hen I saw the image above a few days ago I thought: yep, sounds familiar. In fact, even after years of living in an English speaking country, speaking sometimes feels tiring. I have thought about why that is, and I've come to realise that speaking in a foreign language has always been my weakest link. Back at school, or when I did my Cambridge Certificate, already living in Ireland, I was always better at understanding, listening comprehension, writing and reading. I read novels and newspapers and follow any news story in English without problems. Having worked in an academic environment, even that level of English is fine with me, until I had to give presentations or hold workshops in English. Well, I managed, but sometimes I felt my choice of vocabulary could have been better or I just couldn't remember a specific term and had to do with much more simple language. If you speak a language other than your native one, at times you can feel quite conscious about how you speak and what you say, even though your audience wouldn't even notice.
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