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When it came to the subject of English in school, I was always the most excited pupil in class. I always did my homework properly and I was never late for the lessons. Still today my fascination over the English language and culture hasn't diminished, even though my fascination has expanded and now includes many other languages and cultures as well.
In critical moments in life when there has been an important decision to be made about my education, I've always been told "choose the subjects you enjoy, those will be the ones you're good at". The conclusion that can be made out of this is that since I certainly enjoy English, I should also be good at it. This may be true or not, depending on which way you look at it. The different parts of the English language consist of listening, reading, speaking and writing. To be good at a language you have to master all the parts, and I can't say that I do, so I have to evaluate which parts I'm good at and which parts I can improve. 
	
I have always thought that I'm quite good at writing English. My grammar and spelling have always been fairly correct in both Swedish and English and I've been told that if you master your mother tongue well, then it's easier to learn a new language. A problem I'm aware of is that my sentences tend to go on forever and I've been criticised for it by both my Swedish and English teachers. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have learned anything by my mistakes. 

Of course writing is not just about getting the grammar and spelling right, it's also about the contents of the text. As any other person writing an essay, I too must be interested in the subject that I'm going to write about, otherwise the story often tends to be too lame. 

Regarding reading, I don't enjoy it and therefore I'm not good at it. The problem is not to comprehend the text the problem is getting through the text. People often tell me that I've just not found the right book to read. I think it's a bit strange that I haven't come across any book that has been able to capture my interest so much as to make me forget the turn of each page. The book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" came pretty close, but didn't go the entire way. 

Maybe my troubles lie in a lack of concentration and interest combined with general difficulties to read. I've now stated that I don't like to read books, but newspapers is another thing. In newspapers the texts are divided into smaller text fragments, which makes them easier to read. I do consume a lot of newspapers, so maybe my reading skill stays somewhat retained. I know that if I read more books my reading speed will increase, but it's just so boring.
 
The frustration I sometimes feel when reading English can also be said about speaking English. If I'm given a list of words to pronouns, it's often not a problem. Free speech or open conversation isn't a problem either. The problem comes when I'm asked a question that has one specific answer and I can't find the right words. Then I start to fumble with the words and they come out backwards, in different order and entirely wrong. I also have difficulties with choosing an accent of my own, sometimes I choose British English and sometimes American English, but I guess that's a common problem. 

The beauty of listening is that you can't make a mistake yourself like you can in for example writing, other than the fact that you might not understand what has been said of course. I feel quite confident when somebody speaks to me, that I'll be able to understand him or her, unless they have a really tricky accent. I may not always know every word, but generally I understand the content. The more you listen the more you learn.

As a round off I can conclude that all the parts of the English language need practice and maintenance. I know that I never will be able to master the English language completely, but I can always improve myself.
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