Essay 2-01a: How I think about language

I have studied three languages. I studied Japanese, English, and Spanish. In addition, I learned Chinese, Korean, and Italy less than them. I am from Kumamoto, in Japan, so my mother tongue is Japanese. When I was four years old, I could read katakana and hiragana better than others a little bit. I heard that I could speak many words when I was a child.

I have studying English about 8 years. I studied it for the first time when I was seventh grade in junior high school. I liked foreign things very much, so I wanted to study more. I was happy to know about English and its detail. The teacher was very kind, so he taught me friendly and I could understand well. My favorite subject is English even now.

I like foreign things, so I often see the Western drama, TV, and movies, listen to the Western music, read overseas fashion and gossip magazines. Of course, they are written in English. I try to read it fluently, but it is not easy for me. I heard from my high school’s teacher, and she said the best way to be good at English which you can daily is listening to the Western music. I still do it in everyday life according to the instruction.

In this university, if you are a student of foreign language depart, you should choose the second language and study it. When I was a freshman, I selected Spanish. The reason why I choose this is I wanted to travel to Spain. Spanish is not difficult for me. Although spelling is good, grammar is difficult. So I was worried about understanding this. But I repeated studying, I became better more and more.

I like studying languages. I study them, and I can study not only language but also its history, culture, and atmosphere. I take Introduction to Linguistics class, but I learned many things about Japanese even I am Japanese. Japanese has how to read, grammar, pronunciation, idiom, and so on. Even if my tongue is Japanese, I think it is very interesting.

Like I said in the beginning, I have learned Chinese, Korean, and Italy a little bit. When I went to experience entrance of some university, there are trial lessons, so I could take those classes. In Chinese class, I told how to write my name in Chinese from the teacher. I was very happy to know that. The languages which I don’t know are around the world, so I want to know those.

I want to live and work in overseas in the future. English is common language in the world, so I want to be good at English. I must read fluently, speak like natives, understand better than now. In addition, I want to travel around the world! I want to make a lot of friends, but I don’t enough courage and I am shy. I want to be friend with an exchange student. I will be an English master.

[500 words]