The Beginning of the Journey

Languages convey the significance of objects, entities, or emotions within their cultural framework. They are remarkable tools of communication that hold the power to reveal how people across the world perceive life. Incredible, isn’t it?

My exploration of communication began precisely with Language Studies. And, akin to many journeys, mine also commenced in the past, during adolescence when I first delved into languages… that originated from a distant past!

Communicating with the Past

As an introverted teenager who enjoyed studying and reading, the natural academic progression in Italy was to attend Liceo Classico, a high school that delves into literature, ancient Greek, and Latin—the languages considered key to understanding the origins of “Western” literature. Learning these archaic languages seemed fascinating… initially. However, I soon discovered that, to me, the term “dead language” also meant “dead boring”. However, there was a positive note: I could flawlessly pronounce Harry Potter spells and even invent new ones, which was undeniably cool.

Communicating with the Present

While pondering the rationale behind studying languages that few understood, except for haughty erudite professors and academics, I swung to the opposite end of the spectrum and flew to the UK to study English, a language that everyone in the world supposedly spoke. Or at least the American version of it (you might want to watch Adele talking about her British accent on Graham Norton).

Upon returning to Italy after a gap year, I realized my passion for exploring other cultures and decided to enroll in a University Degree program focused on Japanese culture and language. Only to be certain that I could culturally, and physically, travel far away. As a child of the ’90s, I was a victim of the fascination for Sailor Moon, Dragonball, and numerous video games. What’s more, studying Japanese was an extraordinary pursuit that elicited a “wow” when people inquired, ‘What are you studying?’ at a party. Neat.

Communicating with the Future

Approaching the end of my university studies, I explored two potential career paths: teaching languages (especially Italian abroad) and marketing. It might be a bit presumptuous, but I’d say that both paths centered around providing tools for effective communication. I had a few brief teaching experiences that I really enjoyed, but ultimately, I chose marketing.

So far, I’ve mentioned learning languages of the dead and living, and at that point, the only thing missing was… the languages of machines! Thus, I spent three and a half years after university in a digital marketing job, diving into HTML, CSS, some SQL, and even Python! Broadly speaking, my goal was to effectively convey a company’s needs, values, and products online.

And now?

Returning to my motto: exploring, learning, and continually improving myself, while aiding others in expressing themselves fully.

I am prepared for numerous stops along my lifelong journey… will you be one of them? I certainly hope so!

What I have learned from my journey