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<title> Evaluation </title>
Like most Swedes of the younger generations, I imagine myself to be quite good in English. Although, as you start to analyze your skills, you might realize that there's not so few things left to learn!

If you consider listening to, reading, speaking and writing in English as the components of having command of the language, I believe the listening part to be the one that I'm best at. I think I'm fairly good in comprehending spoken English. This statement has some exceptions, though. Things that might be troublesome are various kinds of accents and slang, that I'm not used to hear. Other things that may affect my ability of comprehension are disturbing background sounds, and rapid speach. An advanced academical language containing words I do not understand even when they are translated into Swedish, is of course hard to comprehend. I may also have difficulties understanding English when I, without expecting to, am being spoken to in English by for instance a tourist. It seems that I require a moment of readjusting myself into a different language.

Reading English is easier than listening to English. When I read, I see the words and sentences myself. They are not, to my ears, being distorted by someone's accent. Another great advantage is that I'm allowed to read at my own pace, which makes comprehension easier. My weakness regarding reading English is that I read quite slowly, which isn't very practical. I have a tendency of wanting to know what every foreign word that I find in a text means, and it takes quite some time to look it up. Of course it's useful to increase one's vocabulary, but often one can let a word be unknown for the moment without loosing the meaning of the text. In fact, it's not unusual that you learn the meaning of a word by the context in which it's written.

I believe that the hardest part of English, or any foreign language, is to be able to speak fluently. Sometimes it's hard to come up with the simpliest word, when you're in the middle of a conversation. Few things are as frustrating as when you know exactly what you want to say, and it comes out all wrong or you can't translate it at all. I think I can manage quite well in a common conversation, but my English is not adequate for more advanced discussions. When it comes to pronounciation, I think I have a god accent when I utter separate phrases. However, when I'm talking continuously, I can hear myself speak English with a Swedish intonation. The reason why I get this Swedish accent, may be that I feel a bit embarrassed at speaking in a British or an American tone, almost as if I would be acting. Despite this I get influenced by the person I'm talking to, so when I'm talking to a British person, I speak with a British accent, and when I'm talking to an American I do it with American accent. This happens unconsciously, and it's very hard for me to suppress the urge to imitate.

The advantage by writing in English compared to speaking English is that there's usually more time for thinking and coming up with the proper words and expressions. The disadvantage is that all the mistakes according to spelling and grammar clearly stands out. All the errors are in print, as a proof of one's failure or success. I have too little experience in writing in English, to be able to give an opinion in my own ability. I believe this is the first text I have written since I went in high-school, and that is thirteen years ago. At least I'm aware of that I need to refreshen and improve my grammar.

The reason why my knowledge of English hasn't completely vanished after all these years, is that the Swedish TV-channels every day, year after year, are sending large numbers of programs in English. The fact that the Swedish television doesn't dub foreign programs, as they do in several European countries, must be the reason why so many Swedes are so good in English. Regarding my own skill in the language, I feel that I need to learn more in writing and speaking, and I hope to successfuly do so in the course that I'm now attending.
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