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Lesson 1: You can achieve proficiency with a language even if you don’t know all its technicalities.
If I have to pick an age, I’d say I started learning English when I was 7 years old. That’s when formal education started.
Though English is the language all schools are conducted in in Singapore, I had no concept of grammar until I was 11 years old, even then my grasp of the language was weak. It was a creature I didn’t understand at all.
My parents didn’t study English during their time, so we only spoke mandarin and Chinese dialects at home. The English lessons in school weren’t helpful to me — I couldn’t understand the rules of the language when the teachers were teaching them. I couldn’t even keep track of what nouns, pronouns and tenses meant!
As a result, my foundation for English remained weak to this day. Can I be honest? I can’t tell you what’s an “article”, and what “past participle” mean.
I can’t explain the syntax of English, but I can read, write and speak in English! I hope I haven’t lost your attention…
Lesson 2: Reading alone wouldn’t help you master a language.
