This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Vanderbilt chapter.
When did you become interested in learning other languages?
I loved Madeline when I was 5. I pretty much memorized the book, and I had a Madeline sing-along tape (yes, this was pre-CD) as well as a French pop tape from Express whose songs my mom and I would sing on car rides.
How many languages do you speak? Which one is your favorite?
Five. English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. I studied Ancient Greek for two years in high school, but I’m not sure what I would do with that now. I’m also well versed in Ubbi Dubbi (think Zoom from PBS). My favorite language varies day-to-day; although, recently it’s been a struggle between Italian and Portuguese.
What has been your favorite place to travel?
I fell in love with Rome when I visited. I was highly under the influence of The Lizzie McGuire movie, and just wanted to skip down the streets belting out “Hey Now”. Even on rainy days, Rome had a sunny atmosphere that just put me in a perpetual good mood. I’m going to Brasil for the first time this summer for an internship, so I’ll keep you posted.
Do you think speaking the language affects traveling to other countries? How?
Absolutely, the more languages you speak, the more friends you can make! It also makes it easier to travel within the country as the majority of bilingual English speakers reside in the larger cities.
“The limits of my language means the limits of my world” -Ludwig Wittgenstein
Do you think you will continue learning other languages? Do you think you will pursue a career in which language is an important skill?
I hope so. I went through a phase where I really wanted to learn Swahili and Korean. As for now, German is the next language on my list. The jury is still out on whether or not I want to even attempt to learn any asian languages.
I think one of the main reasons I have continued to learn languages is because I love to travel, so ideally that would be an integral part of my job.