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Introduction 
In this essay I will describe my relationship to the English language, and how competent I feel about my own English. I have studied the language since 4th grade, and I will try to stress my strengths and weaknesses in the four skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing. 

Listening
I feel pretty confident listening to the English language and I don't think that I have any particular problems with that. I can easily follow a conversation or lecture held in English. Presumably I have had a lot of help from watching English or American TV shows and films and just by listening to music. In our society we are often surrounded by the English language and that's a very natural way of learning to listen and of course to understand it.

Writing
I enjoy to write essays and short stories, but I also know that I have some problems doing it. I guess that the grammar creates a lot of these problems. 

To be perfectly honest, grammar has never been my greatest skill. Somehow I seem to have managed anyway, but I realise that it is time for me to do something about my poor grammar knowledge. Sometimes I feel very insecure about grammatical rules that ought to come natural and that worries me.

Recently I've even noticed that I have some difficulties with my spelling. This is new for me, because when I went to school - I never had any troubles with my spelling. Now, I have to think both once or twice when I am going to write a certain world and that is very frustrating. 

Speaking
Perhaps speaking is the most important issue when it comes to learning a language. That is also something I have to practise a lot. I do believe that you have to stay in an English speaking country for a longer period to really be able to learn the language. I have only been on shorter vacations to such countries. Therefor my English (vocabulary and ways of expressing myself) is pretty much based on my school English. 

I have to confess that I feel pretty nervous when I have to speak in front of a group, delivering a speech or something like that. I really don't know why, but the worlds don't come naturally and I usually feel quite embarrassed. 

I have to stress the fact that I really have to practise more. When I went to school, we did 't have as many oral presentations in English class as one might have wished. 

On the contrary I enjoy talking to maybe one or two persons and I feel pretty relaxed doing it. Probably in these more intimate situations I don 't concentrate so much on the grammar and to pronounce all the worlds correct, and therefor the language flows much more naturally and I sound more relaxed. 

Reading
I think that reading is what you dedicate most of your time to in school. When It comes to this skill, I have to divide it into two categories witch are: reading either novel or "scientific texts". I don't have any problems to read and understand novels or other similar literature. Partly, because I've been exposed to these texts during many years, first in school, and then later reading English novels just for my own pleasure. I feel that when I am reading a book I learn a lot, not only do I increase my vocabulary, I am even learning the intonation of the English language in a natural way.

However scientific texts are much more difficult for me to understand. During my school years I have not been exposed to these types of texts, and I realise that it is all a matter of training to be able to understand them. Partly because these texts involves many technical terms, witch are not a part of the "ordinary school English vocabulary". 

Conclusion
This semester will be a great challenge. I know that I have a lot to learn and that I have many weaknesses. But I am ready to do all the hard work, and I promise myself that I will really make an effort, and hopefully I will notice some improvements.
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