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About me: Polyglot Aurora and her language learning journey (Updated 5/5/24)
My journey to speaking 11 languages
My name is Aurora. I was born in Slovenia, so one of my first languages is Slovenian. I am 20 years old and a polyglot, speaking eleven languages.
I invite you to join me to read about my language-learning journey!
1. Serbian
Until the age of three, I spent most of my time with my grandmother, where I was introduced to my first foreign language
(well, not foreign to me, foreign to Slovenian and other non-Serbian people, as I grew up with it and it is actually my second mother tongue) – Serbian, which is quite a significant milestone in my life.
It was here that my passion for learning foreign languages was born.
2. English
In 2006, my parents enrolled me in kindergarten, where my love for languages could further flourish as I began learning English.
A significant influence on choosing English in kindergarten was probably the fact that I watched most cartoons in this language,
mostly even without subtitles.
In 2009, upon entering Primary School, my dedication to English deepened, as I was able to choose it as an elective and kept it until it became mandatory.
3. French and 4. Italian
In the third grade, I joined the French and Italian school language clubs.
My journey of learning all these languages still continues, although my formal education in Italian ended rather quickly – in the fifth grade, and French in the seventh. In the seventh grade, I started helping younger, same-age, and older students at school with English.
I continue to do this today, and since December 2022, I am proud to hold a TEFL certificate for teaching English as a foreign language.
5. German
At the age of twelve, I enrolled in a German course, which lasted one year, but I happily continued learning it on my own.
6. Spanish
At the age of fourteen, I enrolled in a Spanish course, which lasted one year,
but I happily continued learning my fifth foreign language on my own and later identified it as my favorite. Since then, I have happily used it in my everyday life.
In September 2018, I started attending the Secondary School for Pharmacy, Cosmetics, and Healthcare, specializing in cosmetics, to become a beautician.
This path ended in the second year when
I realized that I had chosen this profession for the wrong reasons. Obviously, you can’t be a beautician if you’re not keen on work experience lessons, AND with your favorite subject being English 😂
Initially, due to the influence of the environment in which I grew up, mostly by my narcissistic abusive mother, I thought that makeup was the only way I could find my self-confidence and self-image and thus help others.
However, after some time, I finally discovered that this was a pattern from my environment and began my journey of personal growth, where I discovered numerous different ways to help myself and others.
This meant that I stopped hiding behind makeup and helped both myself and others to accept and love their true selves.
I am proud to have broken this harmful habit and found a different solution, with which anyone can find inner beauty and radiate it outward – I am now a mental health life coach and a motivational speaker
In 2018, I could not have imagined that two years later, I would find out that becoming a beautician is not in line with my life’s purpose.
This experience was stressful and difficult, but it taught me one of the most important life lessons – to follow my heart.
I applied the lesson that I learned by transferring to the Secondary School for Gastronomy and Tourism, specializing in tourism, in September 2020.
There, I completed the 2nd, 3rd, and the 4th year.
During my time at the Secondary School for Gastronomy and Tourism, I encountered Spanish and German again
7. Mandarin Chinese
In my free time, besides learning foreign languages (to which I have recently added Mandarin Chinese, I enjoy writing poems in English.
8. Croatian 9. Bosnian 10. Montenegrin
I have an exciting secret for you
BUT
please, shhh don’t tell anyone. Do you promise?
It will be our little secret!
Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin language sound almost the same.
Many Balkan people say that Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin language are in fact the same language.
So, if you speak one of those four languages, feel free to add other three to your CV. It works like a charm! ;)
In summary:
- Slovenian
- Serbian
- English
- French
- Italian
- German
- Spanish
- Mandarin Chinese
- Croatian
- Bosnian
- Montenegrin
Share in the comments:
What languages do you play with:)?
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