The International Association
of Hyperpolyglots
HYPIA
est. 2016
Interview with
Carlos Escudero Castillo
Name: Carlos Junior Escudero Castillo
Nationality or Ethnicity: Peruvian
Where do you live?: In Germany
Languages: Spanish, German, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Dutch, Russian, Norwegian, Swedish, Afrikaans and Romanian
Member since:
2020-05-26
1. What’s your story? How did you get into all these languages?
Since I was a child I felt attracted to languages for no reason. It was like something natural to me. So, I started to have fun saying my first words in English. I still remember those days when I borrowed my first English book from my cousin’s daughter who was learning English, by that time. I can say, that this was a crucial point in my life which made me bring out that passion. When I turned 13 years old, I changed the school and I still remember me failing one English test after the other. This was due to my little knowledge since I didn’t learn English at the elementary school. So I quickly had to put an end to this, which is why I made a deal with a classmate: She taught me English and I taught her Maths. By the end of secondary school I had a decent level of English, but my interior was not satisfied enough and I was curious to learn another language, so it was time for a second foreign language, time for French.
Some months later after finishing school, I signed up for college, so it was not easy at all to have enough time to learn other languages, but I got it somehow. In the middle of my career, I had the opportunity to work as a Spanish teacher for German students in Peru. So, this was definitely the moment that brought me closest to languages, so as you can image at this point, I started to learn German.Later, thanks to a German friend, I applied for my first internship in Germany as a programmer, which I got thanks to my English & German knowledge. Later, I got my first job in Germany and moved to this beautiful country. My interest in languages grew up more and more. I had finally arrived at the paradise of languages – that was my first impression standing on the metro way home after I left the airport in Munich. Since then, I did not stop learning languages, but it was not only Germany it was the whole world in Europe. No way to resist learning other languages I dreamt of. And now thanks to my YouTube Channel, I have a place to share my passion with the whole world and other polyglots.
2. Which language(s) do you wish you could spend more time practising?
Norwegian, Swedish, Romanian and Afrikaans.
3. What are some languages you would like to learn in the future?
Quechua, Indonesian, Japanese, Greek, Danish and Polish.
4. So let’s be honest, what’s the sexiest language?
Pour moi, excuse me, French!! :D
5. What’s the greatest pleasure you get from speaking so many languages?
It is really indescribable the way I feel when I start speaking other languages! On the one hand it's an indescribable feeling of happiness, I feel that my happiness hormone is quickly activated and on the other hand it feels like being in another reality/world. Also having the possibility to talk to local people in their language enables me to get to know the people & culture of a country in a much more intense way. As I also love to travel - being able to speak a local language makes it much easier to get into contact with local people and to travel through a country.
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?
There will be certain languages that will die over time because of the number of speakers. In the past there were not too many possibilities as nowadays to learn a language, since today we have a lot of information out there on the internet and multiple platforms to learn languages. In fact, it became much easier to learn languages over time. For example, Quechua is gaining more strength than before thanks to social networks, TV, singers, etc. I think as language lovers we can make a difference helping to strengthen other languages. That’s why I’d love the world to know Quechua via my YouTube channel in the next time.
7. What is your message to young (and not so young) people out there who are interested in studying multiple languages?
In my personal experience, I can only say that learning a language will not only help you to strive for a better life but also to understand other ways of thinking, in consequence being more tolerant and open to other cultures.