What was your first language-learning experience?
In elementary school, we had around two hours of English per week, and I really loved it. The teacher made it fun and approachable, and our textbook was cool. Every chapter was introduced with a short illustrated story, and the series had five volumes, one for each school year. I remember immediately reading all of them, without understanding much, when my mum brought the new schoolbooks home for the new year. It was great.
What languages have you studied and why did you start them?
I started learning English, French and Spanish because they were compulsory in school. Latin and ancient Greek too but it’s not like they count, and I don’t remember a single thing anymore. Now I’m studying Chinese and Japanese. There are a lot of reasons why I wanted to study them and other languages too, but in general, it might sound dumb, I’m very food and (new) friend motivated.
How does your personality affect how you learn languages?
I’m a very curious person, so that’s good, but I’m also a bit shy so sometimes I'm scared to practice a new language with the natives, but it always goes great :)
Do you prefer learning languages in a class or individually?
Both are essential to me. I’m not sure if only learning individually makes sense, unless your goals are strictly related to grammar?
What are your favourite language-learning materials?
Flashcards
How much time do you spend actively learning per day?
It really really varies. It could go from 0 to a whole day.
What are your short-term and long-term language learning goals?
My long term goal is getting a C2 in Chinese and doing as much as I can in Japanese.
Short-term.. I’m not sure. Passing my uni exams.
What is your favourite language?
English and Chinese (Mandarin). I really can’t choose between them
What advice can you give new language learners?
1. when it comes to choosing which language to study, go with your gut unless you’re trying to get a job out/money of it
2. don’t be hard on yourself
3. find native friends you genuinely like so you’ll constantly be excited to talk to them and what they tell you will stick to your brain way more than what a random person you don’t care about says
4. in the beginning, focus on learning three groups of words: (1) common words (2) personal words (3) words to describe other words (“it’s like…” “its meaning is the same/similar/opposite to…” “I heard it in this context”). In Chinese, learning the radicals' and the strokes’ names will also be helpful
5. don’t fall into the youtube/social media polyglot rabbit hole
6. be realistic.

       

I love English! I started studying it at 6, but only started truly getting better at it in my early 20s because my country's English classes are bad. It’s also how I met some of the most important people of my life: my best friends and their families I also really love it because I feel like sometimes it’s just easier to express yourself and to think in a language that’s not your native one(s). It feels more lucid, in a way.
       

I love Chinese just as much as I love English. I follow my own pace, sometimes leaving a lesson behind to wander on the Chinese side of the internet or on 小红书, and to look for new cool characters. And then I go back to my books. I love Chinese and I owe a lot to it.

      

French........me and French have a complicated relationship. Technically, I’d love to be amazing at it. I started learning it when I was 11, in middle school, and I used to hate it. I think I don’t like Romance languages because they’re too close to my native language. Several things seem so similar, yet are in fact pretty different and it confuses me. I also don’t particularly like France, I mean, the places I’ve been to, which would be Paris and random villages. That being said, I still want to visit new places in France and I want to reach the C1 level.

    

I'm studying it in uni. Loving it so far.

      

Yeah. I'm putting Spanish here just because. I mean, I actually studied it and everything, but I never really liked it. I just had to study it in high school. The culture and literature part, on the other hand, were great. So yeah, there you go. These are all the languages I've studied so far.