Single moment narrative

Single moment narrative

As I came to understand, English is an international language that’s both simple and difficult to learn. The language is simple because even as a second language, a lot of people can understand and grasp concepts quickly, but it is difficult because adhering to all written and spoken English requires a lot of knowledge to know how to pronounce and respect specific linguistic rules. For example, using a comma is something that seems simple, but if you delve deeper, you will realize a lot of regulations are involved in using a comma appropriately. Well, my journey in learning and writing in English has been with both highs and lows. I keep learning new concepts every day, and in the same way, I keep improving. Today, I reflect on the journey as an English learner.

My journey started at the tender age of five when my mother and father brought me some elementary books written in English. Saudi, like the rest of the Arabian countries, is very conservative, hence prompting the use of local language and culture as opposed to learning foreign languages. But I am glad that today the country’s ambitions have encouraged more people to even study in the US. To this day, I am thankful to my parents for recognizing the need for learning a new language and making a great effort too. For the first few years, it was challenging to adopt a new way of interpreting things. But because of the images presented in the books, I was able to decipher the little things and made several efforts to pronounce them in English. Slowly, I began to make headway in learning English. Although it was easier to read and pronounce things in Arabic, I had no choice because, at the end of each section, there was a small test to determine whether you understood anything. The best part was that my dad supervised me during the short test and also checked on my progress. And, from ABC… I started to learn new words, pictured what they meant in my mind, and made some effort to pronounce them.

My second most significant milestone for learning and writing in English was during my high school years. Every year, it was mandatory to take at least one English class. The class will teach you how to read and write in English. This was often attained through well-organized lectures, online tutorials, book reading, assignment writing, and evaluation. Most of the time, we were required to write original papers to solve particular problems or tell a story, analytical essays to decipher the meaning behind specific articles and argumentative papers to differentiate the strengths and weaknesses of particular issues, actions, or things. The documents were to be the basis of learning English. They were to teach us how to be practical in reading and writing in English. More importantly, they were focused on comprehension, speaking fluency, and gain a general command of the language. Notable examples of the content included simple topics such as sounds, grammar, understanding, and writing skills. Some specific things include tenses, parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives, and types of sentences such as pure compound and complex sentences. This learning increased the number of hours that I interacted with English, and eventually, I found myself gaining more interest in the language.

Later in life, when I was 18 years old, I moved to Florida in the US and enrolled in some classes at the University of Tampa, where I took more English language lessons. The lessons were instrumental in developing a decent relationship with reading and writing. The most important part of this journey in learning English was the practical use of the English language in my conversation. Unlike the culture in Saudi Arabia, people in the US use English exclusively for communication. Thus, in my stay, I was forced to learn English directly from the university and directly from all the daily interactions I had with the Americans. I got a chance to practice what I had learned earlier in Saudi Arabia and corrected my mistakes in both spoken and written English. At the university, I also got the help of the tutors who understood the challenges of learning English as a second language. They helped me with my after class revisions and gave me lots of materials to read and video tutorials to watch.

Nonetheless, my journey of interactions with English has its main challenges. My main struggle with English has been my accent, although it has improved over the years. My younger years in Saudi Arabia, alongside the interaction with my family, influenced all forms of my spoken communication. The Arabic language that is common in my country has changed my accent when speaking English. Each time I talk about anybody from other countries, I can tell that English is my second language and there is a lot of influence from my local language. My teacher and friends at the University of Tampa found it interested that I struggled with English, but they were helpful. At first, I never understood my teacher, who spoke English with a heavy American accent, but upon realizing my struggles, I adjusted accordingly and started getting along smoothly. My stay in the US helped me practice the pronunciation of words as people using English as a first language would do. Although I can’t match their capability, I believe I have improved, and my language is better. Besides, during my free time, I am fond of learning pronunciations of different English words from the dictionary and other outline platforms. Such as; the online platforms, I often try to speak each word of English using the correct pronunciations. After all the long practice and learning, I have gained confidence regardless of the setback, and I believe I am a better reader and writer of English.

My journey as an English learner, as seen above, has had it challenged and successes. To get where I am, I celebrate all the little achievements I have experienced. From a young age, I have become a more competent English reader and writer. It has come through the help of the people close to the great teachers that I have met along the way and me. Also, it is my firm belief that no one should be judged because of their accent. We all come from different places, and as long as the message is clear, then there is no cause for alarm. This is because even an American or even a person from the UK can be unclear in some parts of the world. All the same, I hope to improve and talk more eloquently with little to no pauses. In the future, I hope to be ready and well-positioned to write professional papers such as high quality research work. I will continue to work hard reading and practicing more quality-oriented writing. I realize that the book is an essential part of my everyday career. Hence everyone needs to learn and perfect it, especially in this modern, highly globalized environment.