English Thread

In this thread, we attempt to learn to read, write, and speak English, a language which would be very useful to know. It is widely spoken throughout the world.

Do you speak English? Are you fluent? What resources did you use to learn? Can you give some examples in this thread? Posts some useful links.

Let's help each other out and learn a new language.

Do I understand correctly that "claim to be" is equal to "claim that (somebody who has claimed it) is/are"?

e.g. "Tom claims to be an expert" = "Tom claims that he's an expert".

I'm asking because it's strange for me that you English speakers think that when somebody claims to be something, he/she implies exactly himself/herself, not somebody else.