Now I am living in Italy, working as an English language assistant. I am living with one of the _____________ from a local school, who is very kind. At the moment, it’s a bit ___________ as we don’t always understand each other! This is known as a ___________ barrier(障碍), when two people cannot communicate because they don’t have a language in ___________.

Over the past few days, I have learnt that it is more ___________ speaking a language in real life situations than speaking it in the classroom. My teachers could ___________ things to me in English when I didn’t understand. My ___________doesn’t speak any English. When I don’t know the___________ in Italian I try to explain it and when that doesn’t ___________ I try to mime(模仿) the thing I’m talking about.

Yesterday, the internet wasn’t working and I had to ____________   my housemate where the router (路由器)was so I could find the password for the Wi-Fi. I had no ______________ what the Italian word for 'router' was so I tried to explain it a couple of times. In the end, I called it the “internet box” and she ______________what I meant!

However, it isn’t all ______________ ! When we finally understand each other,we both ____________ and have a little celebration. Sometimes I feel very ______________ because I keep making a lot of mistakes, but my housemate ______________ me nicely and tells me that I’m doing well! I can also feel my language ________________ because I have no choice but to __________ Italian! I hope that I will be speaking ____________ a real Italian by the time I ____________. I’m determined to climb over this language barrier!

When I decided to leave my home country of Iran to pursue a Ph.D. in Canada, I hadn’t expected that communication would be an issue. In Farsi, I was a(n) _______ speaker. I had taken English lessons in my 20s and _______ well on the English test for university admission.

But soon after my _______ in the English-speaking world, I realized how wrong I was. Expressing myself in Farsi had been effortless, but now I had to be careful and deliberate. I needed to _______ and simultaneously (同时地) follow the conversation. I needed to _______ it into my native language, reflect and generate thoughts and ideas in _______, and find the right English words and put them in the right order to _______ that response. I had a hard time remaining present and focused in _______, because I was constantly thinking about what I would say next. I gradually turned inward and _______, particularly when surrounded by native English speakers. And I worried about my future. ________, effective communication in English is critical to being included and recognized in many academic and professional ________.

Later, I ________ to say exactly what I meant in discussions over and over again. Suddenly, a simple idea ________ to me: why not ________ the discussion in writing, in an email to my colleagues? That small adjustment was a game changer, because writing gave me ________ to reflect and comfortably ________ my points in English. I made a ________ of sitting at my computer and putting my Farsi thoughts into English words, taking my time to ________ clear sentences with accurate vocabulary and ________. Over time, this practice helped me simultaneously think and speak in English, as I do in my first language. I grew more ________ with oral communication, which revived my spirits.

With some efforts and a willing heart, my language obstacles have been overcome.

Very few of us become fluent in another language by learning it in high school.

I went to university and then moved across the country to seek a demanding job, married and ________ children. I made a(n) ________ to keep the little hit of French I learned in school, but eventually I realized that this was really ________. I was quite aware that new languages are best learned when young, and that our abilities in that regard decline with ________.

However, just before my 50th birthday, I ________ French classes. After I was tested to see which group I belonged to, I was placed at almost the introductory (入门的) ________. When I looked around at my first class, I was ________ that many of the students were learning French as a third, fourth or even fifth language.

Contrary to my ________ that learning a new language was impossibly difficult, there were people who learned new languages as a matter of course. While I had always thought of myself as a ________ learner, that was no longer the case. I ________ new vocabulary rather slowly. What I learned one week ago seemed to ________ as soon as I learned the next skill. l had to look up the ________ words and language structures over and over. Now, after several years of learning. I can listen to the news in French and ________ 90% of it on the first try, read a novel if the language isn’t too, ________ and hold up my end of a conversation if it doesn’t go too fast. I’ve learned so much beyond grammar and vocabulary. I’ve met people from around the world and all walks of life who have the ________ to make fools of themselves in order to learn something new. I’ve been taught by ________ and inspirational teachers from many comers of the world. Listening to the news as it is ________ to the people of France, I have a renewed understanding of how something can look ________ different from another viewpoint, I’ve leaned that a language is not just a set of words, but a way of ________. But most of all, I’ve learned that it is never too ________ to learn something new.