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<title> English, My English! </title>
Writing an essay about my relation to the English language and about how competent I feel about it at this point seemed like a very easy task at first, but now that I think about it the answer to these questions isn't that obvious. Why is that? I think probably it's because of the fact that this isn't something you ever think about having to evaluate. You hardly ever think about what your native language means to you, so when it comes to English it's even more difficult to find a good answer. I guess you'll just have to go back in time and think about your experiences of English. But one can already establish the fact that our native language is a necessity and that in the world today this isn't always enough. It's getting more and more important to master the English language aswell. Because whatever you do and wherever you go you find English. This language is universal and you need it whatever field you're in. In Sweden one has understood the importance of a good knowledge of English. You start studying it already at the age of nine in swedish schools. 
	I've always loved to travel and to get to know people from all over the world. I guess that's why I chose to study a lot of languages in upper secondary school. English was compulsory of course. But I also chose to study Latin, French, Spanish and Italian. Of all these languages I prefered French, so that's what I've continued to study here at Uppsala University and in France. I think that I master French really well at this point and it feels a bit strange to say that I speak French better than I speak English. But that's simply the truth today. Anyhow, from now on I'll concentrate on English for a few years and hopefully after this my mastery of English will be as good as my mastery of French, or even better.
	When I was fourteen years old my family had an excange student from the United States staying with us for three months. This was without any hesitation a very good opportunity for both me and my younger brothers to come in contact with the English language. Her name is Leah and we became best friends. We've been corresponding ever since and in fact we met in France last spring. As I said, getting to know this girl helpted me to get in contact with English, but it also made me realize how wonderful and enriching it is to master a foreign language.
	After finishing secondary school I went to England on a three-weeks language course. I hardly learned anything at all, but I guess I matured a bit anyway.
	In upper secondary school I participated in all kinds of exchange programs just to get the opportunity to travel and to meet students from other countries. I went to Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland, and I received students from the respective countries in my home in Söderhamn. With all these people I spoke English, but I don't know if it always ameliorated my own English. I mean, speaking English with somebody from Poland for instance is not like talking with somebody whos native language is really English.
	When I hear English on the radio, on TV or when I'm talking to somebody in English I feel that I can understand almost everything of what is said. I guess that an advantage in Sweden is that everything on TV for example always is in English and never dubed like in certain other countries. I think that reading isn't a problem for me either. As I said earlier, I've studied Latin and I feel that this often helps me to recognize word-stems and above all to know the meaning of prefixes and suffixes in certain words. My weaknesses in English at this point are speaking and writing. I think that has to do with the fact that I've been studying French and other Romance languages aswell for such a long time. I feel that I've got problems with pronunciation and spelling. When it comes to listening and reading it's an advantage for me if the words resemble the words in French. But when it comes to pronunciation and spelling it's rather a disadvantage. Hopefully all this will be much easier later on.
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