Yellow fellow

Being able to speak in many languages is interesting, because indirectly we also learn other’s culture. Nowadays many people can speak more than two languages. Some people even can speak a second language fluently. Then, a question appeared in my mind, “How did they acquire the second language?”. Since I have a dream to be able to speak in many languages, so I started asking many people to answer the question. Some people said they took a course before for years. Some said they studied abroad before. The rest of them said that they learned the language through the internet, games, songs, and movies. According to their opinion, through those medias we still can practice our four basic skills : listening, speaking, reading, writing.

Then, I started watching a lot of English movies and listening to English songs. My English was not really improved back then, moreover I never taken any English course before. I could understand when I heard someone speak in English, but it was hard for me to answer. I was afraid.

Fortunately, one day I had a chance to learn in an English course! At first I was surprised that most of the time would be spent with the computer to practice the four basic skills! However most of the students improved their English. That makes me realize that not only the language but also the technology that we use in learning is also improved. When I was in primary school, we did not use any computers, but nowadays people use softwares in learning and teaching a language.

I feel that technology really help people in learning a language. However, it has some disadvantages too. For instance, if we only interact through computer, it will be hard for us to talk face-to-face later on. So, in my opinion, the best way to learn and teach a language is by combining both technology and ‘live’ practice (find somebody to talk face-to-face).