nuances you just described were unclear from your initial post here, which is why it came across as rambling and repetitive (Rover_KE), boastful or self-aggrandizing (Skrej), and unsubstantiated in its conclusion (Tarheel). It felt like some of what you were saying didn't have a point, which in hindsight wasn't true. Rather, because your points weren't clearly tied together and you didn't give enough details/context, it didn't guide readers effectively into understanding the intention/relevance/meaning behind the different parts of what you said. Going back and reading it again now that I have more context, I can better understand what you were trying to communicate.

Clear communication is a challenge even for native speakers of course. You are clearly capable of it. Your second message gets your points across in a way I can understand and agree with, and doesn't suffer from any of the original problems others described.

However, it has a new problem. It comes across a bit defensively, with lines like "I know why you don't understand this", "I don't know how to explain this because it's such a long story that I can talk about it for a week", and "Feel free to visit China and join our English club." That last sentence even seems a bit passive aggressive.

The other reason why it seems defensive is because you jump into telling more of your story without first explaining why you are doing so. By the end, it is clear that you are trying to help us understand by giving more context, but that's not obvious up front.

Instead of "I know why you don't understand this, Skrej", I'd recommend something like this: "I was being modest when I said 'I don't think so'. I actually do think I'm pretty good with spoken English, though obviously I have room to improve. But it's clear based on your responses here that I might not have explained things well, so let me try to provide more context below."

Good luck with your talk! It sounds like you will have a lot of advice that will be helpful for your audience.