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

Well,  I spent my childhood in a small village in Siberia. And we lived in  Soviet Union then with no contact with other countries. So learning  languages was looked upon as a useless thing those days. But I wanted to  travel really much and for me it was a whole other story. Until I was  16 the only way to learn a foreign language for me was attending our  school classes 2 or 3 times a week. But then some correspondence courses  appeared in Russia and I subscribed immediately. It was still an  English course. The second language, Spanish, followed a year later,  after I had heard some of Ricky Martin’s songs. So, I enjoyed the learning process, was  good at it and made up my mind about my future connected with languages.  And the next step was entering the Linguistic University in Irkutsk.  That was the best environment for me which committed to me mastering  more languages: Italian, German, French and Japanese. Once I started, I  cannot stop learning. And every new trip, every new polyglot friend adds  to my motivation to learn some new language.

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

Those that are not on C level yet. And especially those that I have started learning recently, such as Greek or Indonesian. But I also concentrate on some or other language before my trips abroad. For example, now I dedicate most of my time to Turkish between my 2 trips to Turkey.

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

Actually, I already have a list of them! �� They are Korean, Norwegian, Czech, and Chinese.

4. So let’s be honest, what’s the sexiest language?

I'll be short and brief: it's Neapolitan!

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

The  greatest pleasure for me is to know and to feel that there are no  limits, no borders in this world. You can go to so many countries and  speak to so many people! Get access to so many resources regardless of  if they are translated into your language or not. And I remember that  excitement when I spoke different languages with my customers (when I  worked selling souvenirs during my Summer holidays at the University)  and being asked by my friends which languages they were I found myself  answering: I have no idea! We just understood each other, just  communicated and the means made no difference!

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?

We  all know that there are many minor languages that gradually disappear.  And I think that this process is inevitable. But I am a bit more  optimistic and believe that this “a few” will still be “a few thousand”,  even not “a few hundred”.

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

Studying  languages is the best investment ever and you’ll never regret it! It’ll  make your live many times as exciting, bright, unique and make the  whole world closer, friendlier and a lot more accessible. Be ready to  dedicate much time to it, but you’ll definitely grow to enjoy it above
all the other things!.