My Polyglot Path: How I Learned Four Languages
On living an accidentally multilingual life.
This post is inspired by the wonderful Catriona Knapman at Notes from Saving the World! Please read her story on how she became such a linguistic superstar.
Whenever I am asked what my native language is, I never know quite what to say.
I’m not even sure I fully understand the concept of a native language. I don’t feel more comfortable speaking one language than another. Due to having lived quite an international life, I have ended up with several fluencies - which is an incredible gift to have been given. I use them all differently, in different contexts and with different people. They are all, in some way, incredibly close to me. I don’t know any other way to express myself than in multiple languages. But the fact is that my multilingual existence came to be…by accident. Mostly.
Wherever I go, I’m usually the person who speaks the most languages. And I don’t even speak that many: only four. I wish I spoke many, many more. But at least I can say for certain that I actually do speak “my” languages fluently. I once met someone who claimed to speak seven languages and I was so impressed! However, I later found that he only knew how to say “hi” and “good evening” in Brazilian Portuguese. I also was elated when, on my third season of working in Tuscany, I came across a colleague who said he spoke Russian. But when I said “how are you”, he didn’t understand me. So while the concept of “speaking” a language can be somewhat fluid, I know I am closely, intimately familiar with the languages I speak. Even if they aren’t as many as I’d like.
Russian
The very first language I spoke. I was born in Moscow and am hence a Russian speaker - both my parents are Russian. I remember how worried I was about losing my Russian when we moved to Sweden when I was about to turn seven years old. Turns out I had no need for concern: my mother was ever so dedicated to making sure that both me and my sisters, who were born after we relocated, kept our Russian roots. I can recall mum handing me classic Russian literature which I was way too young for - but which laid the foundation for my future passion for reading. Swedish schools also offer native-language education to pupils with foreign roots, and my mum taught Russian to me and other Russian kids on the side of her main work as an English teacher. Throughout my childhood, I held onto my roots so fiercely, and it wasn’t until I moved to Italy that I started to naturally and contently let go of them. Today, I am still a fluent Russian speaker and reader, but I can’t say I’m a good writer in Russian or that I can confidently use it in my work. Curiously, my very first radio interview was in Russian - my work in charity PR requires me to be a media spokesperson, and when that particular request came through, no Russian speakers were available. So before I even got my media training, I found myself on a Russian radio station, discussing the perils and ethical conundrums of sending monkeys to space! Aside from that one occurrence, I mostly use my Russian to communicate with my family and my childhood friends.
Swedish
This is usually the one I end up going with when asked what my “native language” is. The reason is simple: Sweden is the one single country I have spent the most time in. Although I have always written in English, I have also done a lot of writing in Swedish - ever since I wrote short stories during math class, trying to hide my notebook from the teacher. Among my first-ever jobs as a published journalist was my work for the sadly now-defunct Cosmopolitan Sweden and three other Swedish women’s magazines. Today, I speak Swedish with my sisters sometimes, and I have Swedish friends with whom I use it. I also occasionally use it for work, and it’s come in handy in professional situations before - I was once hired for a job that I had zero experience in, just because I spoke Swedish. I didn’t understand half the things we were doing! In fact, had I not spoken Swedish, I might never have landed the job that led me to meet my husband. The hotel where we met needed a Swedish-speaking receptionist, and my CV came in at the right time. See? Speaking a language can prove serendipitous in many ways.
Italian
One of my lifelong goals was to learn Italian. Vacationing in Italy with my family as a teenager is one of the happiest memories of my childhood. Hearing the Italian language, accompanied by the characteristic hand gestures, blew my mind. “They are so lucky,” I kept thinking, “being able to speak this language.” When I saw kids my age speaking Italian without thinking twice, I was both envious and fascinated. One day, I told myself, one day, I would speak it too. One morning I’d wake up, open my mouth, and Italian words would just come out.
Today, Italian is perhaps the language I most commonly speak in my private life, as my husband is from Milan, and some of my closest friends are Italian. I feel comfortable both speaking and writing in Italian, and some Italians I met have actually thought that I was from the north of Italy (however, when I hear myself speaking on a recording I can clearly hear that I indeed have an accent). How I learned? Well, it was 2005, no Duolingo or anything like that existed, and I found myself working in a tiny Tuscan town, surrounded by people who spoke Italian only. No one spoke English or Swedish. Full disclosure: I had taken Italian in high school, but my knowledge was extremely basic. My job was public-facing, so I had to adapt in some way. I did it the best way I knew: buying a stack of magazines and a dictionary. In what little free time I had, I immersed myself in reading, looking up every word I didn’t know the meaning of. I was determined to obtain fluency - and after working in that tiny town for six months, I was fluent. Four years later, I wrote for Italian magazines. Being a fluent Italian speaker will always be one of my proudest achievements.
English
English is my writing language - the one I’ve always felt most comfortable writing in. I was writing short stories in English as soon as I had learned it, and with a mother who was an English teacher, this language became part of my life early on. My mum used to teach children in our home, and I took part in the lessons at four or five years old. To me, the English language just vibrated with expression and creativity. This could be due to all the films and TV shows I loved as a tween and teen being in English, as well as my early discovery of US teen-girl magazines. I have SUCH nostalgia for Seventeen, YM, CosmoGirl and more! I used to save my pocket money for a trip to the international magazine shop in central Stockholm and stock up on glossy teen mags, which I then devoured with the dream of one day being the editor-in-chief of a magazine like that. My dreams swiftly shifted between that and Hollywood stardom, from one day to another - and both those career options involved speaking English. So I got to the top of my class in that subject - at the expense of math, but hey, let’s not pretend that I had any hope there anyway - with the aim of moving to the US one day, which I did. How that went? Find out here.
Being multilingual is a strange experience. I am often asked what language I dream in, but I cannot imagine dreaming in one language only. I use four languages on a daily basis and none of them is more “foreign” to me than the other. I genuinely make no more effort to speak one than I do the other and there isn’t a language I feel “closer” to than another. To me, all of this about belonging to a country, a culture or a language sounds so strange and unnatural. It’s like being asked, “do you prefer your arms or your legs?” I cannot imagine life without any of them. In my mind, there isn’t another way to live other than multiculturally - it’s all I’ve ever known, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Languages on my wish list
Spanish - very similar to Italian, would be ridiculously easy to learn. Stay tuned…
Portuguese - same! Plus, LISBON.
French - possibly a harder mountain to climb. But I reckon I can do it!
How many languages do you speak? Which are on your wish list? Are you learning any?
Oh and please, again, read ’s story on this! This piece is inspired by a format she created.
What about the language from Star Wars? It was Glingon or something…
Wow! So impressive! I'm sure you'll learn Spanish and Portuguese quickly. I have tiny bits of Spanish, Catalan, and French. Barely enough to get by, but I sometimes surprise myself how much I know. I'm surrounded by native Catalan and Castellano speakers who all speak very fast. But, I keep trying.