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

I used to be monolingual until I was 22 years old, when I went to Singapore for a one-year exchange program at university. During that year, I met people from various countries who could speak more than three languages fluently. That experience opened my eyes to the diversity of the world and gave me a fascinating opportunity to learn different languages and cultures.

Since the majority of people in Singapore are ethnically Chinese and Mandarin is widely spoken, I began learning Mandarin there. During my stay, I became friends with several Taiwanese students. As I spent time with them, I experienced the fun and excitement of Taiwanese culture. Intrigued by their way of life, I decided to go backpacking in Taiwan. While still a student, I visited Taiwan multiple times, staying for one to two months on each trip. I explored many local towns and natural spots.

I also discovered that Taiwanese Hokkien is a unique local language used in many parts of Taiwan, and that the country has a rich and distinctive cultural and historical background. This led me to study Taiwanese in order to understand Taiwanese culture on a deeper level.

After graduating, I worked as an IT consultant on cross-border projects and had several opportunities to use both English and Mandarin to communicate with teams in countries such as US, China, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.

In 2014, I moved to Hong Kong to further develop my career in the Southeast Asian region. While working in Hong Kong, I learned Cantonese for daily life and workplace communication. I was also involved in a major project in Indonesia, where I worked with local Indonesian team members to design operational processes and systems to improve factory performance. To work effectively with local employees, I learned Indonesian for business conversations. I used Indonesian with stakeholders daily—from routine meetings to steering committees. That challenging experience greatly improved my Indonesian skills.

In 2022, I moved to Thailand to continue my career in a new country. I stayed there for two years and learned Thai in speaking, reading and writing. Since most of my projects were in factories, I needed to speak Thai with stakeholders and read documents in Thai words. I also had the opportunity to participate in a government-related project, which required reading official Thai documents. As a result, I studied the Thai alphabet and pronunciation system extensively. It was a fascinating experience to learn a Sanskrit-based writing system.

In 2025, I relocated to Jakarta to further develop my career as an IT consultant. I am currently involved in various factory projects, using Indonesian daily in operations. I am now working on refining my Indonesian for executive-level discussions and academic contexts.

This is how I came to speak and read six languages at a business level.

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

Currently, I would like to spend more time improving my Indonesian, as I aim to become a more professional consultant with a deeper understanding of the Indonesian economy and politics.

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

In the future, I hope to learn Romance languages like Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

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

For me, Cantonese has the most charm. Its tones are quite unique, and its melodic rhythm makes it feel like I'm reciting a poem rather than just speaking. Also, Cantonese conversations often sound playful, almost like a form of comedy, which adds a unique and interesting flavor to its meaning.

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

There are three major pleasures I get from learning new languages.

First, after learning multiple languages, I can clearly see the cultural connections among different language zones. For example, Cantonese shares vocabulary with Vietnamese, Thai, and even Japanese, which reflects historical interactions across these regions.

Second, learning languages gives me the ability to explore places I wouldn't be able to navigate otherwise, and to understand their history through stories told by local people.

Third, speaking multiple languages allows me to build genuine friendships with people from different cultural backgrounds and to understand their communities on a deeper level.

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?

While it’s true that many minority languages are endangered and may disappear within the next century, I don’t believe the world will be left with only a few languages. Below are the reasons that support my view.

The foundation of my opinion is that linguistic diversity is essential for humanity’s continued development. Embracing a wide range of cultures, values, and ways of thinking is one of the most effective strategies to enhance human society’s ability to adapt, change, and evolve. Therefore, preserving linguistic diversity is not merely a matter of cultural preservation, it is a strategic necessity. By maintaining linguistic variety, we sustain diverse perspectives and cognitive frameworks, which in turn contribute to the resilience and creativity of human society as a whole.

Moreover, it is only natural and practical for each ethnic group to think and express themselves in a language that reflects their own cultural background and worldview. Many people cherish the regions and cultures they belong to, and naturally feel a deep attachment to their native language, which is often inseparable from those identities. The ways of thinking rooted in different cultural traditions do not always align smoothly with dominant global languages such as English or Mandarin. For many communities, continuing to use their native language is not only a matter of emotional attachment but also a rational choice. It reflects their thought patterns more precisely and supports clearer communication within their cultural context.

Above is my reason to think that we will certainly sustain the linguistic diversity in the future.

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

Learning languages is not just learning new culture and getting to know new friends in different culture. But it is art of enhancing your resilience and flexibilities in your thoughts. you might find your new self when you are immersing in the different culture and will embrace your new self. Learning language will also diversify your future path and chance to develop your life.
Most importantly, learning language is not just for yourself. But after leaning new languages, you will be able to help lots of people in navigating different local culture and even mitigating cultural conflicts.