SHAKIRA used to find it really difficult when it came to writing songs - because she had to look up every word in an English-Spanish dictionary. The Colombian beauty, whose mother tongue is Spanish, used to take forever to pen her English songs. Writing songs used to be so difficult for me, says the 32-year-old singer, whose latest album is mostly in English. A few years ago I could barely speak English and I used to write my songs with a dictionary. It was a real labor of love and I would sit there for hours just looking up words. But now thankfully it comes to me more naturally and spontaneously. Shakira recently revealed that she tried to become a vegetarian, but gave up after one month. I lasted for one month, she says. I tried, I really tried. Yeah, I gave it a go. I was living in Spain on a farm, and someone gave me four chickens. I named them and they became very close to me. And then I couldnt eat them. I was like 'Okay, if I cannot eat these chickens because they actually have names and they are my friends, I am not going to be able to eat any chicken again. So I became a vegetarian. I didnt last - but I did not eat those chickens. Those chickens survived. - SS