Describe a person you know who can speak a second language

You should say

Who this person is

How you know them

What language they speak

And explain why you think this person can master this language

Ok right then, well there are actually quite a few people I know who can speak a second language well, but the person who stands out the most is one of my English friends called Nick, so he’s who I’m gonna talk about.

And uh, I got to know him at university, cos we’re on the same course, which is Modern Chinese. And um, I find it incredible just how quickly he’s managed to learn it!  Because he couldn’t actually speak a word of Chinese before the course began, you know, he started pretty much from scratch, and in the space of about two years, he can now speak it pretty fluently. It’s amazing!

Um…and as for how he’s been able to learnt it so well, uh.. I guess there a few reasons, one of which is that he always takes every opportunity to speak the language, you know, he’s never afraid of making mistakes or anything. So he’ll always try answering the questions in class, and he hangs out a lot with Chinese friends in his free time. Another thing is that he’s also got a very strong curiosity for the language, which I noticed once when I saw him reading a story by the writer Lu Xun. Because it wasn’t something that we had been told to read, you know, it was simply out of his interest in Chinese that he decided to read it, and that made me realize why he had become so good at the language.

And um…I’m just trying to think if there’s anything else to say…uh... oh yeah, I’ve also noticed that he listens really attentively to native speakers when he’s talking with them. You know, he’s not just focused on things that he’s trying to say. He’s also listening extremely carefully to people talking around him. And he picks up an incredible amount just by doing that. So yeah, I’d say these are probably the main reasons as to why he speaks the language so well, and I feel really lucky to have him as a friend, because I’ve been able to learn a lot from him!

Notes:

quite a few – quite a lot of

he started pretty much from scratch – 他差不多从零开始

in the space of… - 在… 期间内

he listens really attentively – 全神贯注地听

I’m just trying to think if there’s anything else to say – 我在想还有什么话可以说…

pick up –(不费力地）学会 If you pick up something such as a skill or an idea, you acquire it without effort over a period of time.

Other useful phrases:

She sounds exactly like a native speaker.

She can speak the language effortlessly.