top of page
Image-empty-state.png

Interview with

Sagi Avni

Name: Sagi Avni
Nationality or Ethnicity: Israeli
Where do you live?: Israel
Languages: Hebrew, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese.

Member since:

2024-07-03

1. What’s your story? How did you get into all these languages?
So basically my languages story was a bit unexpected but it goes without saying that I am so happy to have them and I feel like they are my “superpower”.
So I was born in Israel to an American dad and an Argentinian mom, so I grew up with Hebrew and English really not far behind, but no Spanish whatsoever.
I did hear Spanish growing up from my grandparents and relatives in Argentina but I never really spoke it.
And then, in 2016 I went to an after-school fun French class (its goal was honestly just for fun) and when I first actually tried to speak French, I saw that my instinct was to answer and think in Spanish, and that’s when I understood that I love languages.
so, I kept on with French, got a 99 in the final exam and at the same time I started talking more Spanish with my cousins in Argentina. When covid hit in 2020 I had some time to study a new language and Italian was chosen. And in 2021 I took a couple of Portuguese lessons and started my journey as a solo traveller around the world. I love meeting people that speak any of my other languages and I love travelling so much because of that.


2. Which language(s) do you wish you could spend more time practising?
Portuguese!! Brazil has always been on my list and I haven’t been there (yet). I did travel in Portugal for 2 weeks solo last year but my Portuguese is Brazilian and I would love to practice it there.


3. What are some languages you’d like to learn in the future?
I was torn so long between Greek and Chinese and I will start studying Chinese very soon.


4. So let’s be honest, what’s the sexiest language?
Now that’s the real question! I really change my mind everyday between all the Latin languages but I think nothing can beat the Italian melody.


5. What’s the greatest pleasure you get from speaking so many languages?
I love mixing languages and speaking a few of them in the same conversation. I remember one such occasion in Aosta, Italy, where French and Italian are the two official languages and I just had to buy a train ticket or something like that and I was speaking half Italian half French just for fun.


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?
Well… I hope not. I don’t think its true but nowadays changes are so vast and extreme and in 100 years we might have an AI chip inside our brains that lets us speak all the languages ever.


7. What is your message to young (and not so young) people out there who are interested in studying multiple languages?
Put yourself out there! Languages are all about trying and risking being wrong and at the end of the day the most important thing is understand and being understood. As long as we manage that, I think the rest doesn’t really matter.

bottom of page