A Hard Road

Learning a second language nowadays it is essential for a good career, but it is not so easy, the person who want learn a second language needs to work hard. For example, in my case, a Brazilian guy who would like to improve my English, there are many troubles to achieve this. First of all, the biggest problem in my opinion is the pronunciation. There are a lot of similar words between Portuguese and English languages, but the way how you say the word is completely different. For example, the word “artificial” has the same spelling in both languages, but the pronunciation is distinct. Second, a trouble that affects many Brazilians is the speaking. When an adult thinks about how he will talk some sentence, he first think in the sentence in Portuguese, after he try to say the sentence in English. For example, in my first week in United States, I always thought a sentence in Portuguese before to tell something. Therefore, I usually spoke with a lot of “that”, because in Portuguese you need always join some sentences and in English it is often not necessary. Finally, another problem that are related with people who try to learn a second language is the listening. Sometimes the person know what means some word and can understand it when someone talks only the word, but when a word comes with a big sentence, it is much more difficult to understand. For example in my first class at AECP, I had some knowledge about a lot of words in English but when my first class started and my teacher talked a lot of sentences without stop, I did understand nothing, but it was a mixture of fear and anxiety. Fortunately, now I am more accustomed with English class and I can understand almost everything that some teacher tells for me. To conclude, the knowledge about a second language is something very wanted, but it is something difficult to be achieved. As a personal tip, how Su-Kyeong said for us, it is normal to make mistakes, and you don’t need to be worried about it, just lift your head and try another time.