I used to think that learning a language from scratch, when you are more than 20 years old, was a waste of time. It just seemed to me that a language is something you learn only as a kid and you grow up with it. When we are young, everything becomes natural to us, and even if we decide to quit studying, resuming activities later in life is easier. The process of learning, I believe, has to be natural and smooth. How can I learn the 10000 –or more- words of a new language now? How can that be natural? How can I pronounce them the right way? How long will it take to be fluent? These kinds of thoughts haunted me for a long time until a wise Japanese friend of mine who had taken English classes in Cambridge told me something very true, something that changed my mind from that moment on. He said “Time will go by anyway. All you have to do is decide who you want to be 10 years from now”. Perhaps I was so reluctant, and at the same time frustrated, because I wanted things to happen in no time. I was forgetting about walking the way, enjoying each step and being patient. Many times it’s not about the aim, but about walking the path. Things will happen as long as you are patient, constant and hard-working. Nothing happens on the blink of an eye. I always thought that Japanese men are smarter than the average, but this time I attributed this to his words and not to his ability to learn. Maybe I wasn’t dumb; maybe I was just as capable to learn as he was. What was different between us was the attitude. His attitude was that of a wise, perseverant and hard-working man. He was not stronger, not faster or smarter. It was just about the attitude. I decided I wouldn’t keep procrastinating things anymore; it was hard time for me to learn French in London. You won’t believe me, as I myself wouldn’t have believed it just months ago, but I’ve only been studying for five months and I am already able to hold a basic conversation in French. I probably owe this to my native speaking French teacher, who opened my mind to the French world and made it even more interesting than it’s always been.

My perception of the world changed unbelievably. I hear more now, because you never know when the words that will throw you off balance, in a good way, will be said.