1.4 Overcoming Language Barriers

I almost lost self-confidence in my English after I attended the first class at McGill. Two things happened had an impact on my confidence. The first thing was I found the teacher spoke too fast. I couldn’t follow the pace and content of the class at all, let alone take notes. Before I came to Canada, I had one year experience in working with Western experts for one state key project. I had no difficulty talking to my counterparts when I visited the USA. Until the first class, I didn't realize those foreign experts slowed their speaking rate when they talked to me. The second thing gave me a greater shock than the first one. A Chinese girl, one of my schoolmates, took me to the Student Insurance office. On the way to the office, she met her friend who was a native speaker. They talked for a few minutes. I was listening carefully but I was not able to catch anything from their conversation. The two things forced me to re-evaluate my language ability and skill level.

I immediately adjusted my study plan accordingly. I started to spend much more time in watching TV shows and movies, sometimes even commercial advertisements. From the first beginning, I didn’t use television caption function. However, I decided to use that caption feature when I found out it gave me more help in understanding and using English grammar and choosing the right words for the right situations. I have been maintaining the habit of watching TV and movies. Nowadays I go to cinema twice each week. I am so happy that I can fully and naturally enjoy any Hollywood movies without any problems.

Another way I used to improve my English was to join the language exchange program organized by the Office of International Student and scholar. This was a free program. I found this one hour or two hours program didn’t help me too much in improving my language skills; however, I enjoyed it very much because it did help me a lot in enhancing my interpersonal and communication skills. It gave me a chance to talk to someone whom I didn’t know at all or who was from another country. I even made a good friend there. I have been keeping the interest in joining any English clubs and corners whenever and wherever I work or travel. I even joined the Toastmasters Club at Yale University where most members are native speakers who want to develop their speech and presentation skills.

However, the most effective way was to receive a formal training. It is mandatory at McGill University that graduate students doing a thesis must pass one course in Academic Writing. While taking the class of Academic Writing, I also selected one course in Pronunciation. These two classes offered me a fantastic opportunity to correct my pronunciation and improve my writing skills. I often stayed in the language lab to repeat listening, reading and recording until I felt satisfied with my homework. The course of Academic Writing was undoubtedly helpful. I remembered after I finished my thesis, my supervisor Dr Noumoff praised me. He said one of my great achievements at McGill University was I reached a good command of English. I have always been keeping the enthusiasm in learning English. Even after I joined Yale University, I still attended several classes particularly designed for internationals and even for native speakers.