<doc.id=1008.a1>
<title> English, my English! </title>
I have studied English for nine years now. That is almost exactly half my life. When you put it that way it seems like a very long time. What have I been taught, or rather, what have I learned during this period of time? I will try to answer that in this essay. The teachers have varied a lot, concerning experience as well as competence in teaching and personal qualities. I consider myself as a rather independent pupil, I am a quick learner and therefore I do not depend too much on the teacher's capacity, which I think have been an advantage considering some of the teachers...

Today I find my English somewhere in the middle of "the ladder of language skills". I have left the beginner's stage with a comfortably margin but I still have a long way to climb before reaching the top. 

The passive knowledge of a language is often the easiest to obtain and if you live in Sweden today you get constant training in understanding English, written and spoken, because you are surrounded by it in your everyday life through media. 

During my time in school, especially in the upper secondary school, I have read several English novels. To take part of literature written in the language in question is, without doubt, one of the most efficient ways to learn it. Therefore I think my ability to read English is not a lot worse than my ability to read Swedish. When it comes to understanding spoken English I think I am quite good there too. Of course there are always words you do not understand, and sometimes the person's accent makes it difficult to catch every single word, but usually I understand the speech, or whatever it is, on the whole. 

When it comes to the active knowledge in English, speaking and writing, it becomes more difficult. It is often here you "separate the wheat from the chaff". In order to learn writing, and especially speaking, one of the most important things is training. You get opportunities in school, but I think the most valuable training takes place outside of school. If you go to an English-speaking country you are more or less forced to put your theoretical knowledge of English into practice. Unfortunately I have never had the chance to visit an English-speaking country so I think my weakness, when it comes to English, is the part of speaking. I manage, but I do not feel totally relaxed speaking English and I cannot express myself as fluently as I would wish. 

In my case, writing English has always been easier than speaking. I have never had any problems with spelling, neither concerning Swedish nor English. I do not know if that quality is inherited or if it is due to the fact that I, since the age of four, have read a lot of books, and that way drilled the spelling of words into my head. Grammar is also something that becomes more important in writing. If there are grammatical mistakes in your speaking it is not certain that anybody notices them, but in a written text it gets very obvious. Since I have studied German I am well into the fact that grammar is very important, while a grammatical mistake in German can be disastrous. The English grammar is not as complicated as the German and it is also easier because of the frequency of English in media. If you hear English a lot your grammar improves as well. You become more like native English-speakers and are consequently able to "hear" if something sounds wrong. 

When I write an essay, for example, I have time to think about grammar, the meanings of the words and which expression that is the most appropriate in a situation. This time for reflections is another reason why I think writing is easier than speaking.

In conclusion I would like to say that I think I have the basic theoretical knowledge of English. My aim with this course is to develop and improve the four skills; listening, reading, writing and speaking. Concerning the three first mentioned I believe I am at the upper part of the ladder but when it comes to speaking I think I have quite a long way to go before reaching the top. I just hope that the ladder does not overturn and that I will stick to my aim and not fall down, because that may hurt a lot.
</doc>