Hello, my name is Suzannah and I’m a linguist and freelance translator.  In this video, I answer questions about my journey to speaking 6 languages. I give one answer in each of the languages I speak: French, Dutch, English, Polish, Italian and Spanish. Firstly, in French, I talk about how I discovered I had a talent for the language and almost accidentally ended up spending some time in France and eventually studying French at university, which opened the door to me learning other languages – something I never imagined I would be able to do when I was a shy, quiet teenager. Then, in Dutch, I talk about the story behind why I started to learn other languages – mainly out of curiosity and thanks to friendships I made, as well as having the opportunity to live and work abroad.  I then give away a few tips on how to learn a language – or at least I explain what works best for me and how I have gone about learning each language – in English. After that I explain (in Polish) why I chose to learn Polish, my latest language: it came down to friendships again; plus, it was/is a fun challenge for me.  Then, in Italian, I talk about the advantages of speaking and learning different languages and what I like best about being able to speak other languages. Finally, in Spanish I reveal how I keep up my language skills and what I do to practise every day so I don’t forget them!  Bon visionnement! Veel kijkplezier! Happy watching! Bawcie się dobrze! Buona visione! Disfrutéis de la película!

Suzannah Young

We need your help! Suzannah, our multilingual student speaks 6 languages and we’ve recorded an interview with her speaking them (available on YouTube). But, we need your help with translations from Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish into English.

Leave your translations here below our blog post and we’ll then add them to our video as subtitles! Good luck 🙂