I usually find my dreams to be a little unusual. I rarely talk about my dreams but I found this italki challenge to be interesting and I want to share my dreams with my italki family. I usually have this strange dream where I’m being chased by an unknown individual. Funny thing is when I try run, I feel like I’m in slow motion (I don’t know if anyone else has experienced that before) I have actually realized that many people experience these types of dreams. After that realization I began to think deeply and ask myself what do dreams of being chased say about what's going on inside your mind? Till this day I still think about what it may mean. I have read different articles made by dream interpreters and they suggest that such dreams mean that there’s something that you’re avoiding to face in reality. This made me ask myself if I’m unknowingly repressing certain emotions that I need to address.

There’s one burning question that I would want to know which is what will language be like in the future? The world's language system is undergoing rapid change because of demographic trends, new technology, and international communication. Evidently These changes are bound to affect both written and spoken communication that is why my question will be directed to what language will be like. Will it remain the same or will there be several changes?

I want to be able to read and write Spanish, Italian and French. In five years time I will be working on French because I want to move to France for my studies. I have always been told that when you wanna move to France it will be a much better opportunity for you if you know the language. This is why my focus is now on achieving fluency in French.I will achieve this through constant hard-work. Currently I have a qualified French teacher who has been helping me. On italki I also find good teachers who motivate me to keep working hard. I thank italki for making my learning journey fun, interesting and different.

Personally what I always consider when picking a foreign language is If it’s beneficial to my prospect meaning I always make sure to pick a language that have a higher possibility of giving me advantages in my future. The in-demand languages by employers vary among fields so I always think deeply about if the language will benefit me in future or not. I always tell myself that If my dream company is looking to expand its market in China, then I should make sure to learn Mandarin. I Ask myself a very important question which is where do I see myself at in 5 years? Will this language help me achieve my goals? I take my plans into account so the language I choose will favor me in the long term. This motivates me to learn as I will be aware that I will enjoy many benefits in the future. The benefits of my hard work. The reason I love it is mostly because I see myself with a bright future and learning languages gives me hope that I will have multiple opportunities career wise. When it comes to kids my plan to enhance their second language skills is by watching movies or listening to music in a foreign language. This playful way of learning always gets them interested in what’s going on.

Children who learn a language at an earlier age are said to have stronger multitasking skills, creativity, and working memory. This then shows that when you start working on a second language at an early age, you begin to have a much more developed brain compared to someone who only knows their native language. You should always note that since bilingual students have enough exposure to more than one language, they can discover word structures relatively quickly than monolinguals which puts them in a higher level as their brain becomes more developed. Research has also shown that children who study a foreign language perform better in their native language than non-bilingual students. The advantage increases the earlier you expose them to the second language. Wisdom develops from personal experiences. Bilingual education provides students with more of those personal experiences over time. The first seven years of a child’s life are when a child’s belief system starts to grow. Learning a different language can make them more aware of cultural differences; they also come to understand why those differences exist and the importance of respecting different cultures.

The reason I pursue language learning is mostly because I am passionate about learning foreign languages. I enjoy traveling and living my life to the fullest. When I visit foreign countries, I always remind myself that it is always nice to know the basic words like “Hello, Ola” to make the journey more enjoyable. It fuels me because I love meeting new people so being able to hold a basic conversation with other natives is so inspirational to me. When it comes to overcoming obstacles, I have constantly kept myself determined and trust me determination with a hint of persistence goes a long way. My Italki family one thing I can tell you is that If you're passionate about studying new languages, you will achieve fluency with time and effort. Applying practical strategies to the common problems you're destined to come across. In my own experience, I've studied Spanish, Latin and Chinese, at some point picked up smatterings of Portuguese, so I feel your pain when it comes to overcoming obstacles. It’s not easy at all but persist through these natural challenges on the road to fluency and you'll someday gain all the benefits of being bilingual or even multilingual. Like any skills, developing language skills takes time and continuous practice. I noticed that you may also need to build physical skills in your tongue, mouth and throat to imitate sounds and to develop an ear to hear the nuances of a sounded meaning. You also need to build the mental skills such that using that foreign language is much less conscious and more of a performative art of doing. In conclusion I had to learn to persist in spite of the size of the task or the difficulty of its mastery. That is how I overcame the language learning obstacle.

There seem to be so many obstacles when learning a language. The first thing I do when I’m facing this difficult phase of my language learning journey is to not beat myself up. I always remind myself that Language learning is a marathon, not a sprint, and if we start comparing our own goals to the progress of others we will only end up more frustrated. Not only that, but consider how far you’ve come since the beginning. Go back to material you were consuming and struggling with months ago to keep you motivated. Personally I keep a language journal and I usually flip back through the pages and see the new vocabulary that I have learned and the accuracy of my writing since my first months. Going back to old content always encourages me to keep going because it shows me just how far along that I have come.

In my free time, I love watching TEDx talks. This is relevant because watching those shows is what actually drove me to start learning foreign languages. One day I was randomly watching YouTube videos then I came across a video by Alexa Pearce, she was speaking about the multilingual mind. This immediately caught my attention and I listened attentively. What she talked about opened my mind to new possibilities as it showed me that struggling to learn a new language is worth it because the benefits that come with it outweigh the struggles. I got to learn that communicating in multiple languages improves one’s mental flexibility, executive function, and ability to see and understand things from different perspectives. This fueled my passion to learn foreign languages as I saw there’s much more to gain from it. If you’re perusing learning a foreign language, I encourage you to keep pushing forward even when you feel like giving up. If you have time you can also watch videos that speak about the benefits of being multilingual, who knows it might also fuel your passion to keep learning. My hopes and dreams when it comes to language learning is that In five years, I will be able to speak at least tek foreign languages fluently.

Italki has been a spectacular learning platform for me. When I first started I was so nervous about my pronunciations but during my italki experience, I found teachers who helped me to be confident in my speaking skills. I can happily testify that my speaking skills have greatly increased. Before this experience I was drown in shame fearing that my pronunciations were embarrassing but so far I have learnt not to be ashamed because I’m learning and there’s nothing embarrassing about learning. It’s actually a funny story about how I began using italki. I was on goggle searching for best learning platforms for foreign languages then I came across italki. At first I was skeptical because I feared it might be a scam. I also read several articles to try determine if it was a scam or not. I’m so happy that I gave the benefit of doubt because it has shown me ot is so real and far from being a scam. I have enjoyed my learning experience to the maximum. I encourage you to invite people who want to learn foreign languages, it’s a very good place to learn. That being said I will like to finish this post by wishing italki a happy 15 Anniversary!