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<title> English, my English! </title>
So, now the English course has started, and I am about to tell You what I think that I'm bad at and want to improve, and hopefully I will also find some things that I consider myself good at. My skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing are about to be dissected like a frog in science class, or perhaps not that well. 
When it comes to the first (well at least on the assignment sheet) skill, which is listening, I feel that I am a good listener over all, that includes Swedish too. I assume that this kind of listening has very little to do with the listening mentioned in the assignment. That kind of listening - either on the T V or perhaps in a dialogue in which I am included - is for me a bit hard to just say that I am good or bad at. Of course it depends a lot on who is speaking and who that person is addressing. But I feel that I rather easily can follow the plot of a movie that is not provided with subtitles. I usually don't understand every little word that is said, but I understand enough to feel that I am not handicapped by the lack of translation. The conversation part is not exercised that much simply because I don't have to speak English that often in every day life. But when I am on holidays and participate in a conversation with people whose mother tongue is English, I feel that I understand most of the things that are said. But sometimes when it comes to some idiomatic phrases I tend to feel a little lost. Another thing that I feel maybe isn't that good is that I tend to fasten my attention on words that I don't understand, which can result in my getting a bit left behind in the context.
When it comes to the reading part I must say that I think that we had little training in reading novels and poetry in upper secondary school. I don't know if the C-course dealt with these things, since I never had the opportunity to take that course. Of course I can't blame the school system for my reading little of English literature. I'm just not that kind of person who reads a lot, at least I haven't been. Lately I have started reading more, both English and Swedish literature. Maybe it has something to do with maturity. I think that my comprehension is fairly good, I usually get the context even if I don't understand every word. I used to always have a dictionary by my side when I was reading, but now I don't anymore. I think it's too disturbing and makes it harder to follow the story and that my vocabulary doesn't benefit that much.
My speaking skills could be better. Or rather, I could be more self-confident in my speaking. I feel that I am perhaps a bit shy, especially now when I'm on this course. I think that this will be better as soon as we all get to know each other better in the group. I know that I am good at expressing myself fluently, but it's more difficult with the accent. I feel a little ridiculous when I try to speak with a certain accent. It feels like acting rather than speaking.
The writing part is the one in which I feel the most confident. I think that I use a rather fluent language and don't put in unnecessary difficult words. As I have already complained, the English teaching in upper secondary school wasn't very stimulating in many aspects, writing for one. But I have been writing a little one my own since I am writing some music. And as I think it sounds better with lyrics in English, I get some practise there. Of course, my perhaps rather limited (at least in my opinion) vocabulary can be a disadvantage when I write more advanced texts. But I suppose that it is one of the things that I will master after this course.
Before this assignment I hadn't really thought about my skills that much. I have always considered myself to be better at the theoretical parts rather than the practical, much depending on my not being abroad that often and practising the language. But as I have tried to point out I am aware of, at least, some strengths and some weaknesses in my English. The latter I naturally hope will - with some effort - be vanished after this term or at least be decreased. I guess the future will tell...
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