1. What’s your story? How did you get into all these languages?

As a French Canadian, I grew up in a bilingual household (French and English) and took Spanish in my third year of high school. Without that Spanish class, I don’t think I would have realized I had a knack for languages that extended beyond managing the two official languages. After Spanish, I started doing German as a hobby, along with several other languages such as Swedish, Russian and Italian. I did not know, however, that my language journey was just beginning… In university, I had a seminar on the writer Clarice Lispector and decided to learn Portuguese to understand her work and discover Brazil. Learning Brazilian Portuguese became one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Then, a Lebanese friend made me discover the singer Fairuz, and I increasingly became interested in learning Levantine Arabic. I always had the impression that I could not learn a language as “difficult” as Arabic without having had prior exposure to it. I was completely wrong… I now learn languages voraciously, even if I do not plan on becoming fluent in all of them!

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

Arabic! I wish I had the opportunity to speak it daily. I am also learning Persian at the moment and I’m hoping to practice it as often as I can.

3. What are some languages you’d like to learn in the future?

I feel I don’t decide which languages I learn, they are gifted to me by people I meet! With that said, maybe Wolof or Hausa, because there are many fascinating languages in Africa that I don’t know enough about. There is also Hindi, which I know a bit of, and have friends I could practice with… The list goes on!

4. So let’s be honest, which language has the most charm for you?

It’s difficult to pick only one, but I have to say Arabic because of its diversity, literature and musical tradition. But I think any language you put a lot of effort into learning will conquer your heart and soul.

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

Connecting with people. Learning languages is the best way to break the ice and bond with people very easily. It also builds character and makes you more comfortable in new environments and situations.

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?

Well, that depends what we mean by “a few”. Indeed, the trend of languages disappearing suggests that we will be speaking in only a few hundred languages in 100 years. But we can always hope that attempts at reviving rare and endangered languages can counter that trend!

7. What is your message to young (and not so young) people out there who are interested in studying multiple languages?

I would suggest interacting with the living language as often as possible, making friends who speak that language, discovering songs and movies to ensure that you practice everyday without needing to sit down and do grammar exercises. And above all, don’t hesitate to practice and make mistakes!