Challenging situation - part 1 of 2 Challenges are great. They make us grow as human beings because they force us ti accomplish things that we never thought that could be done. I'm sure that learning a new language is one of the biggest challenges that you might face during your life. It's not only about learning, but it's about adapting you way of thinking. It's not only about vocabulary, but it's about how fast can you access the information that is inside your brain's library. What if you don't have a clue about some specific term or sentence? How do you figure out what the speaker is talking to you about? Would you stick to the context? Would panic at all? Let's say you are giving a presentation. You know the whole subject, you have reviewed the presentation thousand of times. The presentation is doing good, but hen someone asks you a very challenging question. You know the answer, but you know it only in your native language. How could that be? If you know something, you know the concept no matter the language is, right? Wrong. How much is worth a concept if you can't express it? No matter how much have you reviewed the presentation's subject, you will sound like an stupid if you can answer that question. You know that you know the answer, but you don't know how to express yourself. What would you do? Would you keep the confidence to find a way out and figure out another way to express yourself? Would you panic? Speaking of challenges in learning a new language, I believe I'm fluent in English. I mean, sometimes, during a conversation, I miss 80% of what was said, but I try to focus on understanding the context. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't work I'm usually afraid to ask "could you repeat?" or "sorry, I didn't get what you said", especially depending on whom I'm talking to, but in general I believe I do ok. Not a great job, but a good job. When I'm speaking in English, I can make myself understood even if I use some awkward phrasing or poor vocabulary selection, but I don't feel like this is enough. I want to take it to next level, I mean, I want to be able to construct an idea the exact way a native speaker would construct. That's what I do in my native language, why can't I do the same in English? Next notebook I'll write about the experience of interviewing two american candidates for a job posting in the company I work for. That was toughest challenge I have ever had in regards to using the English language. I'll tell more about it soon! See you!