English as a Second Language

[LilStar]

Ohhh, i like this thread!!

I'm a french speaker, from Quebec Canada:blush-anim-cl:

So, i speak french at home, in classes, at work... the only place i "speak" english is on the internet!!

I learned in school, but also ALOT on here!!!! its really a great practise to speak english everyday online with friends!!! And i watch alot of english TV too:biggrin2:

My family barely speak english, like my friends, so i never get to practise it. My accent must be terrible:naughty:

But yeah, places like this really help me, especially with the expressions!! I'm learning so much!!

[natacha]

:

Ohhh, i like this thread!!

I'm a french speaker, from Quebec Canada:blush-anim-cl:

So, i speak french at home, in classes, at work... the only place i "speak" english is on the internet!!

I learned in school, but also ALOT on here!!!! its really a great practise to speak english everyday online with friends!!! And i watch alot of english TV too:biggrin2:

My family barely speak english, like my friends, so i never get to practise it. My accent must be terrible:naughty:

But yeah, places like this really help me, especially with the expressions!! I'm learning so much!!

 

same here, im portuguese, so i learned in school too but i always loved~english so i started to watch movies and that kind of things, and its amazing when you sow a interview with mika and you can understand what he´s saying , i think that the english classes are not enough, we have to watch movies and listen to music and everything will be easier:thumb_yello:, i know that im not a pro yet, but im still learning , so i´m trying my best, speak in english here and with other people around the world helps a lot

the first thing i learned was the slangs, mika helped with that :teehee:

[atreyu]

hi!

I´m form Venezuela, so my native language is spanish. In my country, by law all schools have to teach englis..so I started to study when I was 4 until I was 17, when I graduated

I keep reading books, watching movies and reading things on internet in english so I won´t lose the hang of it. But I have always been terrible with spelling, even in my own language I make horrible spelling mistakes

Now at the university I´m trying, TRYING to learn japanese

Edited September 4, 2010 by atreyu

[Yuna]

I'm Korean and I studied English more than 10 years in School..and my English is just crap. If I make some excuses for this , , my mother tongue is Korean of course, and Korean is far different from English. the alphabets, word orders, grammer....everything is so much different. on the other hands , Japanese is a lot similar to Korean (not the alphabet though but the word orders and grammer) so Korean ppl can learn Japanese with ease, especially compare to learning English

before MFC, I had to study English from boring textbooks and its kinda 'dead English' for sure. After MFC, I learn readings from Mika's paper interview.. learn listening from Mika's video / audio interview.. its an amazing way to learn English cuz his english never bores me or never make me doze off while study something

well thank you MFC for lettin me learn 'alive English' . spoken English and textbook english are different a lot.... especially for Korean ppl

[coolcat]

So tell me - if English is not your first language, how did you learn it? How old were you when you began learning English? Are you still taking classes to improve your English? What's your native language? And, do your parents/brothers/sisters speak English?

 

I started learing English in kinder garden. They made this special class for little children. And then I continued learning it in school (since 3rd grade). I'm still in school, so I'm still learning, and I think I'm good at languages. English is my favorite lesson in school. My native is latvian and I love that, because it's a small language. (Because most of big language speakers don't usually learn other languages, because others know them. But I know a small language, because it's my native language!) My step dad knows a little English. My mom knows even less. I'm the only one in my family. I sometimes even think English, because I have a feeling my mom knows what I'm thinking, even though it's impossible and not true.

[Isuzusan]

I'm french and I started learn English at the very end of the primary school (so I was something like... 9 years old)... And it turned out that I reaaally loved English .

So I continued to learn it in secondary school, and then in High school... and now I still have English lesson because speaking English is very useful for my future job.

But even if I can understand and express myself in English now, I still need a dictionnary by my side, and a loong time to think about what I'll write lol

 

My family speaks English... They all have had english lesson (excepted my little sister who is only 11 and just began to learn english) and they speak enough English to get by^^

[Lee-Ann]

I'm from Germany and we learn english in school since year 3 in primary school. But just simple sentences and words.

In the following forms our educational system attaches great importance to english. (Basically on grammar school). So I have great basics. But due to MFC, Youtube etc. I improve my english a lot and I learn some colloquial expressions which I wouldn't learn in school.

 

My family speaks english, but my parents haven't the possibilty to use it, so they aren't well practiced. My little brother is year 6, he learns the basics now.

[DEMI94]

My first language is Dutch, but in Holland it's normal to speak English, and German/French as well. I am also learning Spanish.

I started with English class at school when I was like 10? But at that age I could speak English already a bit.

And I still have English, am now 15, and I will have three more years English before I graduate. And then also exams for French and Spanish. I always hated German

 

For a small country as the Netherlands, it's just normal to speak two or three languages.

[mikita]

Well, actually English is my third language, not my second one but anyway, it may go up places.

My mother is German and my father Spaniard, I live in Spain, so these are my first languages. I'm also improving my French, I love learning languages!

Demi, I also was in Holland I understood a bit of Dutch, but it's impossible for me to speak it!

I only studied English at school (since I was 10 or 11) and university but I use to read and watch films in English. Spanish schools should improve their English teaching methods!!

[DEMI94]

Well, actually English is my third language, not my second one but anyway, it may go up places.

My mother is German and my father Spaniard, I live in Spain, so these are my first languages. I'm also improving my French, I love learning languages!

Demi, I also was in Holland I understood a bit of Dutch, but it's impossible for me to speak it!

I only studied English at school (since I was 10 or 11) and university but I use to read and watch films in English. Spanish schools should improve their English teaching methods!!

 

Dutch seems to be grammatical one of the hardest languages of the western lands. Even dutchies can have trouble with it.

[ilseh1983]

well i'm Belgian and speak Dutch as a first language.

I started to learn english in high school when i was 12-13. (am 27 now btw )

Don't follow any more classes, (though it might help )

i do often read books in English just to keep my english good enough and being on this forum helps alot too

[Kurakaakao]

Well, I'm from Finland and my native language is Finnish. I started learning English in the third grade, I was nine years old then, so it's have been five years now. Well, our second grade teacher told us how to say "My name is ---" and "---'s pen" etc. I didn't really understand it, I just repeated after the teacher. X)

 

English feels kinda easy for me. Well, I'm not so good in it, but I think I can make my thoughts into somehow understandable sentences. Sometimes I read books in English. Harder part is to translate things that I understand perfectly sound sensible in Finnish too. 8D Luckily I must to do it only in school. But spelling is the hardest thing - I'm really bad in it. Sometimes I feel so stupid when I'm listening to myself... Well, I'm trying my best and there's always someone whom spelling is even worse. X)

 

Edit: Hmmm, my other languages that I'm studying in school are Swedish (for two years now in junior high school) and French (less than one month 8D). I'm not good in Swedish - I don't like that language so much and it's somehow stupid that we must to study it, even if it's not really used the area where we live. And nowhere so much, even there are kind of a lot Finnish Swedish people in some cities - but they can always speak Finnish too, sooooo... French has just sarted, I can say my age and name and simple things like that. :''3

Edited September 10, 2010 by Kurakaakao

[NatalijaS]

I am Croatian, so my native language is Croatian. It seems like I know basic English since I can remember. I had my English lessons both in my primary and high school, altogether 9 years. But what really helped me are Internet and TV.

I am still improving my English tho!

My third language is supposed to be German, I also studied it for 9 years, but speak it very poorly! German is hard, and I had boring teachers so I guess that's why I didn't like it.

My wish is to learn French! I know already how to count till 10 and some basic greetings and phrases!

My parents are not so good at English, but my mom understand quite enough. My brother is very good at it I guess, and my little sister has just started, but is good for now!

For now; i am taking youtube lessons on French

[lollipop_monkey]

Nice to see this thread bumped.

 

I love hearing that TV and the internet help so many people with their English. And people say TV is a waste of time.