Who am I? – Learn Advanced English

Who am I?

A little about the owner of Learn Advanced English.com and why it all started

Created using images from: Pixabay.com - unknown; OpenClipart-Vectors; Pexels.

So, who exactly is driving Learn Advanced English.com?

Me! (... and you!)

This is the proud owner of Learn Advanced English.com.

This page tells a little more about his story.

Hello! It's wonderful you are here.

My name is Jonathan. I was born and grew up near Manchester in the North of England. I moved to Lancashire just before my 18th birthday and have spent most of my years there. I live in a valley and am grateful everyday for the beauty of the hills.

When I was 19, I was called as a missionary for my church - the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I was sent to France and Belgium for 2 years (one year in each country). I tried to help and lift people and taught a Christian-based message about families. Obviously, as you can imagine, I learnt many things too.

Here it was that my fascination with language truly began.

I had learnt French at school till the age of 16, but when I was living there I quickly realised how little I actually knew. It took me 6 months before I could hold a conversation. Up until that time I had many moments of frustration: there were many times where I didn't have much clue what was going on. Starting conversations and not being able to participate as much as I would like, I'll never forget the first time I succeeded. I'd just moved to a new area (Metz, in France) and was talking to someone on the phone. We spoke for 45 minutes!

My method of learning whilst I was out there was simple. I would talk to people, and when there were words said that I didn't understand or I wanted to say I would look them up in the dictionary.

I suppose you could say my experience was like a 2-year conversation class!

I felt like I improved a lot. When I returned, I applied for various universities to do French and Business studies. Some were not interested. Why? Because, despite being in French-speaking countries for 2 years, I hadn't studied French at college, so I didn't have an A-Level qualification in it.* Others however, were willing to speak to me. I took informal entrance exams at the University of Central Lancashire.

*Usually, A-Levels are the exam qualifications that you obtain in the UK at age 18, after 2 years of study.

Created using image from: Peggy_Marco on Pixabay.com.

2 years of college versus 2 years in the country... who wins?

My tutor told me my vocabulary was excellent - much higher than a lot of people that go through college. Oddly though, my understanding of French grammar needed attention. I was quicker and more intuitive, but my actual understanding of the rules was below average. I knew a lot of French but didn't truly know what I was doing: I hadn't mastered it.

What I had really needed, was to have someone with me along the way who had mastered the language, and could demonstrate and correct.

I spent another 8 months in Annecy, France for my University degree. I translated film reviews and synopses from French to English for an animated film festival. It was a great experience and I truly enjoyed being there. I found translation work to be fun and satisfying.

Created using image from: Peggy_Marco on Pixabay.com.

There are different levels to translation work. Communicating in another language is not just finding the same words in the target language (which isn't always possible, anyway), it is about creating the correct tone and feeling as well. That requires an increasing level of experience.

Two things will help you with translation work: a greater understanding of the languages; a greater understanding of the cultures. This is why with works of art, they are almost always best enjoyed in the original language.

I was able to do an admirable job of translating French to English with help from the dictionary and the French native office staff, but I wouldn't have been able to translate in the other direction - English to French - without a much greater command of the language and culture.

Teaching English as a foreign language was part of my degree, and I gained further qualification afterwards with CELTA. My dissertation was about teaching English to foreign students over the Internet too.

I came to understand the importance of harnessing group influence to thoroughly understand lesson material. It is a lot more effective than each class member having a separate experience of learning in the class.

Living in France and Belgium, I became very familiar with the absolute joy of learning to communicate in a foreign language. I loved the people and I loved being amongst them, speaking with them, enjoying their culture and learning from them too. I wanted to be able to communicate as freely as they could, yet I became frustrated by the limited ways I had of expressing myself.

To communicate like a native, I learned the importance of the use of stories and the re-telling of them. Doctors of language have proven this, but I know it from my own experience too.

If I'd had a personal language guide with me throughout my language journey, I know I would have finished it a lot more advanced than I was.

Created using image from: Peggy_Marco on Pixabay.com.

Learn Advanced English.com comes from my studies and my perspective as a language learner myself. It is a reflection of how I would like to learn; how I would do things better if I had the opportunity.

It is something I have dreamed of doing since I was at university.

I'm a bit older now. I'm married and have a 14 year old son.

Building this website and getting this business going is the dream coming true!

What dreams do you have? If learning English has any part in any of them, I would love to be your guide on your English language journey.

This is the end of the page "Who am I?"

I'm so glad you visited my website! I hope you will try learning with me.

Are you ready?

I want to be a student with Learn Advanced English.com!

Have you read all my pages yet? When you've read how Learn Advanced English.com works, I hope you'll try some lessons.

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