Second English post.

Dear italki.

I have decided to study English in order to become a teacher. I mentioned in an earlier post that I don’t know where to begin, but I feel certain that I will know once my university classes start. Over the last few months, I have been looking for my weakest spots – to me, the most obvious one is speaking. It takes me an hour of conversation before I can speak in a relaxed fashion. It bothers me.

I don’t know any English grammar whatsoever, because I found it terribly dull when I went to school and I just couldn’t be bothered with it. I knew just enough to fake it, but I know I can’t fake it anymore, not in university, and not as a teacher. In addition, over the years I have taken an interest in grammar, and I actually want to learn.

Finally, I learned English from reading books, watching tv-series and chatting with strange men over the Internet. Because of this, both my pronounciation and my vocabulary are an ecclectic mix of what I learned from watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air, a variety of British crime series and Ocean Girl. It would be easier to get rid of American and Australian words and expressions if I could recognise them myself, but I can’t.

I hope you can.

You're not exactly struggling with English, are you?  Chatting with strange men over the Internet has obviously been good for you.  Keep it up!