Aprendiz 4:
Narrativa coletada por Liliane Sade
How
has it happened?…
I’m
not sure how it all started… I remember that I enrolled myself in an English
course when I was 13. Since then I am sure I love to speak a foreign language,
English in this case. During the years I was learning English in a private
school I was one of the best students. I was always listening to English pop
music and eager to understand the lyrics to be able to sing it properly. I was
attempt to every foreign on the streets. I used to offer them my help and some
tips, ask where they were from and about their culture and tell about mine.
I
really wanted to speak and understand English and I realized that my reality was
Portuguese, as I was living in Brazil. I could not speak and hear English very
often, so that I decided to bring English into my life. I started reading comics
and books in English. I started bringing the opportunities closer to me, I
brought English to my everyday life. I announced that I could translate English
into Portuguese and vice-versa and I had some work to do during this time.
I
went on learning English and after some years all I wanted was to travel abroad
to an English speaking country, mainly England. I took it as a life objective
during those times: I started putting money together, dedicating more often to
English language and settle a possible date for my trip. It happened just the
day I planned: I flew to London on the settle date.
About
my experience in London: I was ashamed to speak, British accent was not easy to
understand… but, anyhow I had to communicate, I had to make myself understood
and there was a lot on in put all the time over: television, radio, out doors,
magazines, etc. Everything was contributing to the improvement of the language
inside my brain. English started “occupying” a much bigger room inside it.
