Today I learned a new English word, ‘Percolate‘ Learning English as foreigner can be difficult. You think you learn it in a few months but the real truth is, you never know every word there is in English. For me it has taken years and still I find words I didn’t know about. I wish I could learn some other language the way I have English but that has been too much of a task. I’ve tried to learn Italian and Germany but they’re even more difficult. I prefer English though. I’ve learned it since I was 11 years old so I’ve come far since then.

So how have I learned? I watched a lot of British and American TV shows. I’ve bought a lot of English pop magazines and read books. Most of my favorite bands and artists are English speakers so by watching their interviews without subtitles has helped a lot. There’s a lot of ways to learn the language. I haven’t talked English much but when I have, it hasn’t been a problem. First time I used it was our trip to Germany in 2008 and in Russia this summer. Last time I spoke it was in school. We have two English speakers in my web design class. It’s kind of funny. I should practise English and they should practise Finnish. So we should actually use both in conversation. If I didn’t speak and write English, this blog wouldn’t exist and it would be much harder to study web design.

Learning a new skill always takes time. Percolate slowly but safely. Nothing happens over night. Some Finns are afraid to speak English because they think their accent is bad. But that just makes it unique. Everybody can’t sound like a native English speaker. I don’t know if I have an accent but I wouldn’t care if I did. There’s nothing to be ashamed of trying to speak a language. It doesn’t have to be perfect. If you pronounce something wrong, it doesn’t matter. If a person laughs at you, then you’re speaking to a wrong person. A lot of people have accents and their not afraid to use a foreign language. It’s from mistakes you learn. What’s fun about learning a language is that you’re never finished. There’s always something new to learn.

If I had stopped learning English, I wouldn’t have known what I know now. Practise makes perfect but I don’t want to be perfect. I want to be proud of what I have achieved in a foreign language so far. That’s one of the reasons why I write in English. Not everybody have a chance to learn a language from a young age and not many who can learn it fluently. I’m still not fluent but I get my message through. I don’t even need subtitles when I watch something in English. Knowing the language, searching information online makes it much easier. I’m blessed to have a skill that I can use almost anywhere in the world. If only I could learn French the same way or any other language. But my brain capacity is too small for that kind of thing. Learning is fun when you know what you’re doing. So go and learn a new language or learn to get better in a language you already know. It might feel it takes forever but believe me, it’s all worth it.

Tallenna

Tallenna

Tallenna