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

When I was a kid, I was always interested in different countries and cultures. However, my passion for languages developed when I was around the age of 12. I was raised in a family in which the dominant language was Dutch, and I learnt English in primary school up to the age of 12. My father had a flower export business in Metz, France, where I spent most of my holidays helping out with the business. There I found a very supportive and interesting environment to keep working on my French and to practically function as a Dutch/French translator.

Between the ages of 16 and 19, I did summer courses in France (Nice), Spain (Málaga and Madrid), and Malta (Valletta) to improve my language skills in English, French and Spanish. As part of my bachelor’s degree in European Studies, foreign languages remained a dominant topic in my life, with profesional French and Spanish lessons being part of the programme. During the programme, I also lived and worked for a bit over a year in Madrid, where I took the majority of my courses in Spanish and worked as an intern at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Spain. Needless to say, all these experiences resulted in many intercultural and linguistic opportunities for me to improve my language skills.

After these experiences, I also lived in Portugal (Lisbon) for a total of eight months, during which I spent significant time learning Portuguese. My passion for Portuguese grew so strong that I decided to do a three-month intensive Portuguese course in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), where I participated in all levels available at the school, plus private lessons. In 2020, I studied for a master’s degree in Sweden at Lund University. Although the degree was in English, the similarities between Dutch and Swedish are significant once you start looking for them. At the moment, my girlfriend lives in Sweden, and I speak conversational Swedish. As part of a short two-month exchange programme, I took German lessons at B2 level at the University of Mannheim. I am currently the co-founder of a startup called Ellie, which personalises language-learning journeys.

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

I wish I could practise Italian more frequently. At the moment, I am improving my Italian through daily writing exercises, listening to Italian podcasts during commutes, and watching Italian gramar explanations on YouTube. Thanks to the similarities between Italian and the other Latin-based languages I speak, understanding the core concepts of Italian grammar feels very attainable.

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

I have always said that after learning and improving the languages I currently speak to a professional or fluent level, I would love to learn a language that is entirely outside my current linguistic branches (Germanic and Latin-based). In addition, I have a fascination with Japanese aesthetics and culture, so I consider it likely that I will explore this direction in the future.

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

All languages have become part of my personality and identity, but if I had to pick one language on the spot, I would give it to Portuguese at this moment. I think the different varieties of Portuguese (from Portugal, Brazil and other regions such as Cape Verde) are infinitely interesting to me. While learning Portuguese, there was a period in which I was literally obsessed with reading Brazilian literature and comparing writing styles to those of other authors from, for instance, Angola or Mozambique.

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

Personally, I think that being able to participate in cultural activities that sometimes feel inaccessible without speaking the language gives me a lot of joy. I remember that speaking languages has brought me countless interesting and truly personal experiences in the countries where I have lived. To name a few examples, I worked in a bakery for two days in a small town in the province of Extremadura in Spain, joined the Friday prayer and was invited for tea in Beirut (Lebanon), and participated in local celebrations of Carnival in Brazil. All these experiences are so dear to me and were with people who would not have been able to speak Dutch or English.

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 don’t think this is going to happen in such a short time. However, it is true that there are many languages that are currently endangered and should be protected. I consider minority languages to be cultural heritage that we have a responsibility to actively protect. In an increasingly globalised world, there is a risk of languages going extinct, but I would always encourage people to learn languages, since this increase will contribute to greater understanding and truly human connections.

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

Spend some time figuring out which language excites you. Is there a country or region you want to visit or even live in for a while? All my decisions about the languages I have learnt have been entirely spontaneous and based on the excitement I felt when hearing or practising those languages. My decision to learn Portuguese was rooted in one person I heard speaking Portuguese and a song I loved. What I am trying to say is: try to find a language that excites you, even if it is not a “logical” choice.