German is my first love. I've studied it for five and a half years. My reading and writing in German are quite strong, but of course can always improve. My speaking is my weakest aspect. I understand all the grammar, but most of my mistakes in speaking and writing are using the wrong vocabulary or simply lacking the right words. In addition, I'm not familiar with conversational and slang German. In the spring of 2012, I will study in Bamberg, Germany.

French was my second foreign language. I started studying it my senior year of high school. My teacher that year was awful. She never spoke French to us and spent a good month on the alphabet alone. I wasn't content with this pace, so I took my textbook home every night and worked through it. I also used different online resources and even went out and bought an additional book. Half-way through the year, I asked my French teacher if I could borrow the French II book and she was amazed! By the time I got to my first year of college, I tested into the same level French class that I had tested into for German. Again, I was shocked that based on testing, my German skills (after 3 years) were equal to my French skills (after only 1). In the fall of 2011, I'll be going to Pau, France to study.

Russian is my newest serious language. I say serious in the sense that I actually take classes and actively study it. When I got to college, they told me they were offering Russian, but that we'd probably only have it for one year. My school doesn't have an official Russian program; we have Fulbright scholars who come from Russia, but we don't always get one. I thought it would be amazing if I could get a little experience with Russian, so I signed up for it. Here I am after a year and a half! We ended up getting another Fulbright teacher this year, so I was able to continue my Russian. Unfortunately, I don't have the passion for it that I used to. My former teacher was much better than my current teacher. My Russian will never be as good as my French or German. With French and German, I find I can study a lot more on my own, but with Russian, that's not the case. It's so much more complicated than other languages to me and I don't have enough knowledge of it to effectively study it on my own.

My next goal is Chinese. I would definitely study simplified Chinese. My likely career path will lead me to working with the US government and therefore, simplified Chinese is the obvious choice. I have a very very very basic knowledge of Chinese. If anyone has any tips and tricks or is willing to help me out with it, it would be greatly appreciated.

And as for me, my name is Drew. I'm 20 years old and I live in northeast Ohio. Contrary to popular belief, I do not live in a farming area. I live in Stow, a suburb of Akron. I attend the University of Mount Union. French and German are my declared majors and Russian is a possible minor. I love studying history, languages, other cultures, movies, music, and politics.

If anyone ever has any questions about English, feel free to ask me. I'm quite patient when it comes to explaining things.

Feel free to add me on Skype!

Если Вы говорите по–русски, добавьте меня на ВКОНТАКТЕ!
http://vkontakte.ru/drewmyers