What’s the reason behind this blog daw?
Actually, masyadong cliché kung sasabihin kong “to express myself”, though that is partly the reason.
However, for the most part, it goes back to the time when I was frustrated with the level of my English Fluency and Comprehension.
There was this time when, whenever I want to say or write something in English, the thoughts in my mind came in in Filipino or Tagalog and sometimes in vernacular, then I’d mentally translate those thoughts to English. (Relate? Ano nga sa English ang…?)
For some, this is pretty effective if you are writing, but can be very cumbersome or even awkward if done during actual conversations. (Though I think, even when writing only, this process is time consuming).
Then, I’ve read online that English speaking is a skill. A perishable skill actually. If you keep on using it, thinking in it, speaking it, you’ll eventually master the skill.
And NO, the ability to speak English is not a measure of a person’s intelligence. (So don’t fault yourself for your inability to fluently conversate in English). Rather, it can be seen in the way that the person used the language to express his intelligence.
That’s the one big motivation that led me to start this blogging hobby.
So you may ask, how am I today? Did this act improve my English Comprehension and Fluency?
Honestly, I can’t judge myself. It’s for you to say that. But hear this: whenever I think of ideas now, I think in English. There’s no translation going on inside my head. The process is now automatic. However I say it, whatever I write here is exactly how I’ve thought it.
Of course, it’s not as simple as that. Behind the blogging activities, I reviewed grammar rules, proper choice of words, among other English rules there is to review. Even now. Heck, I do it all the time.
Also, I discovered that fluency is one thing about skill, but comprehension indeed involves intelligence.
I am not perfect though. Once in a while, I would still commit mistakes, sometimes in pronounciation, most of the times, clerical errors, and there’s the time when I get confused by some grammar rules. (Sino ba hindi?)
But overall, without “lifting my own chair”, I’d say that I did improve a lot since I’ve started this hobby.
