Describe a thing you did to learn a language
You should say:
- What language you learned
- What you did
- How it helped you
- How you felt about it
Sample Answer
A few years ago I realized that if I wanted to make further progress in English and sound more like a native English speaker, I would somehow have to gain more exposure to the language native English speakers would use every day. But I couldn’t pack up and go to a country where English is spoken natively, so I knew I had to find a way to always get exposed to it at home.
All my friends said I had to subscribe to Netflix and start watching series and TV shows in English. And this is what I did. I remember I started with a TV series which I had already seen in my own language. It was Friends. Who hasn’t watched Friends? After that I always found what to watch. First, I watched films and series in English with the subtitles in my own language, so I could check the meaning of any vocabulary I didn’t know easily. Later, I had the subtitles in English ; paused if the characters spoke too quickly. When I started feeling more confident, I watched each episode without subtitles. I used the 10 second ‘back’ button to try again and again to catch all the new words and conversational phrases. Then I played each scene again and watched the scene with English subtitles on.Then I looked them up and watched the scene AGAIN to see how these new words were used in the context. I watched each episode as many times as I needed to get used to the speed, pronunciation, and common expressions used. After that, I always practiced SHADOWING, which I’m sure really helped improve my fluency. I tried to repeat what they were saying at the same time. Again, I used my favorite ten second ‘back’ button to practice saying and repeating some short phrases a few times.
I believe watching Netflix series and TV shows helped me a lot as I learned the most current version of a language, stuff that may not even exist in textbooks. I learned to speak naturally and easily. And it helped me develop my listening skills. What’s important is that it was never boring.
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