I don’t always remember my dreams all the time. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I had a good dream and other times, I wake up feeling like I woke up from a nightmare. The few times, I do remember my dreams, I always wonder if there’s a message behind the dream or if it’s just my unconscious mind trying to make me aware of something. One dream I will never forget is when I dreamt about my family home burning down while we all watched from outside. The dream didn’t make sense to me because I wondered why we were not panicking and trying to quiet down the fire but all we did was stand there and watch. In my mind fire symbolizes something bad however I got to learn that fire does not always symbolize negative things. Sometimes in order to start afresh and build a new life, the fire may be there the purify and sanctify certain areas of our lives. I no longer interpret my dreams from a negative aspect. I always make sure to look at the positive aspect like how fire symbolizes power and energy.

This may sound a bit silly to most people but what I would love to know is if flying cars will be an actual thing in the future. I love cars as much as I love the idea of the invention of flying cars. Currently it may seem impossible but if you think about it, back in the olden days most things we have now were seen as impossible so there’s a possibility that in the future a great mind May invert our very on first flying car. This would be a huge thing all over the world.

Future me has a dream to be a Linguistic specialists. A linguistic specialist is someone trained in the area of languages or the study of languages. I have always had a curious mind so research is something I enjoy doing. I believe that in 5 years I will much closer to reaching my dream as a linguistic specialist. In five years time I see myself investigating questions like how people acquire their initial native language and the best ways to learn a second language. For me to achieve this goal of mine, I plan on interacting with people who know different languages, I plan on finding someone who specializes on linguistics here on italki so I can learn from them and so they can also give me tips on what I need to do to achieve my dream.

What my family and I consider when choosing a foreign language is whether the language is similar to our indigenous language, in terms of its sound, structure and vocabulary. There are similarities and relationships between languages. For example Zulu and Ndebele are two African languages with a lot of similarities so it makes it easier to learn the languages, creating a strong motivation factor as the language will already sound familiar. I always say that when going into a language learning journey it’s usually important to start with similar languages so that you are not quickly overwhelmed or demotivated. It’s helpful to do research on languages related to your mother tongue if you are aiming for a relatively easier language. I love language learning mostly because of the numerous benefits that it holds. The plan I usually have when it comes to kids finding interest in language learning is to motivate them to get fascinated by the language. Usually they get fascinated when they hear you speaking the language and having fun with it.

In my opinion, it is so much better and easier when people start learning a second language during their early childhood. My opinion is heavily based on what I have discovered which is that people tend to learn languages easier and better while they’re still young especially if they are exposed to the language each and everyday. I started learning a second when I was past my teenage years and I struggled and struggled which make me believe that it would have been easier for me if I started in my early childhood. During one of our cultural ceremonies, I met one young girl who was so positive towards our culture even though it was completely different from her own and what she was used to. I asked her parents how they managed to get her to be so positive towards different cultures and they explained to me that in her young age, she had started learning other languages so it exposes her to different cultures that is when I realized that the experience of learning a language introduces young people to the world in ways they might otherwise have not experienced. it also showed me that Contrary to popular belief, young children are not confused by the introduction of multiple languages at the same time. Not only do they naturally navigate multilingual environments, but acquiring a second language early in life primes the brain to learn multiple other languages, opening a world of opportunities for later on. I used to believe that it may cause confusion but that has been proven to be incorrect.

Learning a new language is indeed a lot of hard work. I’m going to share with you all my story of how I overcame the difficulty. I remember telling my mother one day that I don’t think I can keep pursuing my hopes of language learning. She patiently asked me why and I told her that it was because of the way I was using up a lot of money on tutors and it didn’t seem like I was going anywhere. She then sat me down and told me about how it would be a beneficial investment. She said one statement which I will carry with me forever. She said to me any investment on education will always be ten times more worth it than a mere diamond. She then proceeded to teach me that knowledge is a powerful tool. Ever since that talk I had with my mother, it motivated me to keep pursing language learning. I knew it won’t be easy but the comfort I had in my heart was that at the end, it will be all worth it. Right now as I see the results I’m very thankful that I kept pursing language learning and till this very day I am still pursing language learning. The reason I am constantly pursuing language learning is because I have a goal to master 4 different languages. I believe that I will achieve my goal so I am extremely determined not to give up.

I’m going to share my experience with you all on what I do when I encounter a language plateau. The first thing I always do is to reflect on the benefits learning a language will bring into my life. After I reflect on that I begin to remind myself that by making the decision to learn a new language I am technically discovering a rich new culture that will benefit not only my personal life but my overall life in general. Learning languages is an incredible way to discover a whole new world beyond the one you know, as well as whole new you so whenever you are faced with a language plateau, I encourage you to go back in time and reflect on the reasons why you started in the first place that will most likely encourage you to keep going and not give up. When learning a new language I always work on my discipline because over the time I have learnt that we can’t just rely on motivation alone to achieve our goals. We need discipline to overcome the days where motivation is simply not enough, to overcome the days when you’re faced with a language plateau. Discipline will help you to keep practicing even when you don’t feel like it, it will keep you in the right learning track because when your mind says I can’t, discipline will say keep going either way. The results will hold a great difference.

What drove me to start my language learning journey was my ambition to give myself a better future. When I first started out, I struggled a lot with English and I never thought I would reach the level that I’m currently at. It took a lot of hard work and consistency. I highly believe that learning languages can open doors to great opportunities. My mother always told me that speaking another language can unlock intellectual potential and may strengthen cognitive abilities. This also strengthened my desire to start a language learning journey and I’m absolutely thrilled that I took that step. In my experience, I can tell you that I struggled to find a proper job when I did not know English compared to when I learned the language. I come from South Africa and I was usually surrounded by Zulu speaking people so we would use Zulu on a regular basis. It was only when I made the decision to learn English that vast opportunities started opening up for me. This decision literally changed my life, I’m now working with a good job and I’m highly grateful because Italki provided me with good teachers who lifted me up when I felt like giving up.