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<title> Evaluation </title>
It is a very difficult task to evaluate your self. You have to try to step back and look at yourself from the outside. Since I am from Sweden I also have the "jantelag" or "I'm no good rule" to consider. Despite all theese obstacles I've decided to give it a try. Here are some thoughts about my English skills.

Writing.
Since this is a written paper you will soon figure out what you think my strengths and weaknesses are, but I will try to point what I believe is the main things.

Writing comes kind of natural to me and I love essay writing. It's something we did a lot in school. My problems start when it comes to writing in English. Since English isn't my mother tongue I feel a bit restrained. I am not very good at spelling and even worse at grammar so I tend to go around the problem by choosing easy words and sentences. I hope that the different courses this term will help me over come this problem at least to some extend. I also hope that this particular course will help me to a more fluent English. 

I don't feel as comfortable with the language as I would like to. The fascinating and entertaining thing about writing is to be able to mould into different shapes, to use it as a tool. It is a pleasant feeling to know that you are able to use the appropriate language in a interesting way. I hope this term with all it's writing and reading will help me to come at ease whit the language.

Reading
Reading is another thing that I love to do. I read a lot, both fiction and non-fiction as a form of recreation. I try to read at least a couple of books in English every year just to keep up with the language. I am a slow reader and often have a hard time getting into the books when they are written in English but as soon as I do, and start to think in English it gets much easier. I don't like when there are to many difficult or new words in a book 'cause they make me think in Swedish which disrupts the fluency of my reading. If there is a word I don't understand but which doesn't prevent me from grasping the meaning I seldom make the effort of looking it up. Instead I underline them with the intent to check them later (Though I must admit I rarely do). When I studied Film science last year we had all our books in English and I had to look them up to understand anything at all. That was a good way to learn new vocabulary.

Listening
Another good way to learn vocabulary is by listening to people talking in English. Either in the media or when you meet Englishmen and women abroad. When doing the latter I've discovered that you learn a lot of new words but very few that are useful in the academic world. When it comes to media it is obviously a matter of what you watch or hear, and of what kind of vocabulary you want to pick up. 

I believe that I am pretty good at understanding, although I think that this applies on most Swedes. I have a lot of experience in listening to different accents since my father has a lot of friends in various parts of the UK. I like accents, especially those from the northern part of the UK and I usually don't have any problems understanding people from those areas. But I think that I, as a Swedish girl, get to hear a polished, slower variation.

Speaking
Due to my fascination with accents I often adopt one when I go abroad. I don't know if it's good or bad but it makes conversation much easier and relaxed for me. Otherwise my speaking skills are quite average. I don't have any problems conversing, especially not in a relaxed environment with English people. Oral presentations and prepared speeches in front of the class is a whole different matter. Then I get so nervous that I forget all of my vocabulary and make all the grammar mistakes there is.

Conclusion
Now I've tried to evaluate my own skills in the English language. I can only say that I'm probably better at the passive skills than the active ones, but I think that's quite natural. I hope that the years in front of me in the English department will help to improve all my skills as well as increase my interest for the language.
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