Because I have only seen my internship hosts twice, I will aslo integrate my real life experience in these blig posts. If not, I would not have enough examples to give.
Listening Comprehension
I used to live in Saint-Hyacinthe, a french town, and I moved in Montreal over the last summer. I was already bilingual, but moving to Montreal has helped my english to ameliorate a lot. Of course, working within an english internship has also brought more to my english, because working with adults brings a different way of communicating than communicating with friends for example. My english has changed since I have moved to Montreal, mostly because I speak a lot more in english here (with my mom at home or with friends and teachers at school). It might not seem like it when you just think about it, but in reality it helps. I have learned some new vocabulary and have made it richer as well. I also make a lot less mistakes now. I used to switch words from french to english, or try to translate when I could not find the word by myself. I remember I used to say 'close the lights' a lot or say 'do my bed', when in reality the right terms are 'turn off the lights' and 'make my bed'. To restrain myself from doing the same mistakes, I try and repeat them in my head, or I get my mom to correct me. Whenever she hears me say something wrong, she corrects me, and usually at one point it stays in my head.
Accent
According to my mom and my boyfriend, my accent is now less pronounced than it used to be when I lived in a french environment. Now, I have less diffculty to pronounce words the way they should be, but I still have a hard time with certain words. For example, I always have had a problem with the sound made by the letters 'thr'. If you ask me to pronounce the words 'three, truth, thriller' or any other word slowly, I will be able to do it. On the other hand, if I say these words quickly in a sentence I usually have a difficult time and I need to say it twice or more to get it correctly. Some words I have learned to pronounce the right way, for example 'thought' or 'twice'. I used to say 'tought' and 'two times', but my mom taught me the right words. When I speak, I can feel my mouth is more confident in a way. Before, I was sometimes scared or not sure of my words before speaking english. Now, I am much more confident.
Fluency
I have become more fluent in english. I can now give my opinion on what I want, and it is better when you feel more confident. If there is one subject that still causes me hesitation, it is politics. Oral presentations are also something that I have difficulty with. I have never been a fan of politics, and I do not have a wide knowledge of it, so when people talk about it, I feel like I have nothing to say. I wish to learn more about politics and about how they work, because I know the basics, but not enough to have a fluid conversation with someone else. As I said, I also have a hard time with oral presentations. I do not like to talk in any manner in front of a group of people. It makes me intimidated, and I become as red as a lobster! It is not a proper 'subject', but I thought it would be pertinent to involve it. Oral presentations require a lot of fluency, and I have to work on being less stressed and choosing the good words when talking in front of people.
Humour
I think what I have noticed the most about english humour, is that it is very direct and it involves a lot of puns. I remember once during my internship when we were meeting with people who were taking care of the McGill-Concordia hockey game, Mike, one of my hosts, introduced me as a 'professional tweeter'. It made everyone laugh, including me, because I am a simple student. It's the kind of humour that I like, simple but funny! On the other hand, I do not always comprehend english humour. The other day, I posted a picture on twitter of a spider. One of my friends commented and said 'where's the boot?' as in 'where is the boot so I can squash it?' but I did not understand the joke and had to ask him to explain. I find that english and french humour are very different, in a way where english is more sarcastic and involves puns, where on the other half french is less sarcastic. I find, personnally, that French humour uses a lot of derision towards other people or objects and their weak points. English humour, however, has more of a link with self derision. I have noticed as well that french people like mixing up letters or words just to fool around with their sentences, where english people do not.
Accuracy
I make an attempt to speak more accurately every day I can. For example, the words 'once' or 'twice' are words I kept forgetting before, and saying 'one time' or 'two times' instead. Sometimes, I also switch verb tenses that have the same sense (speak/talk, make/do) to me, but in reality they do not. Fluency is also something I want to ameliorate, because I believe no one is perfect and I still have to work on it. I have noticed that I like speaking english more and more instead of french, I find it gives more freedom of speech and it is a more 'pretty' language, as to where french (from quebec) is not beautiful at all, in my opinion.
New words, expressions or structures
I have learned quite a lot of new words over the years, bit I can't remember all of them. I know five I have learned are 'once', 'twice', 'accomodation', 'currency', 'hardware'. These are everyday words that I heard at home or at school, and I asked people what they meant.
-Once : one time
-Twice : two times
-Accomodation : a place to stay or live
-Currency : the money used in a certain country
-Hardware : solid parts of a computer system
It is useful to learn these type of everyday words because that's just it : they are used quite a bit. I have learned other new words but unfortunately I cannot remember everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment