Learning English

    My English is far far far far from perfect. One thing is for sure though, it has become much much better than six years ago before I came to this country. Wanna know why? I will list some true experiences. Also, I really encourage people to go to the targeted language country to experience life or to study there. If not, maybe make friends with those who are native speakers.

    1. Overhear people's conversation, AND, understand most of it. Oh my word, sometimes I wish I didn't understand while I was studying at coffee shops or when people talk bad things about foreigners. It could be a good thing though. :P

    2. Speak up. Now I realize how intimidated I felt whenever I was "forced" to speak up. When I finally decided to say something in public, I felt my back and face were on fire. I could even feel my heart pumping out of my chest. It doesn't matter that my English is still not so great, but now I voice questions in class and in groups. I ask when I don't understand during conversation with barista, friends, and strangers instead of saying "yes" to everything or things that I don't understand. 

    3. Talk on the phone. Can you believe that I was afraid to answer phone calls for almost a year? I heard the phone ringing at my host parents' house continuously, I was so scared to pick up the phone because I didn't want them to miss any piece of important information. So I just let those people go straight to the voice mail. It wasn't that I wasn't able to understand people on the phone (actually maybe yes to this one too), but people couldn't understand me even more. Yes people, I have an accent. It is very hard to understand what people say if they have an accent. I hated to explain what I said over and over again or simply hated spell most of things that I said. Ugh. BUT. now when people ask me to spell, I will just spell instead of feeling "dang, how could you not understand me?" I make tons of phone calls now, despite people don't know me and very likely they probably will ask me to say the same thing again.
   4. Understand sarcasm. Now I realize how much people use sarcasm on a daily basis. Sometimes, I still have trouble recognizing it. Sarcasm is a big part of this culture. On Smithsonian.com, it says that 23% of the time phrase "yeah, right" was used, it was uttered sarcastically. After reading that, so many "yeah, right" from conversations popped into my head. Pretty amazing.
   5. Carry a conversation with a stranger. Thanks to Midwest friendly environment, it's quite often to have a conversation with a total stranger. Back in China, I learned that Americans always talked about weather if they didn't know each other or people didn't have anything to talk about. Actually, it's kinda true. Lots of short conversation with strangers are about weather.
  I can only think of these couple of things right now. Anyway, improving English definitely makes me more confident with what I do, act, or say. There is so much more to learn for sure though.