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Foreign language can be experienced in different ways and at different stages of people’s lives. Some people gain their first experience with a foreign language in their early childhood, while some don’t get in touch with other languages other than their mother tongue until they become adults. One of the common ways to get in touch with foreign language is watching TV program, or in the recent years finding various content on the Internet. As a result, while watching TV or surfing the Internet, people can develop some listening and reading skills, but almost completely miss on speaking and writing. Travelling is a perfect way to get experience with a foreign language. Finding oneself in a country in which everybody around speaks the same foreign language can be amusing, but after some time also a bit frustrating (difficulties to find the right direction, hard time ordering food in a restaurant or buying gifts in shops). Nevertheless, hearing many people around speaking their mother tongue gives people a unique and valuable experience and a chance to feel the spirit of the country through the everyday language. There is one situation that I find almost perfect for learning any foreign language. It is the situation when people are born in a country or a part of a country where more languages are used as official ones. I myself had that experience, being born and raised in a small town in northern Serbia close to the Hungarian border. From as long as I can remember I was able to hear Hungarian language (my native language is Serbian) everywhere I’d go – streets, shops, offices, schools, playgrounds…I gained many friends whose mother tongue was Hungarian and started to speak Hungarian in my early childhood. I continued to use the language on daily basis until the age of eighteen when I moved to Beograd for college. I kept in touch with my friends from Senta and I can say that my Hungarian has remained on a very high level. As for my English language experience, it started with small-group lessons when I was nine years old. I had had regular lessons throughout my schooling. Nowadays I practice and try to improve my English skills through my job (I work for a US company as a meteorologist) and through speaking to my boyfriend who is a US citizen (we both live in Beograd, Serbia). Although my English vocabulary became richer than Hungarian over the years, I still find it much easier to speak Hungarian. I believe this is the result of living in a multi-language environment from my early childhood. The way people feel while being in touch with a foreign language depends on many factors, and individual character is one of them. Some people are more open to listening to a new language and often freely try to speak and experiment themselves. They don’t feel uncomfortable to talk to native speakers and find joy in such situations. On the other hand, some people find themselves nervous in a group of people speaking foreign language and feel shy to speak. I believe, based on my own experience, that breaking the barrier to speak opens the possibility to improve fast in any foreign language. Teachers should work on motivating and encouraging their students to freely speak and experiment with all aspects of the language. Positive attitude, readiness to use many different teaching techniques, playful approach to teaching, friendly relationship with the students can all contribute to successful learning.
