Don't be ashamed of trying These days I realised that trying is EVERYTHING. I am not a writer. I just want to share some of my thoughts and experience with you. I was born in a country where the native language is Portuguese. As I was growing up, my mom was always telling me the importancy of learning English; our country was changing and the job market was becoming more competitive each day. Learning English was crucial for anyone who wanted to get a good job. There were lots of Multinationals coming to our country and lots of trades going on, and if we couldn't keep up with this change, we would stay behind everyone else. It's really hard to learn another language, specially one that is so different from your own*. If I tried to read some Spanish, well, that would be OK, because it is quite* similar to mine: when you say "HOMBRE" is really close to "HOMEM" in Portuguese. But English? OMG, it was SO hard: "HOMEM" would become "MAN" or maybe "MEN"! GOD knows how long I took until I've memorised the difference between those words. When I tried to listen to some music, "You're gonna be the one that saves me.." would become " You nonanineone saves meeeee" and well.. that was something, wasn't it? With the years, I took* some English classes at school, some private classes, but man, I didn't think I was able to do it. Finally, I got into an exchange program, I went to Perth - Australia and it was the MOST AMAZING experience ever! I didn't know anyone there, I didn't even know that PERTH existed. Well, I was a bit shy, but I decided to do my best, to get there, and "BOTAR A CARA NO SOL" (as we say in Brazil), in English lets just say " don't be ashamed of anything". But well, when you get to the real thing, it's not that easy. It took me a while to start real conversations, but it was totally worth it! The thing is, I didn't give up! I've stayed there for 18 months, I had many obstacles, but I could see my English improving!! At first, I was also ashamed of my accent, but then I realised that Your accent just shows how amazing and different you are, and if someone makes fun of it, well, that person just don't deserve your attention. I've learned a lot, and I still have A LOT to learn. I bet you will find a lot of mistakes here, and I'm open to any feedbacks. Because I think that's it. The thing is not to give up and always "BOTAR A CARA NO SOL"! Don't be ashamed of trying, its from our mistakes that we learn the most. We've gotta start somewhere, don't we?