Hi everyone, in this first lesson I plan on talking a bit about my language goals and how I am improving by using LingQ. My story starts several years ago when I was 8 years old when me, my step mum and my dad went on holiday to Berlin together. We went out to a bar and the lady behind the bar was called Honey, she was a very helpful lady and although I was only 8 she took an interest in helping me, my Step mum had taught me how to ask for a small coke in German earlier that day and so I would ask her when I went up to the bar, after a while she wrote a few phrases down for me because she could see that I was interested in learning the language, my step mum also taught me to count to 12 and I was amazed at how quickly I picked it up and how much I enjoyed communicating without speaking English. I will always remember that night as it was the beginning of my language learning adventure; I still have the receipt to this day from that very night. A few years past without anything happening and then upon starting middle school at the age of 10 I started learning French, I picked it up very quickly although I always questioned the school method, we studied a lot of grammar however I began studying for 15 minutes a day at home. After 3 years of French at middle school it started to become a bore for me and I started to loose interest although with high school just around the corner I was eager to begin another language, the teachers looked at everyone grades in the year and anyone who had done well in French was allowed to do 2 languages at high school, which lead me to choosing German and French, time went by and I wasn't really enjoying languages at school so at the age of 15 I began to study German intensively at home to see if I could achieve some better results, I was astonished. I never really wanted to take French any further, but anyone who studied two languages had to have French as one of them. I ended up dropping French as soon as I could and then began to concentrate on German.
Then about 4 months ago (May 2010) I found LingQ and began to take language learning seriously, I had looked at various other language learning systems before, but none of them had really given me the freedom that LingQ has. I fell in love instantly with LingQ and began to really get into using its revolutionary method. After a month of German at LingQ I saw the progress that I had made and started to believe that I could do this with any language, it was at that moment that I realised that I could be a polyglot. I became so obsessed with the idea of languages that I would study them whenever I had a moment free. I would even study in the shower via singing in a foreign language or making up a song in a foreign language.
I began to study Spanish about 3 months ago with the ambition of getting to an intermediate level within the year. At first I doubted myself and felt that there was no chance, but with the help of LingQ tutors I gained confidence rapidly. I began to learn words like they were going out of fashion, I learnt 50 words a day for the first three months, but after that I had to slow down as I had begun to forget key points of the language, I used various tutors to aid my Spanish and certain tutors helped me with grammar. Berta helped me a lot in the initial stages with my writing and now I am able to write with confidence with very few mistakes. I am currently at a high beginner level in Spanish and I am able to have conversations with native Spaniards on a daily basis. I enjoy talking with my friends from Spain and Germany and I hope that I can visit one of these countries in the near future to help hone my skills.
I then decided a few weeks ago to have a little go at Chinese, I am only looking at it every now and again and I am also submitting writings on LingQ (25 words or so). I am very pleased with my progress with LingQ so far and I think that in the near future I will have no problem meeting my goal to speak at least 10 languages with fluency. I am already on my way and I am happy that I found LingQ and that I now have the confidence to converse with natives in different languages every day.
