Language Acquisition (English)

As a non-native speaker, who did not grow up in an environment surrounded by English speakers, learning English has been incomparably difficult.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130729000452

However, it is also true that there are still many people who do not give up learning because of their age. They always encourage me and keep me motivated.

http://education.kera.org/its-never-too-late-to-learn-says-85-year-old-student-learning-english/

In my university in Japan, I was taking a lot of English courses including writing, reading, listening and speaking. One of my professors suggested us to read news in English online and every class, we had to summarize the article and present in front of the class.

BBC Learning English    http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

Voice of America English News http://www.voanews.com/

Breaking News English http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/mini_lessons.html

CNN Student News http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/

To improve our listening skill, we also used internet sites to play English games. It made it easier for us to keep learning because we could have fun and study at the same time.

Lyrics Training http://lyricstraining.com/

Games to learn English http://gamestolearnenglish.com/

Even though we study and practice hard, one thing which I would say the hardest to acquire is the native accent. I have been told by many friends that I have some Japanese accent when I speak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECJRMBjX4PE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hO9V_gAs0M

The difference between British English and American English always confuses us as well. In Japan, since we’ve been taught American English in school, most students are not familiar with British accent and spelling. It takes a lot of practice for us to learn and to be able to understand British English because I sometimes sounds like a completely different language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsdhOKZv0uo

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/dialectsofenglish.html