<doc.id=1063.a1>
I can speak three different languages; I know how to read a fourth. So I dare say that I know what I'm talking about when I say that English is my favourite language. It may sound as some brown nose kind of thing to say, but I really do mean it.
Unfortunately that doesn't say much about what my English is like, does it? I thought I'd just divide this essay and give each part of the language some attention, beginning with nouns... nah, just joking.

I thought that I should start with the most important part of language usage: Listening. I might as well say it now, 'cause sooner or later you're bound to find out... I never understand each word of what a person says. I look at the body language, try to listen, providing the other person seems to have chosen an interesting topic, pick up some of the words, make a short summary in my head... and then I make an educated guess to fill the gaps where the other person's fancy words confused me. If I'm lucky, I get it right.
If the person that listens to me gets me right s/he can consider her/himself lucky. To me, listening is much easier than talking.

My first words were not something as used and worn out like "I love you" or the one-syllable word beginning with an "F". If I remember things correctly it was an "I'm glad to see you", spoken with a thick accent that has its roots in the northern parts of Sweden. 
The dear old lady who taught me this phrase, which I have never had any use for this far, was my grandmother. She didn't know any English, beside that phrase, and therefore her pronunciation wasn't accurate.
I don't think my pronunciation is entirely correct either but I'd like to think I've improved over the years... I've actually met people who thought English is my mother tongue, but they were from Germany, so for obvious reasons I can't take that as a real compliment.
I watch a lot of Rowan Atkinson's comedy series. If my English would ever be pronounced in a non-Swedish way, it would be some kind of British accent. I don't think I'm there yet. I'm not even halfway.

My writing is better than my spoken English, probably because I don't feel so tense when I write as when I try to speak. I like to take some time to make the sentences feel right.
I enjoy writing short stories in Swedish, but I know very few people around here that could give a good text evaluation, so in the end I always have to translate it to English and send it across the ocean to get some useful criticism. I need a great amount of time to translate but, usually it's worth it and in retrospect I can say that I've learned a lot from it.
Still, I can honestly say that the best part of my writing is lyrics. That is probably due to the fact that I don't have to have more than basic knowledge about grammar when I sing. 
I usually spend most of my spare time together with my guitars Ciaràn and Dagan. Yes, I gave them names, so what? Does it make me less human in some way?
While still talking of music I ought to mention that the first book, written in English, that I read by free will was a biography about the red hot chili peppers. It took more time than the content of the book was worth, but I felt proud anyway, mostly because, until that moment, I had stuck to the "easy reading" kind of books.

The only English books I read nowadays are fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett. I don't know for sure, but I think he is from England because he writes in unnecessarily long sentences with lots and lots of hoity-toity words. Probably everyone but me knows them.

I would really love to fully understand the ironic humour of Mr Pratchett's books and I was hoping that signing in on this course would be a step towards doing so. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not. One thing is for sure; my English can't get worse than it already is.
</doc>