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1. Dictation (Baby Steps)
（人気の高かったブログを英語にしてみました）
This is how I learned English.
part 1
I was very surprised when I got a book written in English called “How to
Read English.” I could read it!
It was the first time I had read an English book.
This book was the reason why I entered the world of English.
The author is Mr. Toru Matsumoto, who spent 16 years in the U.S., I believe,
and was also an English conversation teacher for an NHK radio program.
Unfortunately, he had already passed away by the time I got the book, but
this book inspired me to read more of his books.
When I first started studying, I did not have any noble questions such
as how to become able to use English. I was just happy to be able to read
and understand English.
However, in his book, he describes his own way of studying English, and
I started to imitate him.
First, he wrote that he read aloud the text of English textbooks from the
first to the third year of junior high school thousands of times.
The first-grade textbook was too easy for me at that time, so I started
with the second-grade textbook.
I must have done it 2,000 to 3,000 times, but I don't remember the details.
At first, I could barely read it a few times a day, but as I repeated it,
I learned it, my reading speed increased, and I could say it without looking
at anything.
I could say it while walking, taking a bath, in the bathroom, anytime,
anywhere, and I could repeat it just in my mind without saying it out loud.
In just a few minutes, I could revive all the lessons in one textbook in
my mind.
When I finished the second-grade textbook, I moved on to the third-grade
textbook.
It was only two books, but it took me a long time to finish them. I think
it took me two or three years.
I was not as good as Jackie Chan, who went to the U.S. to become a movie
actor and was able to use English in six months, but I managed to feel
like I could speak English.
At the time, I was working part-time in Chiba Prefecture to make ends meet,
and I went to an English conversation class run by an Englishman near there.
I was nervous about my first class. I took the class in a group, but the
people around me sounded so good in English that I was half at a loss.
I thought to myself, "This is not good."
After the class, I talked with the teacher and thought, "He's going
to tell me I should quit."
Hisao Kuwabara
(442 words)
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