<doc.id=2048.a1>
In the autumn of 1997 I went to Barnes in London to work as an au-pair there. The reason was that I wanted to do something different while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, and to improve my english at the same time. The first thing I became aware of was how little practice I'd had in listening comprehension. I'd always concidered myself to be fairly good at understanding spoken English, but I soon realised that this was not the case. For the first time, English wasn't just something you had to study in order to get good grades, or something you used when buying train tickets to Stratford-upon-Avon when on vacation. It was my only way of communicating with people, and I soon realised how vital it was to really understand what they were saying. In school we had virtually no listening exercises involving accents and dialects, so that was (and still is!) very difficult. Even standard English was difficult at first, with so many colloquial expressions that never make it into the school books. My best teachers were definitely the children I looked after, because they weren't nearly as polite as the adults. Their ruthless comments about my mistakes definitely taught me not to make them again, and I soon learned that the best way to pick up slang expressions was through them.
	Apart from my time in England, I think that I've picked up a lot through listening to music and watching English films etc. I've always listened to lyrics actively, and when I don't understand something I look it up. 
	One other thing that I soon discovered was how difficult it is to be concentrated one more than one person speaking at the same time. For example, when I went to the pub with my English friends, I always felt incredibly stupid, because I couldn't follow the various conversations around the table. If I was talking to one person, I had to concentrate on that, but my friends, who have English as their native language, could easily comment on things said on the other side of the table. 

It is almost inevitable that your listening skills improve when you live in another country. Reading is a completely different thing. It's quite easy to get on with the same basic knowlegde of the language for all your life, but if you want to improve, then you have to actively try to increase your vocabulary. That is my biggest weakness: I'm lazy. If I read a book and a word comes up that I don't understand, I hardly ever look it up, unless it's absolutely neccessary for the general understanding of the text. When I studied for the Cambridge Proficiency Exam I tried to change that habit, and now I look up words more frequently, but not at all as often as I should do.

As with listening, speaking is something you are more or less forced to learn if you want to survive in another country. My experiences as an au-pair weren't always as pleasant as I would have liked them to be, but on the other hand that has helped me improve my language. Many times during my stay in England I had to confront both the children I looked after and their parents about various issues, and altough it was a very trying experience at the time, I'm glad I had to go through it. That, more than anything else tought me how to express myself in English, because when you're having an argument or even a row about something, you need to get the words right in order to not get defeated by the other person. In that aspect I feel quite confident, and I know that I can manage on my own and speak for myself. What I'm still finding difficult though, is the pronounciation of various sounds, especially the toned s. I know how it should sound, but I just can't do it! I also struggle with different registers: when is it OK to use a word, and when is it concidered to be rude? I'm afraid to admit that people have commented on my speach numerous times, just because I've made mistakes involving register. 

The problem with register also concernes the writing. I write in English daily, mostly emails and "snail-mails, and I feel quite confident about writing, almost a bit too confident, because I notice how I tend to slip into the colloquial tone I use in emails also when I need to be more formal, and that is very hard to get away from. I try to be aware of when I use different expressions, but I definitely need more practice in both formal and informal writing.
</doc>