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Interview with

Kaweme Mambwe

Name: Kaweme Mambwe (Kiki)
Nationality or Ethnicity: Zambian
Where do you live?: Zambia
Languages: Bemba (native), English, Spanish (fluent), French, Afrikaans, Portuguese (intermediate), Dutch (conversational).

Member since:

2024-10-13

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

Growing up in a bilingual family, I knew the value of multilinguism from a very young age. I have always been fascinated by languages. My language learning journey began way back in primary school when I was first introduced to French. I was completely awestruck. Later on as I approached my teenage years, I decided to really delve into language learning and I haven't looked back since. Being a very expressive individual, I find languages to be a very useful tool to express my innermost thoughts, ideas, doubts and myself as a whole. Over the course of my language learning journey I have taken a few standardised evaluation exams and I have been awarded certificates of proficiency, this has boosted my confidence in my linguistic abilities. I firmly believe that it should be everyone's prerogative to learn languages and to engage in what brings them joy.


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

French and Afrikaans, I wish I could spend more time practising them. I consider them to be very useful and artistic in the way they employ their respective grammar rules and nuances.


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

Definitely Italian, Greek and Esperanto. I find these three languages to be extremely influencial, in the sense that many of their respective words can be found in other languages and that they have had some kind of influence over the other.


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

Spanish takes the cake with this one. They don't call it, "la lengua del amor." for no reason.


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

The fact that I can connect with many people from different countries and cultures almost seamlessly. The majority of my friends and associates aren't from my home country, therefore I find being a polyglot to be a very useful trait that connects me with others. On the other hand, I find it easy to express parts of myself that I find difficult to express in other languages. To quote Haruki Murakami, "learning a new language is like becoming a new person." I can definitely attest to this. I always feel like a new reborn soul with every language I speak.


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 strongly disagree. I feel like languages are constantly evolving and changing the way we interact with each other and the world at large. Many languages are transforming and even giving rise to new variants and dialects. For example, statiscally speaking according to an article on Wikipedia, the French spoken in Francophone Africa will soon be indistingushable from other parts of the world in which French is spoken because it's quickly giving rise to more and more expressions unique to it. I imagine that it will evolve and transform completely. There will be more and more languages with their respective dialects in the future.


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

My message is simple: Go for it! Regardless of the material at your disposal, delve into it especially if it interests you. They joy you will feel upon achieving fluency in your target language will be far greater than any hurdles you will meet along the way. Always keep in mind, language learning is not a race but rather a never ending journey.

The International Association of Hyperpolyglots - HYPIA. (c) 2025

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