How Languages changed my life.

How languages changed my life

A series of inspirational personal stories about languages, international experiences and careers from people who are originally from the region, or who live, study or work in the North East of England

We would like to thank all of our contributors for their support and expertise in sharing so freely.

It has been inspirational to collate this selection of stories as part of the inaugural Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages

Crista Hazell
Festival co-ordinator

Contents
P4-9 Introduction
P10 Hélder's Story
P14 Crista's Story
P20 Fiona's Story
P24 Kamila's Story
P28 Juliana's Story
P32 Chi Onwurah's Story
P37 Paula's Story
P43 Steven's Story
P49 Chris' Story
P53 Ahmed's Story
P57 Veena's Story
P61 Nathalie's Story
P65 Brian's Story
P69 Sue's Story
P72 Declan's Story
P78 PC Rita Varghese's Story
P82 Faïza's Story
P86 PC Syed Ahmed's Story
P89 Tessa's Story
P92 Martin's Story
P96 Anne's Story

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Express Yourself North East Festival of Languages ran in March 2021 as a virtual celebration of the languages and cultures in the region and our connections to the world. As part of this, we asked people in the region to reflect upon their lives and to share their stories about the impact of languages and how languages changed their life.

Throughout the following pages you will be able to read some of the incredible submissions which are stories of how languages do and have changed people's lives forever.

We are sharing stories to inspire people about language learning: How languages changed my life.

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These are stories of people of all ages and backgrounds who are from here, came to live, work or study here or left the region and went elsewhere – about what languages mean to them and how it has impacted their lives on a daily basis in some cases.

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We are delighted to be sharing the stories of people who are from the North East or came to live or work here and how languages have played a key part in their lives.

These stories include:

a local language teacher with a Spanish and South American passion

a Newcastle MP with a background in engineering and whose French language skills have been used in international settings

a County Durham schoolgirl who started out on school exchanges and became a US Presidential Security Adviser

international students studying here and one now settled and working here supporting young people

a senior University lecturer who learned English through the languages of computers

an unemployed graduate who went to Italy to carve out a new future and became a Dean of one of our Universities

people who have dedicated their lives to teaching and promoting language learning.

Their stories are all very different, but all have some key things in common...

Learning a language or more than one language has:

had a big impact on their life and the decisions they made about their future careers

positively influenced their relationships and understanding of people, other cultures and communities

enhanced the quality of their life and built their own confidence and aspirations

widened their perspectives about the world and how they interact with it

We are gathering these stories to share with people in the region to inspire, encourage and support language learning at whatever level and in whatever way suits people.

We hope to inspire young people and demonstrate the benefits of language learning and the positive impact this can have for their future life and careers, but also those who may be seeking new opportunities and challenges.

It’s never too late to learn!

Hélder’s story: How languages changed my life

My name is Hélder and I can firmly say that languages changed my life!

I am from Portugal and I live in Sunderland. I am fluent in both English and Portuguese and I can hold a basic conversation in Spanish, Italian and French.

To know languages, even on a very basic level, opened up a pool of opportunities that I never dreamt of.