I interviewed my friend Kiara Vito. She is a freshman at Patterson Mill High School.
Q: How many languages do you speak?
A: I speak three languages: Spanish, Italian, and English.
Q: What country are you from?
A: I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I speak Spanish with the Argentinian Dialect.
Q: Do you still visit your home country?
A: Yes, my family and I always try to visit when we can. We actually went for three weeks for Christmas in 2009. We have a lot of family in Argentina.
Q: When did you move to the United States?
A: I moved to the United States when I was two years old in 1998.
Q: Why did you move to the United States in the first place?
A: My parents wanted me to have a good life and education. It is a great country!
Q: What do you miss about Argentina?
A: I miss everything! I have a house there, and I miss my friends, my family, and the food in Argentina.
Q: Is your whole family living in Argentina?
A: Three-fourths of my family on my dad’s side and my mom’s side live in Argentina. My immediate family lives in the United States.
Q: How old were you when you learned English?
A: I learned it in elementary school, but I did not speak it fluently until I was ten.
Q: Was it difficult to learn English?
A: It was a little bit difficult, but I had teachers and classmates from Emmorton Elementary School to help me out.
Q: How has the English language affected your life?
A: Before I learned English, I knew how to speak Italian and Spanish fluently. Learning a third language was a goal I wanted to reach. It has made it easier for me to live in America because I can speak to the people that live here.
Q: Do you still speak your primary language at home or with family and friends? Why or Why not?
A: Yes, I speak Spanish with my immediate family, and I speak Italian with my grandparents. My parents enforce me and my siblings that knowing more than one language will get you far in life.
Q: How long did it take you to become fluent in English?
A: It took me six years. I started in kindergarten and became fluent in English in fifth grade.
Q: Which language do you prefer speaking? Which language is your favorite?
A: My favorite language out of the three that I speak is Spanish because Italian is based off of Spanish, and English is harder to speak for me. I find it easiest to speak Spanish.
Q: Do you ever mix languages together as you speak (Spanglish)?
A: Yes, I do that all the time. Sometimes when I speak to my friends in English, I say Spanish words and they get confused.
Q: Which language, out of the three that you are fluent in, was the hardest for you to learn?
A: English was the hardest for me to learn, and Spanish was the easiest. Italian was not that hard to learn because it is based off of Spanish.
Q: Would you say that your experience in learning English was good or bad?
A: It was good because I wanted to learn English and I put all of my effort to learn it.
Q: What are some of the differences between an American school and a school in your home country?
A: There is more education here in the United States, and the schools are bigger and cleaner.
Q: Do you think being trilingual is important?
A: Yes, I do because my parents told me it was. I can visit many countries and be able to understand the people there. I can understand people in all of the places that speak these different languages.
Q: Are you seeking to pursue your trilingual skills for a career in the future?
A: Yes, I really want to be a translator in the future.
Q: In your head, what language are your thoughts in?
A: My thoughts are in Spanish because it is my first language.
Q: What is some advice that you can give to students learning how to speak English now?
A: I think that they should focus on school and listen to English more than speak it because they need to understand what other people are saying. They should also speak both their main language and English, so they do not forget either one.
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