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

I  guess I always just liked language. My other tells me I was speaking in  complete sentences before I could walk. Strangers would apparently  always look for a non-existing older sibling because they just couldn’t  believe the way that baby talked. My mother, who’s no linguist, then  taught me some basic English and bits of French when I was bored at age 4  because I wasn’t allowed into school early.

When  I finally got to school, I went on to study English, French and Latin.  At age 13, I decided I wanted to learn English so well that no-one would  be able to tell I wasn’t a native. I just wanted to fit in and make  that ‘English’ identity mine. In fact, more precisely, the identity was  Yorkshire and my exchange parents told me after a couple of years (yes, I  kept going back and to this day, my exchange partner is a good friend)  that I’d now achieved ‘broad Yorkshire like uus’ status.

I  then turned my attention to French but I just didn’t have the same  drive to achieve native-like fluency as I’d had for English. I got bored  quite quickly because I realized I didn’t have the same desire to adopt  another cultural identity. So I then decided that I should aim for  other languages next.

At  age 16, I enrolled in evening classes for Spanish and Russian, in  addition to school, and in my early 20’s, I added Italian and Swahili,  each in preparation for a journey.

Then I had kids, and languages took a back seat for around a decade.

When  I decided to get back into languages, I decided to brush up on my  Spanish and bought a CD Rom from an obscure, Munich-based outlet called  ‘digital publishing’ – and I loved the self-study offers so much that I  decided to apply for work with this company where I am now a training  manager, in charge of developing language courses.

Then  I discovered duolingo and that’s when I became an addict. I added  Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish just for the fun of it, while  getting frustrated with the layout of the Czech and Romanian courses and  ultimately quitting these. My recent quest to learn Chinese is now  keeping me more than busy enough.

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

I wish I had more time to practise all of them but Chinese will have to take the top spot.

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

I  honestly have no idea in these uncertain times, and right now, I’m  happy plodding along with Chinese. But that may change, especially if I  do get increased opportunities to travel in the future. If I learn a  language, I want to try it out in real life 😊.

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

I’m  not all that fond of stereotypes so I won’t write French, and I  couldn’t say what makes a language sexy. I find it incredibly attractive  when I can identify a language by its rhythm and identify it even  though I have no idea what the people are actually saying.

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

For  me, the greatest pleasure is in two completely unrelated things: One is  just keeping my brain busy. When I do housework, I often listen to  foreign-language podcasts, or I tell myself stories in another language.  What’s most fascinating, though, is the myriad connections you find  between loan words in different languages, and discovering which are  false friends and which are straight-up translations – or those where  the connotations change. The closely related English-Dutch-German  triangle is particularly rich in such ‘almost-translations’.

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?

Sadly,  I think this is a very real danger. As we grow ever more  interconnected, the drive to speak a common language and participate in  larger-scale culture and commerce is likely to be just too overwhelming.  Languages, like the populations of endangered species, also need a  minimum number of speakers to survive. There is, however, an increasing  backlash and local dialects are sometimes taught in schools again.  Ultimately, I think it depends on the strength and resilience of each  local community. Those who have the resources to teach their language  will increasingly be able to do so whereas those that lack strong  internal cohesion may choose not to. I highly doubt that we’ll be left  with 5,000+ languages, though.

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

You  can do it if you really put your mind to it – but don’t think of  ‘learning a language’ as a single concept. It’s like learning the piano.  You can learn a language for everyday purposes, to get by on your  holiday, just like you can perhaps play a couple of simple chords or  scales – or you can aim to understand everything and participate in the  most intricate academic debates, which would equate to playing  Beethoven. This last goal is likely to get you frustrated if that’s all  you focus on. There are so many intermediate steps! Be tolerant of  ambiguity and when you don’t understand, dare to ask!

In  addition, don’t start too many languages at once. I find that once I  can recognize the melody of a particular language in my head and ‘tune’  into it involuntarily (something that, for me, happens at around level  B1), I am ready for the next language.

Finally,  to be successful, do things you enjoy doing in that new language. My  best-kept language learning secret is that I ADORE trashy novels - but I  would never read these in a language I know well. Reading  linguistically simple but plot-wise compelling novels in a language you  just about know enough of is endless fun and the best excuse you can get  for reading that trash you wouldn’t normally touch.

Claudia is also a HYPIA Scholar. Below is an excerpt from her HYPIA Research Interview:

1. HYPIA Research revolves around three main, interrelated activities: a monthly study group (to discuss relevant articles/chapters and videos), an annual conference (to present your own ideas about them) and the publication of selected proceedings from that conference. Ideally, we would be interested in accepting applicants that are able and willing to participate in all 3. On a scale from 1 (most likely) to 10 (less likely), how likely are you commit to this endeavor?

Well, just starting out and being prone to overestimating the amount of time and effort I can put in, I’ll say 8. Time will tell 😊.

2. What are your main areas of research interest? Please, rank the following from 1 (most interesting to you) to 5 (less interesting).

(3)Multilingualism

(1) Language ideologies

(5) Formal linguistics

(2) Sociolinguistics

(4)Minoritized languages and/or language revitalization

( ) Other, please specify: _____________________________

3. Which linguistic concepts / areas / discourses would you like to explore as part of HYPIA Research?

I’d like to explore the intersection of language, culture and the environment, and in particular, the role of language in fostering/hindering sustainable tourism and access and benefit-sharing from tourism revenue.

I’m also keen on further debunking the ‘native-speaker’ myth whenever I encounter it.

4. What is unique about your language-related research?

I don’t currently carry out any formal research but my role as Director of Academic Services at a large international online language school gives me unique access and perspectives on language learning in international business contexts.

5.  Please, let us know your related academic credentials, if and as applicable.

MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Oxford Brookes University)

M.Sc. Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health (Edinburgh University, in progress)

Diploma in Translation (Institute of Linguists)