The Meaning of Learning a Foreign Language
One of my coworkers once traveled abroad by air. She told me she felt cold on the plane, but she didn’t remember the word “blanket”, so she was shy to ask for one. She just had stood the cold for an hour. I think if I were her, in that case, I would put it like this: “Excuse me, I’m feeling cold. May I please have something to make me warm? “or “May I please have something to cover my body?”
Why do we learn languages? I think no matter what language you use, it’s just a communication tool. The most important thing is to make yourself understood. Sometimes, a word might just slip my mind. Actually, it happens all the time. Nevertheless, languages are fascinating and very flexible, so I can definitely find other ways to express myself.
I gave a tour of an old small town to a language exchange partner during the past Golden Week. There was an ancient brothel on the street, but I hadn’t learned the word “brothel” back to that time. I just said like this:” There used to be an ancient workplace of sex workers’ in the street.” -“Oh, brothel.” My friend saw perfectly well what I meant, meanwhile, I learned a new word.
After having learned English for a long time, many people can’t speak English fluently-just like me. It’s really embarrassing that we don’t even know how to greet people naturally. When American friends greeted me by saying “What’s up?”; ”How are you doing? ”; “How’s it going?”, I didn’t know how to reply at first, because these are totally different from what we’ve learned from textbooks and classes.
When I restarted to learn English last year, I told myself to be thick-skinned and speak up. I have been focusing on speaking and listening since then. I just want to learn how to use this communication tool as the native speakers do. I’m still a long way from speaking Engllish fluently and naturally , but I’ll try my best, with infinite patience.
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Corrections · 3
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The Meaning of Learning a Foreign Language
One of my coworkers once traveled abroad by air. She told me she felt cold on the plane, but she didn’t remember the word “blanket”, so she was shy to ask for one. She just had stood the cold* for an hour. I think if I were her, in that case, I would put it like this: “Excuse me, I’m feeling cold. May I please have something to make keep me warm? “or “May I please have something to cover my body?”
*She just stayed there cold... or, She tolerated the cold....
Why do we learn languages? I think no matter what language you use, it’s just a communication tool. The most important thing is to make yourself understood. Sometimes, a word might just slip from my mind. Actually, it happens all the time. Nevertheless, languages are fascinating and very flexible, so I can definitely find other ways to express myself.
I gave a tour of an old small town to a language exchange partner during the past Golden Week. There was an ancient brothel on the street, but I hadn’t learned the word “brothel” back to that time before then. I just said like this:” There used to be an ancient workplace of sex workers’ in the street.” -“Oh, brothel.” My friend saw perfectly well what I meant, meanwhile, I learned a new word.
After having learned English for a long time, many people can’t speak English fluently-just like me. It’s really embarrassing that we don’t even know how to greet people naturally. When American friends greeted me by saying “What’s up?”; ”How are you doing? ”; “How’s it going?”, I didn’t know how to reply at first, because these are totally different from what we’ve learned from textbooks and classes.
When I restarted to learn English last year, I told myself to be thick-skinned and speak up. I have been focusing on speaking and listening since then. I just want to learn how to use this communication tool as the native speakers do. I’m still a long way from speaking Engllish fluently and naturally , but I’ll try my best, with infinite patience. and keeping my patience for as long as possible.
very good
0
You are really good at expressing yourself. I wish I could do like you, I am struggling with my ielts exam which I have been taking over and over again... Almost like taking a loop, I wish to speak more to different people, in order to gain chances to use English. Really hope that we could learn together via Skype or other network..
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