The Importance of Experience in Mastering English

Mastering English is sometimes very difficult. The writer has already learnt English for about 15 years. But when the writer speaks in English, she still can’t tell a person what she wants to say fluently. The writer should be able to speak English very well by now. In this essay, she’s going to consider her current skills and motivation for learning English and discuss what she wants to do to improve her English skills.

The writer started to like English when she was still in the young age. There was a person who introduced English to her. She is the writer’s mother; a woman who let her know first about the very simple English words. Although she is not an English teacher nor a native speaker, she was proudly taught the writer some vocabularies which are commonly used to call the family members. Then the writer practiced such vocabularies like mother or father to call her parents. It was a great starting of learning English for her.

The first time the writer met “English” formally is when she was in elementary school. The writer learnt the very simple things like numbers and alphabets. Then she got interested in English more and more since she learnt it from her mother as well. The writer felt that she wanted to speak English more. So, she began to interact to her friends using the vocabularies in order to memorize them. The writer also practiced at home and study over the lesson again.

In her middle school, the writer began her journey of mastering English through joining some English courses. The reason why she took some English courses was that she wanted to study English not only in her school but also out of school. The writer really got inspired with a quotation from one of the linguistics philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein. He said that the limits of his language are the limits of his world. Therefore, the writer wanted to keep this statement and try it out in her English learning experience.

By improving her English skills through joining some English courses, the writer then tried to compete in some English competitions. She has joined English Story Telling Competition, English Speech Contest, and even ASEAN Scout Jamboree in Jakarta. These experience made the writer become motivated to learn English more. She was also very thankful to her English teacher who has given her such knowledge and motivation. Without his guidance and encouragement, the writer perhaps did not have much confidence to join in such competitions.

In brief, learning English has changed the writer’s self a lot. Starting from learning English in her family, then in elementary school, until middle school, she has had a lot of experience. These experience may be really benefited for her college life. Moreover, the writer is now studying in English department. So, it should be easier for her to adapt to the environment.