Sophomore Altea Mehillaj

How many languages do you speak? How did you learn them?

“I speak English and Albanian, which I learned from my grandparents because they don’t speak a lot of English. I speak Albanian at home, not as much with my parents but I spend a lot of time with my grandparents.”

How does language influence your identity and how you connect with others?

“For me, speaking another language is connected to my culture, so the way I interact with my family members, the way I connect with them and connect with my culture influences my identity.”

What is the hardest part about speaking more than one language?

“It opens your eyes to so many different opportunities, like being able to go to another country and speak the language, being able to read the news in other languages; it kind of opens your mind.”

Why do you think it’s important to speak more than one language?

“At first I thought, ‘I’m the only one speaking two languages, it’s weird that I’m learning [Albanian]’ and I kind of hid that part of me. Everyone else was speaking English so why do I have to speak Albanian? But now I’m so thankful for my parents and grandparents that made me learn it and I’m really glad I did.”

Say a sentence/phrase in your native language(s) and what it means in English.

“My favorite phrase in Albanian is ‘poop and flowers,’ which means that no matter how bad things get you always have a silver lining, which is the flowers.”