Describe a time when you first talked in a foreign language
You should say
- Where were you
- Who you were with
- What did you talk about
- And explain how you felt about it
Well speaking in some foreign language is a great experience in itself. The only foreign language that I know pretty well is English. I spoke in English for the first time when I was in grade fourth. It was a time when my cousin sister who is half Indian half white came to India for the first time to our home in the year 2000. She came along with my real brother and Grandmother to attend my brother’s marriage which was fixed here. When I met her, she immediately became comfortable with me and began talking to me in English. Although I had been studying in an English medium school since Kindergarten, I never communicated with anyone in English at home. It’s because my mother and father used to speak to me in Punjabi language only and at school we mostly used Hindi.
However, I started talking to her in English slowly and slowly because she knew a little Punjabi. My brother told me that I was talking just fine and was not making any errors, but as I was young I did not know a lot of vocabulary words then but I tried my best. She shared many things about her life with me, she told me about her best friends and taught me some english songs that were her favourite. She also told me about the Canadian lifestyle and that she was feeling great being here. I could understand all she was saying but talked less than she was. I also tried telling her about my friends at school and in the neighbourhood. I felt great talking in english for the first time, it made me feel more confident regarding the use of the language and her stay in Canada really helped me build a command over the language in childhood as we mostly used to talk in English and sometimes in Punjabi too so that she could learn some of it.
She stayed in India for over a year with us and went back to Canada with my brother and sister-in-law in 2001.
