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When I was given an assignment to write an essay, in which I'm asked to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses in the English language, it did leave me pondering over the matter a great deal. I haven't thought about my skills in English for many years and now I realize why. It's simply because I haven't practised them enough since I graduated from school which, I might as well add, I did ten years ago. I had at that point spent an additional year in the United States, as a foreign exchange student. Returning to Sweden after my stay there I was more confident than ever about my English skills being good, and for some unexplanatory reason I've kept that confidence throughout the years.
 Going back to school, to study English here in Uppsala, has however brought me rather abruptly back to earth, if not deeper. This first week at school has been the first confrontation with English for a very long time, and I've come to the conclusion that I do have forgotten very much. It's a shame that I've hardly spoken or written anything in English for such a long time, and that I've still expected my English skills to be good. Of course I've been abroad a couple of times which has given me the opportunitiy to have conversations in English, but a short conversation in a foreign language once or twice a year is not enough.
A habit that I do have kept throughout the years is the habit of reading. I've always read a lot, mostly in Swedish but often books in English as well. Even though I usually tend to read "best-sellers", not very heavy literature that is, I consider myself a fairly good reader. It depends on interest, naturally, as it takes me much longer to finish a book I'm not interested in compared to one in which I am. Even "best-sellers" contain a great many words I'm not able to translate into Swedish, and I often have to look them up in a dictionary. More often, however, I don't look them up as you understand the meaning in the context of the text.

I consider my skills in listening to spoken language as good as in written one. As long as the speaker has got an accent to which I'm familiar, I've got no trouble what so ever to follow. I've noticed, however, that I do have a harder time to understand a British accent than an American one. This becomes quite clear to me especially when I'm watching TV. Considering the fact that I've been exposed to the American accent daily for a year in my youth, and additionally watch American Shows on TV in much greater extent than I watch British ones, it does make sense to me.
Talking of accents, I would like to cover my skills of speaking, in the meaning of my own ability to speak English. I remember coming back from the US with a fluency in spoken English I'd never had before. I went proudly back to school, as I still had one more year to attand before graduation, being proud of my improvement in English. The teacher, on the other hand, made it immediately very clear to me that she didn't approve of my American accent. British accent and spelling were all what she accepted, and was therfore on my back all the time. I was very unhappy about this, I still am, because it mixed everything up in a way. I'm still, at this day, confused in the matter. I've noticed, especially when I speak, that I pronounce words different all the time. I try so hard to get a British accent but I always end up speaking with a Swedish-British-American pronounciation which I'm not pleased with. Pronounciation and fluency in speech will be trained daily, among other things, at the University, and I look forward to recieve this training. I've realized that I need it.....

Sitting here, writing the essay on the computer, makes this very moment a hitorical one. In what way, you as a reader might ask. Well, this is actually the first time ever I've written anything in English on the computer. I was introduced to IT rather late in my life, and didn't get the hang of it until a couple of months ago. It's not the computer alone I find a bit awkward, it's also the fact that I haven't written anything in English, especially not an essay, for many, many years. I honestly don't recall the last time I wrote.... anything. But once you get started it's difficult to stop as I don't mind writing at all. In fact I like it very much, and I'm positive about that my writing skills, and the other skills, will be improved during this term. Some things I've forgotten will come back to me, and other things I'll learn. There is no question about it. Or at least I wouldn't like to believe so.
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