Twenty years ago, my husband, two teenage daughters, and I moved to the United States for permanent residence. I was almost 37 years old, and I was pregnant with my third child. Neither I
or my husband knew English even at the elementary level. We hoped that being
in a environment where people only spoke English would help us learn faster. But our hopes ended up in complete disappointment and confusion.
Unfortunately, we quickly learned that was not to be the case.
Both daughters had
learned some English from school. They had very poor English, I have to admit, but they still knew something anyway. They began to study in the USA. The younger daughter attended high school, the older one began studying at the university. I cannot say that everything was easy for them, but after a while they began to
speak English fluently.
I gave birth to a third daughter soon. Although I was busy, I always tried to learn English. How did I do it? I read books, dictionaries, some textbooks, even learned English words through one program with a running line. I used everything that was available in the late 90s. What was the result? I read quite well. But I did not understand spoken English at all.
At 42, I went to college hoping to improve my English. I chose the
Computer Science major, because math and logics are a universal science. Mathematical signs as numbers are the same in Russia and America. Although I was a linguist by education in Russia, mathematics seemed to me much easier than English
at that time.
After 3 years I graduated from college. What was the result? I read well, I knew many words, I could even make a sentence and say it, with a wild Russian accent, of course. I could take part in a small conversation, I could even prepare a speech on a given topic, but the spoken language of other people remained a completely dark and mysterious area for me. I did not understand the teachers during
a lecture, or the doctor during hospital visit, and I was terribly afraid of a phone call.
After graduating from college, I continued my education at the university. During this time, my youngest daughter grew up. English became her first language, but I still could not understand it. I began to think that I belong to a small number of people who are completely incapable of learning foreign languages. I thought about it all the time. Why can my child do this, but not me? We started from one point. We both could not do many things. She could not do even more than me, but now she is far ahead, and I am still at the same place. Why?
Suddenly I got an idea.
