Languages

2006-04-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

I'm Grégoire. I was born and I have always lived in Brazil. Naturally, Portuguese is my mother tongue. However, my father is French so since I was a little boy I have been in contact with his language at the bilingual school I study at.
At the Lycée, after a certain age (11), we have to learn English and later at the age of 13 we can choose between Spanish or German. We can also choose Latin as an option. I prefer to learn to Spanish because I think it is a language that includes more countries than German. German is only spoken in Germany and some countries in Eastern Europe whereas Spanish is spoken in a lot of countries like Mexico, Spain, Argentina and others. Nowadays, Portuguese is the language that I use the most and came French , which I use in class and sometimes with my father at home. I only speak in the Spanish class and sometimes when I joke with my friends.
The fact of always being in Brazil and always be interacting with Brazilians has made me more Brazilian than French. So I use also more Portuguese because I’m more comfortable with it and I have more facility to express myself. However, I’m sure that if I had lived in France, I would have been more comfortable with French. Once, I had the experience of only talking French, when I was travelling alone there. I managed to communicate naturally because I have been studying French since I was four. I prefer, a 1000 times, speaking Portuguese though. I think that when you know a language only through classes, when you have to use it in other situations you become a little bit embarrassed, but with the time you get used to it.
I believe the fact of knowing more than 3 languages will help me a lot, in my future opportunities. And also, I am going to have an upper level if compared to others. Nowadays to get a job, you have to know not only how to speak a lot of languages but also perform in a lot of activities. The market is very competitive and any “extra” will help me. Furthermore, I like the fact of being able to go to a lot of countries and not have commmunication problems. I would like to travel around the world and being able to speak English this can happen more easily.
In conclusion, I think that I’m fond of speaking a lot of languages and getting to know many different cultures not only for the advantages I envisage but also because it is good to know more about and be in closer contact with this huge and diverse world.

Greg's

Languages