Blog
Thoughts on multilingualism, language development, identity and everything in between. Written for families, individuals, educators and businesses — and anyone who’s ever felt like they live between languages.
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On confidence, competence, and the gap between them Plenty of people who speak two, three, even four languages still won’t call themselves bilingual. Ask them why, and the ability isn’t usually the problem. It’s a nagging sense that they don’t quite qualify, that a “real” bilingual wouldn’t hesitate, wouldn’t mix up a preposition, wouldn’t need…
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Every year, people find themselves in the same situation. A trip is approaching, the flights are booked, and suddenly they realise they don’t know more than a handful of words in the language spoken there. The question usually follows quickly: is it even worth trying to learn a language before a holiday at this point?…
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On Dream Languages, Emotional Geography, and What it Means to Live in More than One Tongue A few weeks ago I had a dream in Turkish that genuinely unsettled me. I was at a bazaar with my mother-in-law, somewhere in Türkiye. We’d been looking after a child (I’m not entirely sure whose, in the way…
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When “We All Speak English” Isn’t Actually Working There’s a meeting that happens in organisations all over the world, several times a week, where someone is struggling and nobody says so. The room — or the video call — contains people from two or three different countries. Everyone speaks English, to varying degrees, with varying…
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Heritage language loss rarely happens all at once. It happens in steps — each one entirely reasonable, each one quietly reshaping what the next generation inherits. A client of mine grew up hearing Catalan. She learned it with her grandparents — weekend visits, summer stays, the particular intimacy of a language that belongs to a…
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On returning to a place where part of you has always lived This year I’m going to the feria in Andalucía, the week-long spring festival of flamenco, food, and celebration that defines the social calendar of the south, and I’ve completely forgotten how to dance sevillanas. I remember the shape of it: the turns, the…
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Eight countries. Five languages. Three officiants. One very carefully considered decision about where in the world to get married. That’s a snapshot of our wedding, and behind every one of those numbers is a choice we had to make with care, sometimes against the grain of what felt easiest or most expected. This is the…
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How History, Terminology, and Women’s Roles Shaped the Languages We Carry Today Every year, three observances appear close together on the calendar: International Mother Language Day on the 21st of February, International Women’s Day on the 8th of March, and in the UK, Mother’s Day, which also falls in March most years. At first glance,…
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Most of the time, language stays in the background of our daily work. Meetings happen, mails are written, ideas are exchanged, and we rarely think about the mechanics behind communication. That changes quickly when we start working in a language that isn’t our strongest one. This often happens during professional transitions: joining an international company,…
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Many adults quietly carry the feeling that learning another language is something they should’ve done earlier in life, something that belongs to childhood, school years, or a different phase that has already passed. Over the years of living between languages and working in multilingual environments, I’ve heard this concern again and again. People often tell…
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Every year on the 21st of February, International Mother Language Day is observed around the world as an initiative of UNESCO to promote linguistic diversity and multilingual education. On the surface, it may appear as one more awareness day among many, but for millions of people, it touches something far more intimate: the languages that…
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On intimacy, language, and the quiet work of understanding Falling in love across languages is a curious blend of magic and challenge. Sometimes it looks like laughter over a word neither of you can quite pronounce. Sometimes it looks like silence, searching for the right one. Sometimes it’s shared understanding, and sometimes it’s one misunderstanding…
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In many international teams, communication problems rarely feel dramatic. There are no obvious conflicts, no open arguments, no clear mistakes. Instead, there’s low-level friction: small misunderstandings, repeated clarifications, decisions that seem clear in theory but blurry in practice. In multilingual teams, this friction is often blamed on language. Yet language itself is rarely the root…
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Every year, people set intentions about who they want to become. Resolutions are written down, goals are set, and intentions often centre on self-improvement: becoming more confident, communicating more clearly, learning something new. Learning a new language often appears somewhere on that list. Many people associate personal growth with clear goals and visible progress. What’s…
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For a long time, speaking more than one language was treated as a nice extra. Something that looked good on a CV, something that might give you a small edge, but rarely something that was seen as essential. That way of thinking is quietly falling apart and being replaced with a more multilingual-focused approach. In…
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On the evening of the 5th of January, shoes are carefully lined up in hallways, on balconies, terraces or by windows. They’re checked once, then twice. Some are placed neatly side by side, others slightly crooked, but all with the same quiet hope: that the Three Wise Men will know exactly where to leave the…
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There’s something about New Year’s Eve that always makes me pause, even when I’m not quite sure how I want to step into the year ahead. It’s not only the fireworks or the countdown, but the feeling of a shared moment that stretches across languages, cultures, and time zones. My Many New Year’s Eves Some…
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There’s something in the air during the holiday season. The festive lights, the cheerful messages, the gift-shopping, the reunions, the joy of togetherness all feel like the world is gently (or not so gently) nudging you to feel a specific way. For many multilinguals, this time of year comes with more than just busyness and…
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This December feels strange in a way I didn’t expect. I’ve been back to Spain many times over the last few years and this year particularly often. I was here in Spring, and Summer, and Autumn. But somehow, winter feels different. I haven’t spent Christmas here for so long that I’d forgotten how the humid…
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Welcome to Multi Lingua Consulting It is with great joy, and also, if I’m honest, a bit of fear, that I hit publish on this post and officially launch my very own business: Multi Lingua Consulting. It’s been at least a year in the making, and what a rollercoaster the last year has been! Businesses,…
