Language

Hi FAU Bloggers,

Let's talk language:)

So, I speak English as a first language even though I'm technically Welsh (I was born in Wales). However, my Grandparents on my mother's side were Irish and on my Dad's side with a connection to the Campbell clan in Scotland. I don't speak Welsh, which is a Celtic language, and I tend to describe myself as a British "kiltro."

As a child I went to a Catholic School. I had Latin lessons but learnt no Latin and French lessons and learnt no French. My next attempt at learning a foreign language was Spanish almost 15 years after leaving school. At age 29, I went to live in Spain in search of a new life (after 6 years trying to be a musician). I knew about 10 Spanish words when I arrived in Spain and it took me about 6 months before I began to speak any Spanish. People were happy that I only spoke English because they had the chance to practice with me but I became curious about Spanish and I really wanted to learn it. Now, 35 years later, I speak Chilean Spanish but I still make lots of mistakes. Nevertheless, It's not somthing that bother's me that much because I know that the only thing that mattters is communicating an idea - not necessarily being a great language learner.

After learning Spanish, I also learnt Italian. In recent years I have tried my hand at Japanese and Chinese but the older you get the harder it is to learn a language (you become too busy and too set in your ways) This is the main message I try to convey to my students. Take advantage of the time dedicated to studying a language while you can. 

In my opinion, the way you learn a language is by using it (listening/reading) or doing it (speaking/writing). 

When I lived in Spain, I learnt a lot by watching news and then reading about the same news item in a Spanish newspaper. I also watched things I was interested in (like football) with Spanish comentators so I learnt more technical vocabulary. Finally, with my Spanish partner, I watched "telenovelas" (I think my favourite was "Abigail"), and with my partner's nephew I read "Dragonball". 

Nowadays, I tend to speak more English & "Spanglish" than Spanish (my wife speaks to me in Chinese 50% of the time!!!) which means my Spanish is a little rusty. 

Okay, it's time for you to talk about your language learning experience with English.

Say:

When you first started learning English,

What you find easy and/or complicated,

What you do to practice out of class,

What things you enjoy doing in English class,

Whether you think English will be useful in the future (why/why not),

What aspects of English culture you find interesting.

Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog and on the blogs of 3 classmates.If you finish. Please find a Guardian article to read and leave a link to the article on my blog:)