It has been 12 years since I learn my first English word, and since then, almost every day, I have tried to improve my language skill. However, I have not come to the level I wish to be or, to be more precise, the level I need to be.
After those beautiful years of childhood, I have chosen Singapore to be the place to pursue my university degree. After being in Singapore for a while, I started to realize that my English is way below standard, in writing, in speaking, in reading, everything. Nevertheless, it affects me in my course at the university.
Engineering, my course, requires its student to understand various concept and to show their understanding in the exam. For me, it is quite a nightmare. I need more time to understand the concepts than I would need if I learn it in my own mother tongue. Even so, there are also some misunderstandings of what the books or lecturers really means. Despite of it, I can still overcome it with a bit of hard work. Unfortunately, the second thing I need to do, show my understanding in the exam, is far worse. This time, I could not possibly have more time to write the answers. It is also impossible to bring a dictionary for exam. Therefore, I just have to pray and hope the examiners would understand what i am trying to say in such limited language.
However, I think I know why I have such problem. I always try to translate everything I read to my language than understanding it. Of course it takes more time and causes more misunderstandings. This also happens when I write. I tend to think of something in my language and translate it. If I can not find a suitable word to translate it, I would then get into trouble.
So, the solution to my problem is to start to think in English. It requires a long time before I can master the technique. I have to change a life long habit and it cannot be easy. Surely it is going to be hard, but "impossible is nothing"(Nike,n.d.).
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2 comments:
amazing, your writing is wonderfully written. your choice of words, sentence structure,unity and cohesion are very strong. the idea flow very clearly and it is easy to understand.
i can still spot a few grammatical mistakes and there are still sva problems. so, you need to do polishing before posting the writing into your blog.
anyway, good job!!
Oh! your essay is very interesting to me. So, I will skip the comment on your writing ang grammar (actually, my idea about your writing is the same as Sjienindro) to share something about the content. The essay appears to be interesting with me because I find something very similar in our studying English. I also have learned English for 12 years and I also find my English is not adequate enough for me to pursue an Engineering course at NUS. Now that I really penetrate the vital role of English in my life, I really want to try my best to improve my English as far as I can. Moreover, the main problem I figure out is the same as yours. In facts, we are letting our mother tongue affect us too much in our thinking.I wonder how the problem can be solved. I asked my sister for some advices ( unlike me, my sister is really expert at English) and what she told me was just like yours. So, we had better try to think everything in English as much as we can. Though I know it is very challenging to think in such way, I believe with great effort we will overcome every obstacles.
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