My Personal Method for Improving English Skills

Although I'm still very lacking, it's undeniable that my English skills have greatly improved compared to the early days of my life in the US. Back then, I couldn't even say a simple sentence in English, so I always had to ask for an interpreter. Even if I had studied English in Korea, the English I encountered in American society exceeded expectations and was beyond imagination.

I, who cannot have a college life or a decent job like others, started from 2016 and sought and challenged my own method called lifelong education. Although the fields I continue to study are slightly different and have changed, through all these processes, things that I couldn't hear started to be heard, and eventually, I was able to speak.

At this point, my method of acquiring English can be said to be somewhat bizarre. Usually, the most common way to build English skills is to watch and shadow American dramas, but I have never gone through this process, and I don't like watching dramas and movies by nature. Moreover, I have never taken TOEFL or IELTS, except for the exams within the state itself.

So, it can be said that it's a great blessing that I've made writing, which others envy and can't have, my own powerful weapon. I am a person who is much more comfortable with writing than speaking, no matter what language it is, and I am very lacking in explaining my thoughts through my mouth, but I can clearly convey them to others through writing, such as text. That's why I'm writing like this now.

Anyway, learning, applying, and utilizing the fields I'm interested in in English, not my native language, has ultimately created the me of today. But English is always just a second language for me, and it's often the case that Korean is the language that comes out spontaneously. Still, I'm grateful and fortunate that I've already mastered survival English. Unless it's a field that is unfamiliar and strange to me, I can handle most of the work through conversation, big or small.

In fact, bringing English to a native speaker level can be a wild and foolish fantasy in a way. Nevertheless, I can't give up this dream because I will continue to live in the US, where I have to use English, unless there is a big change in my life, and even if a change comes, there is no harm in being good at English.

Moreover, as I mentioned before, since I set the language environment of my computer and smartphone to English from the beginning, there are also many situations where I ask questions in English and get answers in English. Nowadays, isn't it also the age of artificial intelligence, and I often ask them questions in English. There is no set rule for creating prompts, you just have to write as you please.

Anyway, I only have the heart to always maintain a humble attitude of learning without being complacent here. And if the opportunity arises, I have a wish to major in English literature at a university in Korea or Japan.