final blog entry

In 21st century, someone who wants to be a talent person must be bilingual. Currently, most of universities in the United States have foreign language classes and Study Abroad Programs, which is to cultivate students to be bilingual. I think I am bilingual now, and I do obtain some benefits from that; however, the process of being bilingual was painful and it is still a challenge to me.

There are many benefits of being bilingual: first, I am able to set up the communication with English speakers. I can learn foreigner’s opinions and attitudes; meanwhile, I set up friendship with theses foreigners, which extends my net-work. Second, I am able to study in foreign country. I can understand the instructor’s lectures, the knowledge from textbooks, and the information from hand outs. Also, I am able to understand foreign broadcasts and TV shows; I like singing English songs, and I like watching Prison Break. It is obvious that I have more chances to obtain a job because more and more companies would like to hire bilingual students.

I also suffered difficulties. I had done good work in high school English classes, but as I started to prepare TOEFL test for MSU admission, I knew how basic the language I had learned before. The period of time of studying TOEFL was nightmare. I read the passages in Study Guide again and again but understood nothing due to lack of amounts of vocabulary. I was thinking my English speaking was bad so that I was shy to talk to English speakers. Therefore, my English speaking ability was improved slowly, which caused I did not get good score on TOEFL speaking test.

Fortunately, I reached MSU English proficiency so that I could study in the United States. I found that passing TOEFL did not mean I could use English well. Right now I am learning English from TV, text books, and local people. I learned some slangs, and I am adapting local people’s speaking speed. It is a little struggle to live into English environment, but I believe I will learn English well and use it more accurate.