If you’re one of those struggling to learn a new language, you’re not alone. Everyone knows that picking up a foreign language is difficult. However, adults famously find it more difficult than children, whose super-flexible brains actually grow the connections necessary to learn an additional language.
With time and consistent practice, your language learning becomes much easier. But what about learning over ten foreign languages?
A young boy selling souvenirs in Cambodia recently went viral on social media after showing off his language skills to a famous Malaysian traveler, Venus GWC – speaking over ten foreign languages and even sung a Chinese song.
Venus shared the inspiring encounter at Siem Reap province in Cambodia on her Facebook account. She said that she met the kid at the Ta Prohm temple in Angkor Wat, initially talking to her in Cantonese and sharing with her how many languages he could speak. “He really wowed me,” Venus wrote.
As seen in the accompanying video of the said Facebook post, the boy who was selling her souvenirs barefoot confidently told her that he could speak over ten languages/dialects including Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, German, Tagalog, and Malay.
So to challenge if the boy’s claim was true, Venus conversed with him in French, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Thai, and the boy understood all the languages she had spoken. In return, she bought a few items from the kid. The boy divulged that he had learned all those languages from tourists he had encountered.
The video has drawn attention from netizens all over the globe, with many saying that the boy was living a tough life. “Life is indeed difficult. He had to learn so many languages to sell his souvenirs to put food on the table,” one commentator wrote.
Another netizen even shared that he had met with the kid a couple of years ago and that his father makes a living by drawing portraits for tourists. Many are keeping their fingers crossed that the boy gets out from poverty one day with his impressive skills of multilingualism. Needless to say, we absolutely admire him for his perseverance to help his family.
source: goodtimes