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A Review in 2 Years
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Today is an anniversary between my Floridian friend and I because 2 years ago we started to do language exchange. When we chatted over Skype today, we decided to write our experiences about doing language exchange in another language that we have been learning. Here is his journal entry: http://lang-8.com/23646/journals/745446/%EF%BC%92%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4%E8%A8%98%E5%BF%B5%E6%97%A5
I already mentioned that 2 years ago I met Zac on Smart.fm. At the time he was only 15 years old. However, I really would love to appreciate him because if I could not meet him, I definitely have not become able to speak English like this.
Two years ago, I could not communicate with people in English at all. Although I could say simple phrases in English, I did not know how to communicate with people in English. I just started to study conversational English. I was looking for a conversational partner on Smart.fm. who teaches me English every day over Skype. It does not matter for me what the person is. I just would love to do language exchange with an American person because I needed to understand an American accent because of realizing my dreams.
One day after I left a comment on one of Zac's Japanese journal entries, he sent me a message. And then, we became friends with each other. While we exchanged some messages on Smart.fm, we started to do language exchange. To tell you the truth, we were afraid of voice chatting first. He could not speak Japanese, and in addition, I also could not communicate with him in English even if I could say and type some simple phrases. So, while text chatting, we started to voice chat. Since he is a MAC user, he has a great English-Japanese dictionary in his MAC. It was very useful. We always looked for lots of words' meaning both in Japanese and English that we could not understand. When I could not express what I wanted to say in English, he always looked for the proper phrases in English with the dictionary.
In two years I have been voice chatting with him every day. For 2 years, we have done lots of things to improve our comprehension skills: words game (riddles, guessing the word that we imagines, shiritori and so on), card games, doing origami, niramekko ( that is a traditional Japanese kids' game with facial expression. While we are showing strange face to others, we compete to what degree we can stand to laugh ) and a Japanese calligraphy to learn Kanji= I toughed him how to write Japanese calligraphy ( we used a video camera and did them.), singing both Japanese songs and English songs together and so on. We really enjoyed doing language exchange every day like that.
Two years later, we realized that we became able to speak in another language almost fluently and became able to communicate people in another language easily. Of course, our skills are not enough, and we are still struggling with the language. However, right now we are confident in speaking in another language.
In addition, I really think I am lucky because even though Zac is a teenager, his spoken English sounds very educated. Since he is a very thoughtful person, he never used swear words and slang to me. Thanks to him, my spoken English never sounds like teenagers even though I was learned English by a teenager. I also would love to appreciate him because his English is very fast, so I can keep up with natural native speakers talking speed easily.
This year he came to my house to meet me and stayed at my house for 2 months. I also went to America to meet him in Florida and stayed at his house. Before we met each other, we were virtual friends. However, after we met in person, we became real friends with each other. I am looking forward to meeting him again both in America and Japan again next year.
I think doing language exchange is wonderful. We can become real friends with each other through it. We also can master another language through it. I am sure that I will become able to be a fluent English speaker near future through it.
I already mentioned that 2 years ago I met Zac on Smart.fm. At the time he was only 15 years old. However, I really would love to appreciate him because if I could not meet him, I definitely have not become able to speak English like this.
Two years ago, I could not communicate with people in English at all. Although I could say simple phrases in English, I did not know how to communicate with people in English. I just started to study conversational English. I was looking for a conversational partner on Smart.fm. who teaches me English every day over Skype. It does not matter for me what the person is. I just would love to do language exchange with an American person because I needed to understand an American accent because of realizing my dreams.
One day after I left a comment on one of Zac's Japanese journal entries, he sent me a message. And then, we became friends with each other. While we exchanged some messages on Smart.fm, we started to do language exchange. To tell you the truth, we were afraid of voice chatting first. He could not speak Japanese, and in addition, I also could not communicate with him in English even if I could say and type some simple phrases. So, while text chatting, we started to voice chat. Since he is a MAC user, he has a great English-Japanese dictionary in his MAC. It was very useful. We always looked for lots of words' meaning both in Japanese and English that we could not understand. When I could not express what I wanted to say in English, he always looked for the proper phrases in English with the dictionary.
In two years I have been voice chatting with him every day. For 2 years, we have done lots of things to improve our comprehension skills: words game (riddles, guessing the word that we imagines, shiritori and so on), card games, doing origami, niramekko ( that is a traditional Japanese kids' game with facial expression. While we are showing strange face to others, we compete to what degree we can stand to laugh ) and a Japanese calligraphy to learn Kanji= I toughed him how to write Japanese calligraphy ( we used a video camera and did them.), singing both Japanese songs and English songs together and so on. We really enjoyed doing language exchange every day like that.
Two years later, we realized that we became able to speak in another language almost fluently and became able to communicate people in another language easily. Of course, our skills are not enough, and we are still struggling with the language. However, right now we are confident in speaking in another language.
In addition, I really think I am lucky because even though Zac is a teenager, his spoken English sounds very educated. Since he is a very thoughtful person, he never used swear words and slang to me. Thanks to him, my spoken English never sounds like teenagers even though I was learned English by a teenager. I also would love to appreciate him because his English is very fast, so I can keep up with natural native speakers talking speed easily.
This year he came to my house to meet me and stayed at my house for 2 months. I also went to America to meet him in Florida and stayed at his house. Before we met each other, we were virtual friends. However, after we met in person, we became real friends with each other. I am looking forward to meeting him again both in America and Japan again next year.
I think doing language exchange is wonderful. We can become real friends with each other through it. We also can master another language through it. I am sure that I will become able to be a fluent English speaker near future through it.
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Today is an anniversary for my Floridian friend and I because 2 years ago we started to do language exchange.
However, I really appreciate him because if I did not meet him, I definitely could not have become able to speak English like this.
who would teach me English every day over Skype.
It did not matter to me who the person is.
I just wanted to do language exchange with an American person because I needed to understand an American accent in order to realize my dreams.
To tell you the truth, we were afraid of voice chatting at first.
For two years I have been voice chatting with him every day.
We have done lots of things to improve our comprehension skills, including words games (riddles, guessing the word that we imagine the other is saying, shiritori, and so on), card games, doing origami, niramekko (a traditional Japanese kids' game based on facial expressions
in which we try to make the other person laugh by making a funny face while at the same time trying not to laugh at their face ) and a Japanese calligraphy to learn Kanji (I taught him how to write Japanese calligraphy ( we used a web camera)), sang both Japanese songs and English songs together and so on.
Two years later, we realized that we became able to speak in another language almost fluently and became able to communicate with people in another language easily.
Of course, we are not perfect, and we still struggle with the language.
Thanks to him, my spoken English doesn't sound like a teenager's even though I was taught English by a teenager.
Zac
Congratulations for both!!! Without even knowing what he wrote.:)))
Congratulations!
That's quite an achievement in only 2 years. I'm a bit jealous! :)
ブランドン！
単行本のドラマ化、楽しみです。