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

I was born in a family where my parents are from different backgrounds, and I was brought up in both English and Cantonese. I learnt Mandarin from school and was exposed to it, and the same happened with Japanese. In middle school, I took Russian for half a year (because I want to do Borscht right) and decided that it was too much for me so I took French instead. After failing to get into French Universities because I got only 40 points in the DALF C1 exam, I was admitted to a Swedish University. There, I picked up Swedish, and later Vietnamese through diaspora contact and some structured studying.

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

Currently, Burmese! It is such a fascinating language with a long-standing Sino-Tibetan connection with one of my native languages – Cantonese! I can still recognise the cognates, and some of the grammatical similarities! And who can resist a bowl of Mohinga or Ohn No Khao Swe with some be song kyaw! Also my conlangs.

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

It is hard to pick one so I will say: Hawaiian (Ancestry), Greek (I am on a break with this language; also somewhat, ancestry), and Irish (for the hell of it).

4. So let’s be honest, which language has the most charm for you?

It is really had to decide!! But for the moment, I would say Irish. I like how the inflection and sandhi goes. It sounds like a flowing river.

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

To be able to tap into different cognitive headspaces and logical alignments in my brain, and to enjoy the partition between all my alter-egos. Also, that smile when a person knows that you speak their language:)!

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?

That is an ambitious claim! In fact, I think there will be no more languages!! Apparently, cyborgs and AI will conquer the earth and we will speak 1010101010001010 (that is AA8A in Hex by the way, and yes it is just a random number). [Satire]

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

Combine structure, curiosity, food, and fun! I discovered that learning from food is the fastest way for me to learn any language!