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<title> English, My English! </title>
I went to a small school where we started to learn English in the 4th grade. We had a great teacher the first three years. I really enjoyed the lessons and maybe that's the reason why I still like it so much. She encouraged us and gave us a lot of different and funny tasks. We sang and listened to English music like Tracy Chapman for example. Our teacher loved her music so everytime I hear Tracy Chapman on the radio now I think of her.

	My first experience of using the English language was when I was about twelve years old and my family and I went to Zambia, for six weeks, to visit some friends of ours, who lived there. I had studied English for three years then but it felt like I knew nothing! One additional problem was that the Africans didn't speak very good English themselves so that made it a little bit harder, at least when it came to understanding what they were saying. I especially remember one conversation I had with a woman at a lodge where we stayed. I was telling her about my family and my sister and I said "she are" instead of "she is" and I thought it was really embarrassing, so I've never forgotten that mistake!

	My next meeting with English people was when I was about fifteen years old and we went to London. Then I think I felt a little bit more secure about speaking then the first time.

	During my years at gymnasium I don't think I learned very much new. Of course I learned something (or at least I hope I did..!!), but I don't believe I improved my knowledge in English so much. I didn't get any inspiration to learn more if I put it that way. The lessons were pretty much the same every week, nothing new, nothing challenging. That bored me and maybe that made me put a little bit less effort into it as well. I did practice my English speaking and understanding during the last year though. We had an exchange student from Canada staying with us. That was a quite different experience, but we still have contact with each other and that makes me practice my writing now and then. (He writes in Swedish and I write in English.)

	After I graduated I went to Switzerland for a year to learn German. I made a lot of friends from different parts of the world so I spoke pretty much English as well. But it was quite confusing in the beginning because you spoke Swedish, English and German and besides that you heard French and Italian! So everything got a little bit mixed up and when I translated a word I thought from Swedish to English and then to German, I don't know why, and that could end in some funny misunderstandings!

	When it comes to reading I havn't been that active. Of course I've read English books and newspapers occationally but not frequently as I wish I would. The last two years I've studied Chemistry here in Uppsala and the litterature is in English of course. But that's more a technical language and is maybe only useful in my studyings and my work later on, it's not something I have so much use for when I speak to people. I would like to have a much larger vocabulary because I know I often use the same words when I speak, and that I don't like.

	When I write I think it's a little bit different because then I can look up a synonymous or maybe rewrite it. Since it was almost five years since I studied English I havn't got it all fresh and I think that is more obvious when I write. I have to refresh my memory especially when it comes to grammar. The other part of writing, like spelling for example, I think I can handle quite well.

	Anyway, when I think back, I guess I've practiced my speaking and my understanding/listening quite much even though I havn't thought about it that much. The mainsources for learn to listen and understand English comes from TV and music I think. We listen to it daily and you've got use to it, it's a part of the weekday of everyday life. Me myself hasn't grown up with the daily MTV and that sorts of programs so maybe I've missed something there. The practice I've had is listening to music, movies and tv-shows of course, and then when I've spoken to people I've met, and I think that you can never practice that enough.

	I also believe that we, at least here in Sweden, pick up Am. English easier than Br. English, maybe because that's what we here all the time. I prefere Br. English though, and I think that I mix these two. That I would like to change. Otherwise I don't feel particularly uncomfortable speeking English, except maybe if you're a large party and a lot of them has English as mother tongue. It doesn't matter if all of us are "non-English" but when it comes to "English" people I think I'm a little bit scared to make any faults and so on. But I think it's many thanks to that I've practiced it quite much and I've had the opportunity to use it during longer (and shorter) vacations and together with friends from other countries. I like to practice it and I do so as often as I get the opportunity!
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