by Lauren Nemec
A boy living in England has my dream superpower.
Arpan Sharma, a 10-year-old British Indian boy, has a gift for learning languages. He has learned 11 languages so far and is eager to learn more.
Arpan’s mother tongue is Hindi, which he learned from his parents growing up. He also speaks English, and learned French, German, Italian and Spanish at school. Using interactive CD-Roms, Arpan has taught himself Swahili, Mandarin, Polish, and Thai. Most recently, the young language genius has been learning the difficult language of Uganda- Lugandan.
He says learning Swahili was the biggest challenge, and that Mandarin was difficult, too. Hindi is his favorite.
The young boy enjoys studying music in school, in addition to learning languages. His headmaster believes that his musical training has helped him develop his talent for picking up languages, saying “Arpan is a language genius, a natural when it comes to listening to the exact pronunciation and repeating them perfectly. I think some of his talent is twinned with his ability as a musician. His good ear for music and tone is used for languages as well.”
So what does Arpan plan to do with his talent and passion? He says, “When I’m an adult, I want to be a surgeon who can work in all the hospitals of the world and speak the language of the country I’m in.”
Arpan came in 3rd place last year at the national Junior Language Challenge, and has reached the final round again this year, which will be held on Friday.
Good luck Arpan!
Photo Courtesy: Daily Times, Pakistan
