Michal Ryszard Wojcik's story in learning English
Doan Chien Thang
Who are you?
larger photo My full name is Michal Ryszard Wojcik. I live in Poland
and Polish is my native language. I am a mathematician and an English
enthusiast. I learned English very well and now I want to share my
experience with other people. Together with Tomasz Szynalski, I created
Antimoon to help you learn English effectively and with enthusiasm.
How did you learn English?
I had my first contact with English when I was six. My dad inspired me
to listen to The Beatles. I listened to them every day for the next
seven years. In the beginning I could understand nothing of what they
were singing. But soon I started to understand individual words,
especially the ones which appeared in the song titles.
Later I got a book with the words of all the songs. I read the book
many times. I learned many songs by heart. I sang the songs to myself.
Still, I understood very little of the meaning. It became my dream to
learn English so well that I could understand The Beatles. So The
Beatles were my first motivation. That is how I started on my way
toward English.
Today, I can understand The Beatles very clearly. Each time I hear a
Beatles song, I am delighted and proud because I have made my childhood
dream come true. I listen to many rock bands, all in English, and I
listen every day, sometimes for over seven hours a day. I am constantly
aware of my success with English because I can understand the lyrics of
the songs I listen to. And that gives me pleasure and satisfaction for
many hours every day.
When I was 13 years old, I started reading science fiction books. I
read in Polish. The books were all American. I could not read the
original versions because I did not know English so well. As I read in
Polish, I was more and more eager to read the books in English. Somehow
I felt that in English the books would be even more interesting and the
reading would be more exciting. I finally decided that I wanted to read
books in English. This decision guided me for many years.
I learned every new English word that I encountered. With each new word
I felt closer to my goal. With each word I felt that my reading ability
was increasing. Each word added to my sense of power.
At some point I read my first whole book in English and I understood
it. That moment was a breakthrough in my life. I knew that I had broken
a barrier, gotten into a new world. I found that reading is much more
exciting in English. When I read in English, I have not only the
pleasure of reading, but also the pleasure of using English and the
pleasure of learning English. For the last four years I have read books
only in English, with very few exceptions.
I have read many pop-science books in English. Some of them are still
not available in Polish. My knowledge of English allowed me to get in
touch with the current state of evolutionary theory and cognitive
science of the mind. Without English, I would not have read these books
because there are no Polish translations of them. When I learned
English well enough to read pop-science books, I discovered that
English is a very important tool for learning science.
Currently I study mathematics. Most of the books I use are in English.
In fact, most of the books in the library at my math institute are in
English. I discovered that my knowledge of English is very important
for my study of mathematics. Without English I would be limited to the
few books which are in Polish, and there are really few of them. Over a
year ago I decided to use only English in my mathematical notes. I read
and write mathematical materials in English, like most professional
mathematicians. I have become part of the international mathematical
community. I can read mathematical materials on the Internet and I can
publish my own materials, with no language barriers. I feel free and
powerful!
I am an experienced SuperMemo user. You can browse a sample from my
SuperMemo collections for learning English.
What has English given you?
English has given me much satisfaction and pleasure. Also, I find
English very useful in my scientific career. That is why I decided to
share my methods and my experience with other people. I know that it is
possible to get satisfaction from learning English and I want to share
it with others. If you are interested in my personal experience or if
you have any questions to me, you can find my e-mail address on the
Norsk Experiment homepage.