My Literacy about English - Personal Statement Example

My Literacy in English English is the most common language used in the world and learning English may not be an easy task for someone from China. I am an international student and hails from china. During my school days I was never interested in English and never thought of learning it. It is always good to know the language as it is one of the widely used languages around the world. I got to know the importance of the language when I landed in US for my studies. I felt completely secluded for not knowing the language as staying in an English speaking country became a struggle for me. During my stay in US I faced lot of challenges to communicate with people for even a small thing. The biggest challenge I believe is the cultural difference which leads to the problem of understanding the concept and ideas of English speaking person. My struggle to learn the language taught me many things. I had to take help from various sources to learn English like movies, magazines, attending English seminars, watching news, internet, radio, etc. But things were not that easy as I believed. It took me nearly more than a year to finally get hold of the language. Although I learned the language I still struggle in pronouncing most of the words. For any Chinese it is a heavy task to get all the English words pronounced correctly as our language speaks more of tone and does not have much sound like in English. It is indeed difficult for a Chinese to understand the appearance of English words. Few of my friends suggested me to communicate more with English speakers to get the fluency and strong hold on the language. I believe to understand any language it is important to know the culture of that country. Going out daily, taking active participation in college programs, mingling more with western people, celebrating there festivals etc. It is entertaining and beneficial to talk to western people as you can get to know more about their culture and thought process. Our culmination of thoughts depends on the language we learnt as a child. It lays tremendous influence on the way we speak and think. Similarly it was difficult for me to cultivate my thoughts in a new language like English. The early days of my stay in US were hard as communication with locals was limited. I had to show signs and expressions to convey my message. I think English is a challenging language for any Chinese as the linguistic style is completely different from English. For me speaking English was never easy. Every weekend I use to go out with my fellow students to watch English movies. Not only this I started to watch lot of chat shows and popular soaps like friends, Oprah Winfrey show, The Simpsons, X-files and the list go on. Today I believe I am proficient in the language but still I fail to pronounce most of the words correctly. Everyday I made it a point to learn a new English word; I also gave deliberate attempt to communicate more with native speakers of English. This improved my language as well as learning skills. Being Chinese I was used to speak in a tonal way which is the specialty of our language. When I started to speak English it sounded tonal to many of my friends. Unlike Chinese I had to stress on every word of English and pronounce correctly. This took me another year to get the exact pronunciation and thanks to my friends and local people who helped me a lot to learn the language. Mistakes are inevitable when we I started to speak, but then I learnt to correct those mistakes. Fluency was another issue I faced while learning. It is important for any person to get fluency in order to express thoughts and ideas quickly and smoothly. I used to fumble a lot to get the correct word. But gradually the more I communicated it was corrected. I still remember one incident when I went to one local store to buy some groceries and when the person in the billing department asked for change I could not explain him about not having change with me. I tried to explain him through signs and then the incident drew so much attention that locals started staring at me. It was one embarrassing event happened in my life. Every day it was learning process for me. Daily I used to spare one hour to read some English fiction which can help to learn new word. But communication English is different and watching movies, soaps and chat shows were the best medium to get the best knowledge on how to express ideas and how to use correct words. For a brief period I also attended English language classes to learn the technical part of the language. Online references and study materials made my learning process interesting and faster. Many times I stood in front of the mirror and tried to speak on an English topic for few minutes. It is indeed difficult but I believe these kinds of daily practices can help an individual to learn English in better way. Being a student it was never easy to survive in US without knowing the language. Back in hometown my friends and family were amazed to know that I speak English. It is true that more contact with language will help you to learn faster. Earlier I rarely go out and mingle with people because I was afraid of putting myself in embarrassing situation of not knowing language. It was one of my close friend suggested me to social more with English speakers to get a good hold of language. Most of the Chinese gave up learning English in the initial stages. It is important to have patience and good listening powers to learns and speak English effectively. I agree that there are language barriers between English and Chinese. One cannot get to know the language without getting involved in it. Proper practice and strong motivation is required for any sort of learning. Simply going to school and passing English subject will not help anyone to communicate in English. There should be a proper approach and desire to learn more. While in school I never though that one day I will be able to converse in English fluently as I always hated the subject. I think it is the circumstances and struggle to live in western society that helped me learn English. At some point of time I was so frustrated for not being able to convey my thoughts in English. Daily practice is important to reach perfection; I toiled for nearly two years to get to the grass root level of the language. Active participation in educational programs and seminars made me more out spoken and helped me gain confidence. My fellow students and friends in US say that today your English sounds like someone from English community is speaking. If someone is looking forward for learning communicative English, I advise to improve your listening abilities and take advantage of every opportunity that falls on you way. Never rely on single source of learning, use various tools available in your locality. US is a wonderful place to live and learn. During my stay in the country my personal experiences taught how important is to know English to survive in western country. Although cultural differences are still there but today I feel proud as I can speak English fluently with pretty good pronunciation of words. Read More