Me and English

Studying foreign languages is important for everybody. We have many reasons to study them. We need it for travelling abroad, for reading foreign materials (books, newspapers, magazines), for business communication, for corresponding with our friends or for cultural reasons (watching films, visiting concerts and exhibitions).

The most important language for world communication is English. It's spoken in many parts of the world, mainly in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (and also in Malta and Gibraltar). We can find English expressions more and more at present - in technical and electronic scientific circles people use many English abbreviations and expressions, computer programs and games are in English.

My first contact with English was in the second class at basic school. I was going to fathers work to play computer games. My favourite game was an adventure game called Space Quest I. In that game you had to command your hero Roger Wilco by typing commands on keyboard in English. There were also lots of dialogues and other texts. In that time I didn't know anything from English so I had dictionary on one side of my keyboard and my father on the other. I think it was the best way to start learning English - it was fun and it wasn't classical kind of learning. In the same year I made tests to class with extended language learning. The first half of the third class we ware learning Russian, I didn't like it, but after velvet revolution we begun with English and I liked it more, maybe because English doesn't use Russian alphabet. In a beginning we used not so good Czech textbook, but in fourth class we had to buy Project English. Our teacher was strict and nobody liked her, but now when I look back I see that she learned me the most of English I know and I use it to nowadays. I the sixth class we also begun learning German but in the course of two years we had seven teachers and it was bad. I like English much more then German. After basic school I went to communication technology secondary school in Panská. The first year we had good teacher but she went away and we got one old man for a half year and then other teacher. This four years I used all I learned on basic school and instead of improving my English it become worse. Not so much because I need and use English in my work with computers. In consequence of this I'm good in understanding written texts but with speaking it's worse.

It's two basic different ways to learn English - you can learn writing or speaking. The first type is used mainly at Czech schools. It's the way when you learn grammar and grammar and then maybe some words. After this you can speak correctly but you can't speak because you don't know the word that you need to express yourself. The second way is when you learn a lot of words and then use them just like in Czech - it's not correct but when you speak with someone he probably will know what do you want to say. Of course this is two extremes and anyone isn't ideal. There are many ways between these two and it's on each one wich way will he choose. There are also many ways to improve English beginning with reading English books, newspapers or just reading English texts on Internet, watching film, listening to English radios. You can also chat with your English speaking friend or and it is the best what can you do, travel to foreign countries where you can't rely on Czech and you have to communicate only in English.

In a most cases I use my English in connection with computers - most on Internet, sometimes to read manual for some programs or hardware devices. The second usage for my English when I'm watching cartoons on Cartoon Network, it's fun and I hope that also improve my understanding of spoken English. I've never really needed to speak in English only few telephone calls or when some foreigner needs to help. I hope I will travel to the USA to my step-brother on a vacation and improve my English.