In the
beginning, I had little to say about learning English, for it was an obligatory
subject in school. However, when I found out that I truly liked it, and
following the advice of my mother, I chose to study privately as well. I
started going to an institute near the place I used to live, but then I had to momentarily
postpone my English education because the schedules overlapped with rugby. Having
to opt between one and the other, I decided to go with the second one, since it
was the one I enjoyed the most. Two years later, I resumed my instruction in
another place which turned out to be better than the previous one.
If I am
completely honest, I’d say that there was no real purpose for learning the
language. Or at least, the purpose was a sum of factors. As I have stated, I
really liked it –and still do, obviously-. English becoming a lingua franca
also helped. And how can we forget the fact that it gave me extra time to be
with my best friend, who attended there too. It’s ironic that we don’t speak
anymore now, isn’t it?
The teacher
we had there was quite good. She taught me lots of things, but I think I
achieved my level of fluency by watching tons of movies, tv shows, and listening
to music in English. Soon, I was able to understand what they were saying
without subtitles, or checking the lyrics. Well, not always. If I’m trying to
watch an Irish movie, or listen to ‘‘Flogging Molly’’, there is no doubt that I
will need to recur to subtitles, for the Irish accent is too thick for me to
understand yet.
Regarding
expectations, I think they were met. I wanted to be able to communicate with English-speaking
folks, which I can now. It’s a bit unnerving to not be able to understand when
spoken to. I believe that was my main motivation, communicating with others.
In summary,
I think I got the best out of the experience. I would walk that same path again
if I were given the chance to go back. So there is no doubt in saying that I’m genuinely
satisfied with my formation.
