English Conversation Club (2013.12.30)

In April of this year, my two colleagues and I launched "English Conversation Club". We meet once a month to enjoy English conversation and exchange study information, mostly in a pub.

The colleagues are really nice guys. They are friendly, knowledgeable, and ambitious. We used to work in the same department in our company until two years ago, but now we work in different locations. I was LUCKY to get to know them.

We study English in each way on our daily basis. For example, we listen to English CDs while driving to work, read grammar textbooks at home and memorize words for TOEIC during lunch breaks. Sometimes, we use common materials. Each of us has DIFFERENT DREAMS, but we have the SAME PASSION for mastering English conversation.

Personally, I have been studying English for more than 20 years as a HOBBY. I feel it is an intellectually-challenging hobby because I can take a different approach in my brain from usual when I speak, listen and read English. It is a very interesting feeling. I doubted, however, that this club activity would continue for long, because businessmen like us are usually very busy and don't have enough time and energy to spend for extra study.

But, to my nice surprise, they were much more motivated than I expected. We all have been studying English since then and we haven't skipped even a single month to meet. Their English is getting better and better, because they have strong desire to be an real English-speaking people.

Having study buddies is fruitful. They often find useful materials in the market and let me know. And as we are mutually inspired, we can maintain our motivation in many ways. As a matter of fact, one of them beat me at the TOEIC test in September, and the other one is feverishly catching up. When I see their great effort and achievement, I can't help doing my best.

Now that I have those study buddies, studying English has got a new meaning. It is not just a personal hobby anymore. But it is a means to DEVELOP OURSELVES TOGETHER as intellectual and international businessmen.