Languages

Here is a brief overview of the various languages I have studied and that I can speak. I’ve tried to organize them in order of speaking ability. You can read about the various resources I use for each of these languages here.

The Languages I Speak

English – English is my native language. It is one of the languages I speak at home and the language that I work in.

French – French is another language I speak at home (I live in a multilingual household). The constant mixing of languages also results in some pretty hilarious words for the Eurodictionary. My recommended French language resources.

Mandarin Chinese – Mandarin is one of the languages I speak at the highest level. I initially wasn’t sure about whether or not it was the right language for me, but I completely fell in love with it shortly after I started studying. My recommended Mandarin language resources.

Croatian – My dad’s father was from Croatia and so I began learning the language due to familial ties and because I love knowing the languages of my family. My recommended Croatian language resources.

Japanese – I started learning Japanese as a part of the Fluent in 3 Months Bootcamp (formerly the Challenge) and use it a lot at work (I often work with a Japanese music company). My recommended Japanese language resources.

Hungarian – I work with a Hungarian company, so I learned Hungarian as I travel to the country regularly and have many opportunities to use the language. My recommended Hungarian language resources.

Korean – Lindsay Dow and I started learning Korean together a while back and we shared our progress both on our blogs and on YouTube. We also traveled to Korea together with Little Linguist. My recommended Korean language resources.

Italian – I decided to learn Italian because I feel as though it is one of the core European languages. That and I also needed to learn it for school. I love French and because it shares its Latin origins with Italian, the latter seemed like the next logical step to take linguistically. It is both difficult and easy because of its similarities to French, so my progress is sometimes fast and at other times, slow. The hardest thing for me is definitely pronunciation. I began studying Italian while I was doing my Master’s degree in Northern Ireland. My recommended Italian language resources.

Russian –  I really enjoy digging into this language and have no “real” reason for learning it other than I love how it sounds. My recommended Russian language resources.

Spanish – One of my first languages was Spanish but around the age of four or five, we stopped speaking it at home. I still understand quite a bit and I can read Spanish without any problem, but I don’t know how to say much beyond basic greetings. I nearly forgot everything which is why I decided to start over with the language. Plus, it’s incredibly useful to know living in Southern California. My recommended Spanish language resources.

German – I began learning German when I was fifteen years old. It was the language I initially wanted to learn as my third language, but I wasn’t able to do so until several years later due to the fact the course was canceled the year I started to take foreign languages. A few years ago, I might have said that German was one of my stronger languages, but I’ve really let it fall out of practice. My comprehension is much higher than my ability to speak, but both need a lot of work right now. My recommended German language resources.

Hindi – I learned Hindi for a brief time to present in the language. I plan to pick it back up when the opportunity presents itself. My recommended Hindi language resources.

Hebrew – Hebrew was a language on my “wish list” for a long time, and in 2020, an opportunity to learn the language presented itself, so i dove in.

Persian – I most recently started learning Persian to surprise some family friends.

Scottish Gaelic – I’m currently learning Scottish Gaelic and absolutely loving it.

The Languages I No Longer Study

Romanian – Whenever there is an opportunity to learn a new language, I always try to take it. I previously worked with a Romanian expatriate and she patiently taught me Romanian. Each time I passed her desk, she would teach me a new word or two in Romanian, frequently “testing” my ability to remember the words that she had taught me. We arrived at the point where we moved into basic conversation, but when she left our company, I stopped studying the language. I can now only remember how to say basic expressions such as “good morning,” “how are you,” and “what is my word?” When I was studying Romanian, I would, on average, learn anywhere from one to twenty new words in Romanian per day, five days a week.

Arabic – When I was fifteen years old, I took an Arabic class at the local community college. Because it was several years ago, I’ve forgotten most of what I’ve learned except for a few basic formalities. I still have my textbooks and learning material, so I plan on studying it again once I am more comfortable with my five core languages.

Icelandic – I briefly studied Icelandic for my trip to the country. I wrote about learning Icelandic here.

Norwegian – I also briefly studied Norwegian while I worked at Drops, but did not maintain the language once I started working at my current company.

Breton – While earning my Master’s, I learned a bit of Breton but it didn’t stick.