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Language, for me, is a way of communicating with people. It is wonderful to speak and realize that other people understand you. However, when you are in a foreign country, communication begins to be very difficult, above all if you do not know the language. In my opinion it is not easy to learn a language and if you are older you will have a lot more difficulty. Children have fewer difficulties because they are exposed to learning at all moments. They have to learn because they know nothing about life, and they have a great interest in imitating what they hear on.
On the other hand, older people know a lot of things, they have less space in their minds to keep more information. For this reason it is important that adult people help their children to learn another language in their first years. When I am in another country, I feel like a different person. I cannot explain my real feelings. I want to say something but I say a different thing, it is very strange. I am an extroverted person but when I am speaking English I feel embarrassed and shy.
My more outstanding experience with communication has been with English, which is the language I am trying to learn. I was four years old when my parents enrolled me in an English center. In this class we learned only a few words. I today remember the teaching way of the center.
They showed us pieces of papers with picture such as oranges, cars, tables and so on. Under the pictures they wrote the pictures names. I remember my first feeling when I saw the picture of the orange or the picture of the house and others. I could not believe that something so easy for me like narnia (that mean orange) had such a strange sound for me. When I came back to my home I repeated to my parents the new words I had learned in the center: look at me mummy or-an-ge, le-mon. In those years I was very interested in English, I wanted to learn English.
It was easy for me. I liked to go to the center. One day this changed. Still, I do not why. The teachers told my parents that I had good pronunciation in English. They were happy with me.
My parents wished the best for me and for this reason they thought that hiring a private English teacher would be a good idea. I did not want to. I did not realize that English would be important for me in the future. I remember my parents telling me: Patricia, when you want to work in the future, they will ask you to know English. Well, it was very important, but I did not like. I began to hate English; I did not like its pronunciation.
I did not go happy to class. I did not want to go to the class! I told this to my parents but they insisted. They told me that to learn another language was very important. I repeated and repeated the same to my parents and one day they had to desist. I stopped going to the English class but in school I had English too, so it had been difficult for me to get rid of English.
I forgot a lot of words that I had learned in the center and I began to fail the English exams. I managed with difficulty my courses because of English. Now, I think of those times and I wonder to myself why I acted like this and I do not why. One reason may be because of my childish mind; another reason may be because of my teacher. I know this can sound like a typical teenager behavior, to blame the teachers of the school failures, but in my opinion this reflects a big truth, because my thought changed with a new teacher.
My teacher was not a bad person, but her class was so boring and so monotonous that I could not stand it. In my last year of high school this changed. A new teacher came to my class. The English class began to be funny and dynamic. The new teacher showed us English songs, he taught us the English culture and so on. I do not want to say the teacher was easy, because he gave us a lot of work.
He knew my situation with English and he did not accept this or my dislike for the language. He wanted me to learn English. At first I could not stand him, but I do not why, I began to have an interest in English again. My exams changed, I began to pass my English exams with good marks.
I liked English. I had a good time studying the language. I am a person with a big facility to change my mind. This was very good for my grades; however, this was not enough to learn the language. English in high school is not a real English.
When I say real English I mean English that help you in communication. In high school you learn a lot of grammar. It is important to learn the grammar because it give you a great base and acknowledge, however, you can not have a fluent conversation with an English speaker, so in my opinion it is more important to practice conversation, it is the best way to improve the language. In English high school exams you could find questions such as: fill the gaps with these words, change to passive this sentences etc. This was funny for me. It was not difficult to answer the questions and I obtained good marks in the exams.
But the great problem was that I had never spoken with English people. I spoke a bit in class and maybe a few other times. I became aware of this situation and I decided to begin to go to an English center again. In my first year of university I continued studying English more and more. I read English books, I watched English movies and I heard English music. All this was good for me and I realized that I understood the English texts and the magazines better, but it was not enough to learn the language.
One day I decided this situation had to change; I had to learn English completely. The best solution was to do my last year of my major in a foreign country. I told my parents my idea and they decided that it was a great idea, so it was decided, I would go to finish my studies to another country. My advisor in Madrid advised me about Richmond and I liked the university.
A few classmates mine were going to Richmond too. Today I am in Richmond. I saw this moment like something very distant but now, I am here, writing an essay for an English class and remembering all my experiences with English. English, my best friend and my worse dream. Life in London is very difficult. I thought in Spain that in this moment I would have a fluent conversation, but it is not true.
I have improved my English a lot, but not enough. I know that learning a language is a long path. The change has been big because the life in London is very different than the live in Spain. It is a cultural change and a language change. I hope that one day it will change, because I have to stay here for a long time and I need to become accustomed to my new life. Sometimes I feel like Richard Rodriguez.
Sometimes I need to hear a Spanish voice or a Spanish music. Sometimes I see Spanish like a private language and when I am with an English people I feel this person see me like a different person. I suffer when I speak with somebody and I cannot explain my real thought and my real feelings. Sometimes somebody asks me something and if I do not understand the sentence I feel like a stupid.
I notice this person looks at me in a strange way and I even feel like a strange person. I have to say to myself: I am Patricia, I am a Spanish person and I do not know English very well, but this will change, one day I will be able to answer to this person fluently. I need to encourage to myself in order to be not sad and powerless. Other times I need to speak with a person in the same situation as me. Someday I think: I can not with this situation, I am not able to overcome this.
However, another day I think: yes, I can. And with these few words I feel better. I know I will have to repeat the sentence: I can a lot of times but it is worth doing it. Bibliography:
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