This is a blog entry that I will compose over a few days, perhaps a few weeks since I am pretty busy trying to create my own speaking opportunities in Japanese. To start off, I want to share some successes that have turned into firm beliefs about acquiring fluency and confidence in an L2. Like most people studying a language, I feel excited to try out my new language skills, vocabulary, and phrases, but a little unsure too because of my lack of real-life practice (I'm busy, and also shy sometimes). In short, all of us who study a second language whether by desire or necessity need more speaking time. So, if we cannot get an abundance of real-world speaking time, writing messages is a pretty good substitute and one that is time efficient and practical. Where can we write messages these days? We can write a message to our roommates/flatmates or family members (in our target language) to pick up the clothes in the living room, to not forget to pay that electric bill! Stick them o...