The International Association
of Hyperpolyglots
HYPIA
est. 2016
Interview with
Fabricio Carraro
Name: Fabrício Carraro
Nationality or Ethnicity: Brazilian / Italian
Where do you live?: Barcelona, Spain
Languages: Portuguese, English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Polish, German, French, Greek; and also some Hebrew, Turkish, Dutch, Romanian and Croatian.
Member since:
2022-08-19
1. What’s your story? How did you get into all these languages?
I was a very curious child. The first moment I was faced with foreign languages was around 2nd or 3rd grade, when a couple of kids who studied in the same class with me started speaking English to each other. Their parents had a lot of money, so they could afford private English lessons. I felt admiration, but also a little bit of jealousy. I would also like to have a secret language to talk to my other classmates and friends.
Fast forward many years. I could already speak some English, and everything started to change when I was about 18. I got the chance to take an intensive Italian course in Brazil, a birthday gift from my godmother. After that, I started learning Russian and Dutch just for fun, until one day on YouTube when I saw a video named: “Italian polyglot speaking 8 languages”, which for me was a revelation. These people existed and I would love to be one of them.
2. Which language(s) do you wish you could spend more time practising?
At this moment, probably Greek and Hebrew.
3. What are some languages you’d like to learn in the future?
I have plans to learn some Ukrainian in the near future. Apart from that, I want to focus on improving and maintaining the languages I already speak.
4. So let’s be honest, what’s the sexiest language?
Italian, no question about it. It's basically the sound expression of happiness.
5. What’s the greatest pleasure you get from speaking so many languages?
Being able to connect with people from everywhere while speaking their language. The connection happens at a completely different level. I also love traveling, and it definitely helps in every aspect of it. Not everyone knows how to or have the patience to explain things to foreigners in detail in English.
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?
I do think that many minority languages tend to disappear, unfortunately. However, the world is too big, and nowadays there are several government-supported initiatives to preserve and empower such languages, and that gives me some hope.
7. What is your message to young (and not so young) people out there who are interested in studying multiple languages?
Go for it, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions J