1. What’s your story? How did you get into all these languages?
Getting into English and German was quite trivial: it was a part of my education and first career steps. I have started learning further languages in 2017 when I moved from Russia to Germany. Each language has its own story, with a key note in common: it was an interest in the culture and curiosity about the language itself that explained my further language choice.

2. Which language(s) do you wish you could spend more time practising?

I have managed to integrate the languages on high levels in my daily life so that they represent an indispensable part of my life style. I would be happy to practice low level languages more intensively: Romanian, Hungarian, Danish, for instance.

3. What are some languages you’d like to learn in the future?
I have just started learning Korean which has been my dream for some time. The next goals will be Greek, Czech, and Turkish. I would also be happy to come back to forgotten Latvian. My general approach: avoid more than one language on A level, bring it first to B level and then start a new one.

4. So let’s be honest, what’s the sexiest language?
It is difficult to choose just one. It is sexy to master – and feel – multiple languages...

5. What’s the greatest pleasure you get from speaking so many languages?

I like the feeling of excitement when I switch between languages.

But the greatest enjoyment is in deeper understanding of people in their mother tongue and getting closer to their way of thinking. Still, the pleasure of mastering many languages is not limited to speaking. Languages provide an access to cultures (for me literature is of great importance). Reading, learning, and discovering languages, analysing them gives my life many additional facets.

6. Some people say the world is really just going to have a few languages left in a 100 years, do you think this is really true?
It is well-known that language extinction is an issue and it is a continuous process. No doubt, plenty of languages will disappear. I would still never believe that only few languages will remain. Nowadays there are more and more communities that take care of rare languages and are capable to impede their extinction.

7. What is your message to young (and not so young) people out there who are interested in studying multiple languages?
The more languages you know, the wider is your horizon. Starting a polyglot way, I recommend first to focus on few languages (one to three) and, having gained the experience regarding learning strategies and methods that fit you, continue with extension of language portfolio. I believe that one of the main strengths is the choice of right learning strategy at each point of time. It is not a natural talent and can be learned.
I chose every language with love and I think it is also crucial.