I'm from Ukraine and started reading Hacker News about five years ago. At first, I understood almost nothing. I didn’t use a translator — partly because I was lazy, and partly because I wanted to see how much I could figure out just from context.
So I kept reading. I would see the same words appear in different posts and comments, and slowly, I began to understand their meaning. Sentence structures became clearer, and I started to “feel” the language. Eventually, I stopped being afraid of reading in English altogether.
I didn’t learn from a teacher or a course — just from the internet, and mostly from here.
Now I write posts, share my projects, and even chat with other devs here — all in English. It still feels surreal sometimes.
Have any of you learned English (or another language) in a similar way — just by immersion, without formal study?
Also: thank you, HN. You taught me more than just tech.