On her first day of seventh-grade summer school in Germany, freshman Alina Fleischmann introduced herself to her teachers and received the expected reactions from all but one: her health teacher. It wasn鈥檛 until she tapped her teacher鈥檚 shoulder that she found out that she was deaf. This interaction elevated Fleischmann鈥檚 interest in language through showing her the importance of communication.
Fleischmann鈥檚 journey with languages began early. Born into a multilingual family in California, her parents introduced her to German and Danish when she was a baby. Alongside these two languages, Fleischmann鈥檚 mom spoke Italian and her dad spoke French, further diversifying her language exposure.
鈥淔or me, language is a form of self-expression,鈥� she said. 鈥淜nowing more languages makes our house a lot more expressive and a lot more vibrant.鈥�
Although Fleischmann was born in the U.S., she moved to Germany when she was a few months old. There, she attended a British international school, where she learned English.
鈥淚 say words such as 鈥榟oover鈥� instead of 鈥榲acuum,鈥� or 鈥榪ueue鈥� instead of 鈥榣ine,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淏ecause I learned British English, it鈥檚 always a really funny conversation to have because (people ask), 鈥榊ou were born in California, German鈥檚 your first language and you learned British English?鈥欌��
By the age of 5, Fleischmann had moved back to the U.S. and begun attending Ohlone Elementary School, where she participated in the Mandarin immersion program for four years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a thing in my household where everyone knows a special language that no one else in the household speaks, so (my parents) wanted me to have my special language as Mandarin,鈥� she said.
Although Fleischmann became mostly fluent in Mandarin, she lost her proficiency after leaving Ohlone when she was 9 and started German Saturday school instead.
鈥淚f I don鈥檛 use (a language) regularly, I will simply forget it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 harder for (me to forget) languages like Spanish, English and German because I am (completely) fluent in them, but definitely for upcoming languages, if I don鈥檛 practice or use it, I鈥檓 going to lose it 鈥� and it鈥檚 scary.鈥�
Even when Fleischmann lived in Palo Alto, she occasionally visited Europe during the summers. She learned two more languages during these trips: French and Spanish. She began learning French at around 8 years old after an interaction she had at a party with a businessman her dad knew.
鈥淗e and my dad were talking about (me), so this guy said, 鈥業ntroduce me to her,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚 walk up to him, he goes full-blown French on me and I (could not respond).鈥�
After this exchange, Fleischmann鈥檚 parents urged her to learn French. Her lack of genuine interest in the language caused her to dislike it, however, and when she was required to choose either French or Spanish in fifth grade at her school in Germany, she opted for Spanish.
鈥淚 knew (French) and hated it,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y parents thought I should have done French. … In hindsight, that was probably the smart move because I鈥檓 now 鈥榖ad fluent鈥� in both French and Spanish. I should have just stuck to one.鈥�
That said, learning Spanish has allowed Fleischmann to better understand her mother when she speaks Italian, as the two languages share important linguistic similarities. For example, the word for a male cat is 鈥済ato鈥� in Spanish and 鈥済atto鈥� in Italian.
When Fleischmann was 9 years old, she began classes to help her with her dyslexia. Fleischmann鈥檚 teacher taught her Latin word bases, which led her to fully learn the language.
鈥淚 am dyslexic, which makes learning this many languages even more freaky because learning languages is really hard for dyslexic people,鈥� she said. 鈥淟earning Latin bases actually helps you a lot to decode (a) word. I was also really interested in Latin and kept learning it because I鈥檓 interested in medicine, and everything in medicine is Latin.鈥�
In eighth grade, Fleischmann鈥檚 family moved back to Germany for a year. Hearing people speak a familiar language in a new setting allowed her to begin understanding and gain appreciation for the culture.
鈥�(Living) in Palo Alto was quite the bubble,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy. People don鈥檛 realize that there鈥檚 a world out there. I didn鈥檛 realize that either, and then I went and lived in Germany. I felt like I put glasses on for the first time because there was so much out there.鈥�
Fleischmann quickly noticed that culture shapes language, and vice versa: Some words encapsulate ideas that simply don鈥檛 exist in other languages鈥� lexicons. These words are often adopted into other languages because they capture such a specific sentiment. For example, the word 鈥渟chadenfreude鈥� in German means finding pleasure in others鈥� misfortunes.
During her time in German school last year and the two summers prior, Fleischmann learned American Sign Language from her deaf teacher.
鈥淔or the first few weeks of school, I was completely fascinated,鈥� she said. 鈥淓very time she said something, I asked, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 that in ASL?鈥� Eventually, she got so annoyed with me constantly asking her what things meant that she just offered to teach me after school.鈥�
ASL opened Fleischmann鈥檚 eyes to both the possibilities and limitations of language. Before, she had not recognized the significance of the languages she knew because they were such a quotidian element of her life.
鈥淭he main reason I learned (ASL) was to try to connect with someone who wouldn鈥檛 normally be able to connect,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ost of (my background) of languages was that I just grew up speaking them, but this one specifically had a reason and impact.鈥�
Overall, however, Fleischmann has found that each language she has learned 鈥� verbal or not 鈥� has improved her ability to communicate.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so much more powerful for me to say 鈥業鈥檓 feeling exuberant鈥� instead of 鈥業鈥檓 happy,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭hrough the ability to manipulate and understand language, you鈥檙e able to connect with people because it evokes this emotion that all forms of self-expression do.鈥�
