Page 79 - Future Leaders Magazine

EXPL
EXPLORE CULTUREORE CULTURE
Common language:
Ifeoluwa with
his new classmates

Speaking out: Ifeoluwa’s
language skills came to
the fore during his speech
to pupils in Japan

“I had an e ortless
relationship with
Japanese: for me, it
was a fun pastime

rather than a school
subject I resented”

spending the six weeks leading up to the is an emphasis on being
Olympics mastering Portuguese. able to communicate internationally,
I was placed on an intensive course and to a high level. e doors irrespective of your mother tongue.
at a university in Juiz de Fora with ten that Japanese has opened for me are doors Languages open up new worlds, allowing
other linguists from the UK. Each day I didn’t even know existed. Most recently, you to create personal and meaningful
a er my Portuguese classes, I worked in I was awarded a scholarship and invited to connections worldwide. At the very least,
nance, taught English to primary school Japan by the Mayor of Toyota City. they could come in handy when stranded
children and worked at an orphanage. I have also been accepted to study at one at an airport at 2am, as I was, with nobody
At the Olympics, my role as a Japanese of Tokyo’s top business institutions for a nearby but a non-English-speaking Italian.
Language Specialist saw me working with year from September. I tried Japanese and, luckily, he spoke
Japanese athletes, VIPs, Games o cials Everybody should try to learn at least it too. We were able to nd a common
and representatives from Tokyo 2020. one foreign language, especially while ground in the Japanese language, despite
I surprised myself with the level of at university. My travels to several non- our far-apart backgrounds, because
Portuguese I had gained in such a short English-speaking countries taught me how we had both chosen not to limit our
time. It con rmed that aside from passion unjusti ably complacent native English communicative potential. Strangers
for a language, continued dedication to speakers are with their linguistic abilities become your friends while the unknown
that language is key in learning it quickly – while in non-anglophone countries there becomes the-soon-to-be-discovered. FL

2017-18 | FUTURE LEADERS 77