Season 1 | Episode 5
Meet The Man
Who Speaks 19 Languages
An Interview With
Georges Awaad
Linguistics Student and Chinese Teacher
This week’s guest is Georges Awaad, an inspiring undergraduate student of linguistics at McGill University. He is just 21 years old and can speak 19 different languages. Georges currently teaches Chinese language to primary school students at École Montessori de Laval and as his LinkedIn profile will tell you, he “seek[s] to use [his] language and communication skills to inspire people from all over the world to look past language and cultural barriers and to see the authentic nature in everyone.”
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Overview:
Do you have five minutes a day to spare? If you do, after listening to this podcast, you just might find yourself wanting to use that time to learn a new language. The thought of learning even one new language can be overwhelming and present itself as a daunting task, but consistency and curiosity might be the keys to your success.
In this week’s episode, Jon and Georges discuss how effortless it is to set goals for learning new languages and the advantages of immersing yourself in the sounds of a different culture. To Georges it’s like learning a “secret code that [he] want[s] to crack and understand” the meaning of. Learning a new language can be useful for a variety of reasons such as travelling, obtaining broader research, and most importantly and simply relating to other human beings. Five minutes a day and you might just surprise yourself with your own progress.
Topics Discussed in this Episode:
[01:30] When did your [Georges] fascination and passion for languages begin and how did you start the learning process?
[05:33] What advice might you have for someone who wants to learn a new language and in addition to using those tools, how might they stay disciplined?
[09:05] In your opinion, are there other personal qualities a person must possess that make it easier to learn a new language?
[12:48] Georges talks of exposing yourself to new cultures via learning their language and the benefits of doing so.
[16:58] What advice do you have for a young person who right now thinks a better use of their time is binge watching a television show or playing video games?