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	Just a few years ago I felt quite confident in my knowledge in English. I had read English in school since I was ten years old and I had travelled quite a lot. I thought that I mastered the language pretty well. But what has happened since then? How have my skills in the English language developed during the last three years?
	Starting with my skills in speaking, I must say that I have hardly spoken English since I left school. This is something that makes me feel nervous and insecure every time I try to speak English. I always want the words to come out right and to be able to speak fluently - and probably just because I want to so hard to speak properly, I tend to stumble instead. I often can't find the right words and I have a hard time trying to figure out how to put things. I seldom know whether what I say is grammatically correct or not. 
I like making speeches, though, and using the language - both Swedish and English - to express myself. Despite this fact, I get nervous. I think it's because I'm a bit shy, afraid to show other people what I can and can't do. I have overcome this fear pretty much when it comes to speaking in Swedish, so probably it's just a question of getting used to the English language.
Another thing is my accent. When I was in the eight grade I was in London for a weekend. At that time people said to me that it sounded like if I was born in England, - no wonder -, I had learnt British English "all my life". Since then, though, I have spoken English to Germans, Americans and people of several other nationalities during competitions and trainingcamps abroad. On the television I have mostly heard American English. I guess I'm quite confused - do I speak American English or British English, (I hardly know the differences,) or is it something totally different?
	Also when it comes to writing I feel that I have forgotten about how it's done. I have the same problems with finding words and with seeing the linguistic correctness as when I'm speaking. Of course I don't feel nervous in the same way, because I know that I can always stop to think and to look up words. 
I'm sure that one can easily see in my writing that I'm from Sweden. I have a tendency towards thinking in Swedish and then trying to translate my thoughts directly into English. That doesn't always turn out too well...
To my advantages, though, I can say that I'm a fast learner, and that I usually don't think that spelling is a very big problem.
Listening to and reading English are two skills that I have used a little bit, also during recent years. I haven't travelled much lately, but I often hear spoken English on the television. 
I think that both my listening and my reading abilities are rather satisfactory. (That is, of course, when the language isn't too advanced.) Even if I don't understand all of the words, I can usually see the context, and understand most of what is said or written. 
	In high school I studied the A and B-course in English as compressed courses, which means that we only studied English for the three first terms in high school. I really think that one learns the language better if it's taken continuously during the whole three years of education. You need some time to digest the information and to practice the language for a longer period of time. The way we did it I felt that when I graduated I had almost forgotten ever reading English. I think that this is one thing that have affected my knowledge in English (words for an example) a bit negatively, compared with how it would be if I had read it for all three years.
	To sum up I can say that what I need is to learn more words and grammar, to read and speak a lot, to get more secure, - in short terms; to practice. And I guess that practice is what I'm going to get this term, while reading English A1 at Uppsala University.
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