The International Association
of Hyperpolyglots
HYPIA
ESTABLISHED 2016
Interview with
Eduardo Salvador
Name: Eduardo Salvador
Nationality or Ethnicity: Spanish (My nation is my heart or the universe)
Where do you live?: Barcelona (Although I have been for some 8 years living, studying or working in some 20 countries)
Languages:
Spanish (Native)
C2 in English
C1 in French, in Catalan and in Russian.
B2 in Portuguese.
B1 in Bahasa Indonesia and in Italian (A2/B1)
A1/A2 in German
Have done a 2 month course on Farsi, Chinese, Japanese but also had some basic background in Chadian Arabic, Albanian, Georgian, Armenian and Basque. I have sought to learn how to greet in most of countries or ethnic regions I have been to, including Burma, Mongolia, Java, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Sierra Leone (mende and Creole), Senegal (Wolof), Belgrade, Galicia, Rumania, Thailand, India, Nepal, Bantu, Turkey, Hungary and Madagascar, and other african local languages.
Member since:
2021-12-17
1) What’s your story? How did you get into all these languages?
At home, there was a great interest in knowing languages, My grandma spoke fluently four languages. In my case, as an aid worker I have been exposed to many languages and cultures. I have been recruited to work in six different languages in my working life. Also have worked as an interpreter of Russian and French in the earlier times. I hold various degrees. A BA in Business Administration from a British University but also a 3 other degrees in Economics, Humanities and Psychology from Spanish Universities. Also took courses from Tomsk State University and Sankt Petersburg State University in Russian.
2) Which language(s) do you wish you could spend more time practising?
Russian. The language I find most challenging. It also allows me to learn from another paradigm. And also learn about their tradition History and culture.
3) What are some languages you’d like to learn in the future?
Sanskrit as a sacred language that approaches me to something supreme. and Arabic (or eventually Hebrew) as the language of part of my older tradition or ancestors.
4) So let’s be honest, what’s the sexiest language?
Portuguese from Brazil sounds sexy. But if you add the people then undoubtedly Russian.
5) What’s the greatest pleasure you get from speaking so many languages?
To feel that I am part of that other culture. That there are no barriers beween our worlds. That I can interact with the people as one of them. That I am part of the universe, regardless of how far it is. That I feel fullness in me and the oneness.
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?
The languages are there to communicate each other They can be used as a tool to manipulate the emotions or to build bridges. Each of them can add a great value for a universal consciousness and common friendship.
7) What is your message to young (and not so young) people out there who are interested in studying multiple languages?
If you learn languages to feel superior to the other, just to show off in exotic places on instagram, or just as a tool to improve your social status, you will never really connect with the heart of the other (and neither with your own.)