gringoton

gringoton

Hi! My first langauge is English, and I’ve been speaking Spanish for just about as long (although there were long periods of time when I was not using it at all). I moved to Brazil at the age of 16. Although I didn’t like Portuguese at all at first, it eventually became my favorite language. I also studied French in college because I wanted to become a professional bicycle racer and live in Europe. I spent an entire year in France studying French and racing bicycles. I don’t race bikes anymore, but I can still speak French. Immediately after studying in France, I went to Spain to brush up on my Spanish. Instead, I discovered a different dialect with new vocabulary and different pronunciations! I also discovered Valenciano, Catalan, Basque, and Galego! Who knew those existed?! I sure didn’t. After graduation, knowing French got me my first job. I got went to work for an NGO in Haiti (where they actually speak Creole!). Haitian Creole was the first language that I felt like I failed at. There would be many more! I have lived in 12 countries so far, and I currently live in Japan. Other languages I’ve struggled with along the way include Maori, Mandarin, Malay, Thai, and Hungarian. Thanks to Clozemaster (and a couple of other apps), I am able to maintain the languages I’ve got while window-shopping all the other languages like a wide-eyed kid in a candy store!