Kathy Su, a 38 year-old businesswoman from China who immigrated to Canada two years ago, is April's Linguist Learner of the Month. She lives in Vancouver and she must often visit Canadian and American clients. She used to employ translators but now she is able to communicate with her clients in English and does not need to hire translators.
Kathy has been learning English for close to thirteen years. She began learning at high school and she continued learning at university. After university, she frequently went to night school and she was enrolled in an ESL class for one and half years when she came to Canada. Kathy says, “Even though I have learned for thirteen years, I cannot speak or understand English. I can only read and write. They always taught me about the grammar at those schools.” She has been learning with The Linguist system for five months and she really enjoys it because it is completely different from any of the other methods she has tried. Kathy explains: I don't need to learn boring grammar anymore. I just read the articles and save the phrases, and then I gradually understand the conventional usage. Also, the articles are interesting and real, not boring and artificial.
Since becoming a member of The Linguist in October, Kathy says that she has learned enough to understand most English television shows; she is not afraid to speak with people on the phone anymore; her vocabulary has increased significantly; and her pronunciation has improved because she always reads content items out loud. Kathy's husband has also noticed her improvement. He used to speak English better than her, but now she speaks better than him!
