My name is Azul. I’m from Argentina and I moved to Wales almost 3 years ago now. I want to share with you my experience with languages and why in my opinion languages are important for us all. My mother tongue is Spanish, but I’ve been learning Welsh since I was 8 years old, that being 9 years ago!! Although most people consider me fluent in the language I find that there’s always something new to learn. When I first came to Wales in 2000 for a holiday with my mum I didn’t speak English, (ok I did speak basic English but no more), and I managed to be in Wales for a month speaking only Welsh it was an incredible experience considering that now I know most people in Wales don’t speak the language. Now I’ve been learning English for three years and I couldn’t have done a lot of things without it!

I’ve sat my GCSE’s through the medium of Welsh (except for English) earning myself a grade B in Welsh and C in English. Also I’ve recently sat my AS level exams in Welsh, English, Spanish, Drama and Sociology.
In these three years that I’ve been living in Wales I’ve had the opportunity to go to London (one of my dreams) quite a few times, I’ve been in many Eisteddfod, national and youth ones which gave me the opportunity of sharing the Welsh culture in a Welsh surrounding whereas in Argentina we have Eisteddfod but it is more an Argentine surround rather than Welsh one. I’ve had the opportunity of doing various different courses to develop and improve my skills, for example: camera courses, first aid, babysitting, opportunities that are not as possible in Argentina.

Since I came to Wales I discovered that I have a way with words, a talent with languages, something I had never noticed back home, and so I wish to pursue this interest by going to university to study Modern Languages, hopefully at the end of my career I’ll be able to speak not only fluent Welsh English and Spanish but also Italian and French, hey and why not a bit of Chinese or Mandarin! I reckon all languages are useful but the ones that are going to get you places most definitely are the business languages, those being English, Spanish a bit but in a not so far future Chinese, that’s why I plan to give it a go!

A good thing about languages is that you never stop learning, I said earlier that I’ve been speaking Welsh for 9 years now, but that I keep learning new things all the time. And how’s that a good thing? Well it keeps your brain working for longer and it keeps you fresh and you’ll never get bored of your job!!

If you’re not sure which career path you should take, think about languages because they’re a free ticket to any job anywhere in the world! Not only can you be successful career wise but also in your life! I know I’ve made long life friends already in this period of time that I’ve been here and I’ve enjoyed the experience as I’m sure you can too!
Give it a go! Think of languages!