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

From birth – I was born in Japan, and throughout my childhood and youth I’ve lived for a year or more in the USA, Australia, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Brazil. As an adult I’ve lived and worked in Japan, Spain, and the USA, and spend a considerable amount of time traveling. When I was a university student I decided to study languages and linguistics since I was interested in it and good at it, and from there it turned into a career as a language professor and as a translator/interpreter.

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

All of them! I really enjoy being involved in conversations in different languages; being in conversation is my way of practicing.

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

ASL (American Sign Language) is the next language that I’d like to learn.

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

All of them, and each in their own unique way!!! But I especially like speaking Italian and Brazilian Portuguese, and I like hearing Persian because of how it sounds.

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

The best thing about being a hyperpolyglot is that it dramatically increases your ability to make conversation as well as to travel and be an active participant in daily life. Getting to chat with people in their own language is a special reward.

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?

Many of the world’s rarest languages (those with a few hundred or a few dozen speakers) are going extinct and every year there are fewer and fewer languages with living native speakers. But I don’t think we’ll ever go down to just a few – I think there will always be hundreds and hundreds of languages in daily use.

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

Do it! It’s fun! Put yourself in places and in situations where you’re immersed in a language, give yourself plenty of room for making mistakes, and enjoy the process! If it ceases to bring you joy, try a different language or try a different activity – it shouldn’t become a chore, it should be something that you love! Whether that be conversation groups, formal classes, or self-study, whatever works for you and your own individual way of learning – that’s what you should do.