The International Association
of Hyperpolyglots
HYPIA
est. 2016
Interview with
Jakub Jarosz
Name: Jakub Jarosz
Nationality or Ethnicity: Polish
Where do you live?: Poland
Languages: Polish, English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French, Portuguese, German
Member since:
2021-07-06
1. Why did you want to learn so many languages at such a young age?
I want to be able to understand different cultures, and I believe it's absolutely essential to know a culture's language in order to understand it properly. Besides, I believe that proficiency in foreign languages is helpful professionally and speaking multiple languages will differentiate me from other people who want to work in the same line of work that I want to work in.
2. Is learning languages something fun? Why?
I wouldn't say it's exactly fun. It's a part of my daily routine. I find it extremely disturbing when I'm not doing anything productive with my life, and thus whenever I'm doing anything that doesn't require my full attention, I put my headphones on and focus on listening to audio content in my target language. As I said, learning the language which I do mainly through immersion isn't exactly fun, however being able to have an interesting conversation in the language is definitely one of the most rewarding things I have ever experienced.
3. Which language(s) do you wish you could spend more time practising?
I could spend more time practicing every single one of my languages. Although my level in most of them is advanced, and I don't have any problem with expressing my thoughts, there is always more to be learned. However, unfortunately there are only 24 hours in a day, thus there isn't enough time to truly master every single language that I speak.
4. What are some languages you’d like to learn in the future?
Learning fluent Mandarin, Farsi, Japanese and Hindi is my dream. I do not plan to learn other languages as unfortunately our brain is built in such a way that if we don't use a skill it diminishes and this applies to languages as well. I prefer to maintain my current languages as well as brush up on my Portuguese and German. I know I could learn more languages but in my goal is to speak every language I learn which is impossible when knowing bunches and bunches of them.
5. What would you like to be when you grow up?
In the future, I would like to work as a diplomat. I believe it would be a great career as it would allow me to use my language skills as well as my political knowledge.
6. What is your message to other young people who are interested in studying multiple languages?
Persistence is key. Don't expect the effect to be immediate, but achieving whatever goal is realistic provided you sacrifice enough time working on it.