Long text! My dream would be to speak like a native. I wrote it many, many times on this website. Even when I chat with people on Skype, I tell them that my goal is to speak confidently and effortlessly. I read many texts on the internet, and gathered lots of information in order to see other people's point of view. What I like to do is to listen to audio podcasts. Of course, the matter must be interesting to me. For improving my pronunciation, is read texts aloud, and karaokes are very useful as well! It takes time to see the results. I would like to throw off my accent. Phrasal verbs are very hard to learn because when you encounter a new word for the first time, you try to decipher it and when you get the meaning, you understand that learning the ton of necessary words might be harduous. For example, the phrase 'take off' refers to a plane that goes in the air. But if you try to decipher it litterally it's non sense. I just read an article on the internet that gives you some advice in order to 'speak like a native'. It relates the fact that to improve your comprehension, you should listen to president speeches. Because they speak very clearly and they use lots of synonyms for diverse words. It recalled me my personnal story because that is what I did and I recommend it to you if you want to improve your 'input". The 'output' will come after, when your brain will get used to the music of the language, its rythm and pace. Everytime I write a new post on Italki, I know that I've improved myself because I've broadened my vocabulary. I use words that months ago, I didn't know the meaning. Also, I don't do grammar at all, because I think it's too early for the moment. You might say to yourself 'Why the hell is he saying that???'. The reason is, I want to learn this second language like a baby! When I learned my mother tongue, my parents, siblings or relatives, even acquaintances (words that I wanted so use because recently learned ahaha) didn't teach you grammar rules, but talked to you normally and because you were exposed to the language, you have developped the faculty to reproduce sounds and imitate people. Then after you went to school and learn rules for it. Thank you to you, if you're correcting me right now, because you will be a part of my learning process! Maybe you'll highligh or emphasize my mistakes, but be aware that it's gonna help me buddy! Remember, I don't want to sound to formal but I want to sound natural! Bye !