由 Murphy Yang » 週一 12月 11, 2006 8:17 pm
Learning English in my own way
Good evening! My name is Murphy. Today my topic is learning English in my own way. You may wonder “hey, Murphy! How dare you talk this topic with us? Your English is no better than ours. Please judge me after you listen to my experience completely. Actually, it didn’t take me many years to speak English like this! Do you know how long it took me? It took me only six months to speak how I speak right now. Interesting, isn’t it? I am very glad to share my experience in learning English with you. Before I do that, I’d like to refresh my memory a little bit~
Backing six months ago, my English sucks! Terrible! Impossible! You must have no idea how poor my English is. Let me tell you my story you will know that. Six months ago, one beautiful Sunday, I walked around Taipei 101. I saw a pretty foreigner with a plump face, good looking, big-breast, sexy ass… Whatever! Suddenly, the girl walked close to me. She asked me,” Excuse me, where is the Taipei Station?” Because she was the kind of girl I like, I spent 5 minutes answering her question very carefully in English. But 5 minutes later, she told me,” Sorry, can you speak English? I don’t understand Spanish.” Oh! My god! I talked to myself,” How dare you say that? I speak English for you!” I blushed with anger and also I had no confidence to speak English any more. Next, she asked me,” What’s your name?” I said,” I don’t know.” Last, she smiled to say,” Well, Mr. I don’t know. Thanks anyway!” Shame on me! You see! At that moment, I was very disappointed, so I came back home to watch TV. I was watching an English program but I can only understand 10％ what they talk about on TV. It was a kid’s program! I sat there. I can’t believe it! I talked to myself,” Murphy! If I can only understand 10％ what they talk about on TV in a kids’ program, how can I do anything?!” I shouted with tears,” Murphy! My pronunciation is so poor that no pretty girl can understand my English! I have learned English so many years: one year in elementary school, three years in junior high school, three years in senior high school, and four years in university! There must be something wrong with my learning in English. From now on, I decided to learn English in my own way.
I didn’t have any teacher. I just tried to start. I took pronunciation seriously. Yes, pronunciation! I went to buy one English magazine with a CD. As I remember, there are 20 units in that material. In every unit, there are about 6 sections. What I did was just to read Unit 1 Section1; that’s it! That’s all I did. Unit 1 Section1, I spent so much time on it. When eating, sitting on the toilet, laying on the bed but cannot fall sleep. I am going to this material again、again、again, to be endless! What I did was if any sentence I can’t speak as exactly as the recording, I go back to it ten times. If it doesn’t do it, I will do it a hundred times. If it doesn’t do it, I will do it a thousand times. I can’t tell you how many times I did because I honestly don’t remember! Too many times! I repeat it until my pronunciation is perfect and impeccable without thinking. What I did was not like what I studied before. In the past, when I read one unit、I understood it、I listened to it for a couple of time, great I learned it! Next unit! Great I learned it! Next unit! To tell you the truth, it doesn’t work for me!
After six months, I have discovered something very interesting! I have the feeling of language! I have the sense of English! If anybody gives me a sentence within the conversation, I can speak English well without thinking through my mind. I can speak some sentences so fluently without my control if the situation is right. It’s amazing!!! Before that I have to go into 4 steps when I speak English. For example, if you ask me,” Murphy, is that chair comfortable?” I have to translate into Chinese first, ”這椅子舒服嗎?” Next, I answer myself,”還不錯”. Last I translate back into English,” So far so good!” It’s too late. But now, if you ask me again, Murphy, is that chair comfortable? I can answer you directly in English without translation! Do you know how good the feeling is? It’s fantastic!
Although my English is not as well as foreigners, one day I hope I can speak English with correct grammar, good pronunciation, proper language, strong vocabulary! I am confident that I will realize my ideal some day in the future as long as I study hard!
Last but not least, what kind of English ability you want? What kind of English degree you need? Think about it!
TME~~
