When I started learning German some time ago, I realized the power of stories and storytelling in my own life.

I was ________ memorizing my first few German words. And I quickly ________ that this time, my native Italian and the other languages I’d learned would not be of much ________ .

While it was quite ________ to memorize words similar to English, like gut, muss, Ende, and Freund, there were many words for which I had no reference to ________ . Among them were Schatz (treasure) and Insel (Island). And yet I learned these two words easily. How? The ________ is simple. Without even ________ it, I had already memorized these words through a story.

One day, when I was a kid, I was with my father at a flea market (跳蚤市场) and we ________ a beautifully illustrated (有插图的) children’ s book. The cover and pictures were so great that I almost ________ to notice that the ________ was not in Italian. “Luca, we can buy it, ________ the book is in German,” said my father. I read the title out loud, with some ________ : “Die Scha... tz... ins ... el.”

Once home, my father explained that it was a German translation of the famous book “Treasure Island” . He________me the Italian edition (版本) and suggested that I ________ it while turning over the pages of the illustrated one. Thanks to the story I read, I passively (被动地)________ two words in German (Schatz and Insel) which are usually quite difficult words to learn, at least for Italian speakers.

If you want to learn a new language，the very first thing to think about is why.Do you need it for a _______ reason，such as your job or your studies？ _______ perhaps you're interested in the _______，films or music of a different country and you know how much it will help to have a _________ of the language.

Most people learn best using a variety of _______，but traditional classes are an ideal start for many people.They _______ an environment where you can practice under the _________ of someone who's good at the language.We all lead   _______ lives and learning a language takes _______.You will have more success if you study regularly，so try to develop a _______.It doesn't matter if you haven't got long.Becoming fluent in a language will take years，but learning to get by takes   _______.

Many people start learning a language and soon give up.“ I'm too _______，”they say.Yes，children do learn languages more _______ than adults，but research has shown that you can learn a language at any _______.And learning is good for the health of your brain，too.I've also heard people _______   about the mistakes they make when __________.Well，relax and laugh about your mistakes _______ you're much less likely to make them again.

Learning a new language is never _______.But with some work and devotion，you'll make progress.And you'll be _______ by the positive reaction of some people when you say just a few words in _______ own language.Good luck!

I’ve always been fascinated by languages, but I’ve never been any good at learning them. I remember sitting in my French lessons, I never _________ what I was being taught. My teacher wasn’t _________.

But one of my A levels was English Language, and that was where my interest in _________ started. Over the last few years, I’ve started learning more languages than I can _________. They include Latin, Russian, Spanish, and probably several others. None of them stuck.

And then came lockdown. While I was _________ enough to still be able to work from home, on evenings and weekends, I found myself getting _________ and looking through video websites for something to watch. That’s how I _________ a Chinese fantasy drama filled with complex relationships.

But by the time I got about halfway through the show, I _________ that in some cases, the words being spoken in Chinese didn’t match the words being said in the English translations. _________, a character was being called shijie instead of by her name. I went online, did some __________ and met a difficulty.

Shijie, which I learned can be translated as “martial sister”, introduced me to the complexities of Chinese __________. So many different words for “aunt”, “uncle” and “grandfather”! Characters with more than one name!

I was __________ by the way the language is so connected with the culture, and how poetic and __________ it is. I wanted to be able to __________ the source material, even if it was going to take me a long while __________ I got to that point.