Languages I am learning

Studiying a new language is something I always wanted to do. I have been studying English since 2002, so although I love it, it is not something I wish I can learn more about. On the other hand, I really want to learn Korean, Dutch, French, Italian and German, but in my city I hadn't have the opportunity to take classes in neither of those beautiful languages. That is way I started doing it by myself!

Some years ago I began using the web page 'Busuu' to learn Italian. I did a lot of units (al least the ones I could, because I was practising with the free modality of the course), and I even obtained a 'certificate' demonstrating that I was in level A2 of Italian (which of course is not a big deal). Then I forgot about that web page and after some years I continue learning Italian with the app 'Duolingo', but since I stopped practicing, I am not longer learning the language (although I would love to take classes). Anyway, I have an Italian dictionary above my night table in case I want to practice some words.

On 2014 I started listening some kpop music and trying to do the choreographies, and I also watched some doramas. It was inevitable I finished with the desire of learning Korean, but I didn't know how to do it. At the beggining of this year (2016) I searched on the internet some books to help me learn the language by myself, like an auto teaching method, and I found a very interesting book called 'Korean from Zero'. If you go to the web page, you may realized that the authors of the book are really amazing and awesome because they let everyone download the file with the pdf! Isn't that great? They say in their website that you can print the book for your personal use, but not for commercial reasons. They REALLY want us to learn the language for free and that is  something I really appreciate. I printed the PDF and I started learning, and I have to say it: the way they teach every lesson is a very good one. I learnt the Hangul (korean alphabet) super fast; the explanations they make and the exercises there are to practice are very useful. I really recommend the book for everyone wanting to learn Korean.

Recently, I won a scholarship to study Chinese online, and although I was very happy to  start the programme, now I am not THAT interested :( I would love to continue doing it, and I feel bad that I don't want to follow it anymore, but the thing is that I don't really think Chinese is a language I need to learn. I am less motivated for learning Chinese than to learn all the other languages I would like to. I will try to continue with the units but I don't think I can (on August 22nd I have to do the first test, and I need to finish four units in the following 9 days in order to succeed).

I am thinking on taking German classes next year in a German school located in my city. The course has a duration of a semester, and it is expensive, but I really want to learn a language other than English (I am studying English at University as you may know), and taking classes might be more useful than doing it my myself. 

So that's it! I would love to know what are your interests in languages, which ones do you want to learn, which ones do you already know, and which ones aren't really for you :)

Thanks for reading,

With love, Sofía.

Am I a writer?

I am a writer, and it took me a lot of time to figure it out. Ok, I haven't published any book and I am not famous at all, but I write and that is what a writer does, right? 

Since I am a child I have written many stories. My first tale was about an horror mansion. I was pretty obsessed with enchanted houses and misterious murders and at that time (eight year old me) I

was very inspired by the horror stories that older girls than me used to tell in the school bus. So one day I started writing a tale about a group of kids (inspired by the kids of my bus) who went to a mansion. Every day in the mansion was more terrifying than the previous one, and apart from that,  a new kid disappeared every new day. I wrote that story with different pencils and did many draws of zombies, ghosts and scary things. 

I remember myself a few years later writing a new horror story. This was better than the previous one, of course. It was about a picture; I know you may think that a picture is not really scary, but this one was a cursed picture. I can't remember any detail of the story so I'm not going to bother you with that.

When I started growing up I continued writing, but my stories were more about love, like teenager love. I was really amazed with writing romance and trying to get the attention of possible readers by getting my own attention. I always say 'If it doesn't catch ME, then it is not going to catch anyone alse', and  maybe that is why I get so upset when I realized that any of my stories is not really good for someone when it DID catch my attention.

I attempted writing a novel about a detective who was hired to investigate a crime related to kidnapping. But the story was very stupid itself; it wasn't a detective story but a LOVE story. The detective fell in love with a doctor who finally WAS the kidnapper and she also fell in love with the man who  hired her: another doctor who was the brother of the missing girl. VERY REALISTIC, I KNOW.

My next story was supposed to be my first Best selling novel, but it ended up being nothing. Why? well, because I don't know where it went.  It was about a little girl and a little boy who hate each other (they were neighbours), and over time they built a friendship. I wanted to write about how they managed to be friends after being enemies, and how they started falling in love when they were teenagers and adults.  I was so excited to write this, but one day when I was searching for the file on my computer, I couldn't find it. I am not sure if I deleted it by  mistake, or if someone else did it (when I say 'my computer', it really means 'the computer of my family'). Short story: I still cry on my mind when I remember this story which I was pretty excited to write.

I don't wan't to bore you so I am going to summarize my next writing creations: 

-I wrote my experiences and love experiences during eight grade in PDF, and It has pictures and quotes.

-I wrote a love story which was inspired by my love triangle problems of eighth grade (a very stupid story I have to say). 

-Another story that I still want to finish about two groups of people living in the middle of nowhere. (It's called AGAPI, in case you want to follow the trail of this one in the future).

-Just one chapter of a story about love and a girl who could see the aura of people and know if couples are meant to be.

-A few chapters of a story of a girl who dies and becomes an angel.

-I finished a fanfic about Niall Horan from One Direction. (You can read it in Spanish here: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/18951396-i-never-thought-you%27d-be-mine-n-h )

-I recently finished another fanfic about Harry Styles from One Direction. (You can read it in Spanish here : https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/21155923-diamonds-in-the-sun-h-s  )
(I am also doing the translation in English here: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/63826750-diamonds-in-the-sun-english-h-s)

-I wrote two 'Dialogues' which are in spanish and very very embarrasing so I am not going to show you that.

-AND MANY MANY SONGS, in spanish most of them.

I always though that you only become a writer when you publish a book, and I also heard from a famous author that he doesn't consider himself a real writer because he is NOT that good as other authors. So I always say to myself 'YOU ARE NOT A WRITER YET, YOU NEED TO WRITE AT LEAST FIVE BOOKS AND BLAHBLAHBLAH TO BE CONSIDERED AS A PROPER WRITER', and you know what? I am tired of thinking that way. I AM a writer, I have been writing since I can remember, I have finished some tales and some novels (or fanfictions), and I have written so SO many songs in my entire life that if that doesn't mean I am a writer, then what does it?

I am going to tell you a last thing to all of you who are just like me: BELIEVE in yourself and start calling yourself a writer, because if you have written a lot of things, although the rest of the world haven't read any of your work yet, does that mean you are any less? When you publish, you will just be PUBLISHED, but you have being a writer before that and THAT is what really matters. 

Thank you for reading and take care.

With love, Sofía.