UGOCHUKWU NWAOGU AS A WRITER

Writing about myself as a writer is a daunting task. This is because the language involved is English. At the time I began to learn English, I had become proficient in a couple of other languages. Additionally, as my mother used to tell anyone who cared to listen, English is a 'confusing' language. My mother is a retired schoolteacher. Her opinion on such matters was therefore considered weighty-at least in Africa where I hail from. Even now, many years later, I have discovered many reasons why I think she was correct. I do not wish to discuss those reasons right away. Doing otherwise would certainly steer me away from the purpose of this article.

I am currently a student of Alabama A&M University, Normal, U.S.A. I am studying secondary education in English.Before arriving the United States to study two months ago, I had also attended other universities and earned other degrees in different academic areas. I had also published some works in English language. Additionally, I had edited a journal published in English language for many years. I had also acquired a little experience in teaching the language to those who like myself, speak other languages outside English.

All these notwithstanding, I do not consider myself an expert in written English. Nobody can comfortably claim expertise in the language-except someone who grew up speaking the language. I am much less competent in English phonetics. Since I learnt English after acquiring some other languages, each time I open my mouth to speak, my accent jumps out. I hope to enrol into an accent reduction class sometime in the near future.

A long time ago, I learnt that the best way of consolidating on one's competence in any language is to use the language often. Therefore, I have the confidence that studying in a country where English is the lingua franca and under instructors who use the language as the only medium of instruction would help me to improve upon my little knowledge of the language.