And what are they?
In order of their learning over the years:
French, Arabic, (ال عربي) Spanish( español), Hebrew,( עברית) English (English) and Italian ( italiano).
I also have the privilege of reading and writing these languages.  Who says better?
Interestingly enough, from a young age, I took a liking to learning other languages. A few years ago, I started to learn Portuguese, German and Russian. I have retained a few bits and pieces and would like to start again.
Especially since during my business trips in the 80's, I enjoyed learning a little Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese.

What am I going to do with all this?  You might ask.
Nothing, except be able to converse with a foreigner in the least possible way.
And I have found that trying to talk to a foreigner in his or her own language rather than forcing them to speak ours, results in a very good understanding.

Let's get back to the subject at hand.
I was born in Morocco (in Rabat) so I am Moroccan by birth. In the 40's and 50's, Morocco was a French protectorate and the language learned at school was French. In the street, everyone spoke Arabic. But in my father's family, we spoke Spanish and the language became familiar to us.
From there, the first three languages.

When I was 10 years old, the situation for us Jews was not very pleasant and my father decided to emigrate with his family to Israel where we spent three years. Hebrew became the fourth language.

We had to leave Israel where life was healthy but too hard. My father couldn't take it anymore. We left for France and a year later returned to Morocco.
I found the French language three years later. After 6 years, the same reasons that made us leave Morocco in 1955, were repeated in 1964 and we were now on a boat to Canada.

I am now 19 years old and started learning English, a necessary language for work. English was easy to learn, becoming the fifth language.

I tried to go into teaching and realized, in spite of myself, that religion on the one hand and strict institutional principles on the other did not allow me to work in the field I was trained for. What a pity!

I found myself selling for various companies and my education as a teacher gave me an advantage. As I explained my product, buyers asked me if I was a teacher. They would buy my products and before long I was an excellent salesman and making a good living.

At one point, I worked with a friend, Simon, and the two of us went to Europe, then to the Orient and finally to South America to import products that we sold in Canada and the United States. We had a wonderful Italian supplier that we visited at least twice a year, so the Italian language penetrated me to the point that I love it more than any other.  So that was the sixth one.

During all these trips, I practiced my languages with great pleasure and surprised suppliers and clients. What could be better?
These days, people around me who know this advantage are quick to say to others : 'You know this gentleman speaks several languages.  This causes a little something in my heart and brain. I can thank my father, who, thanks to his travels, helped me to learn languages before I could do the same.

Today, as I write this, I am 77 years old and wish I could speak a little more than the current six. Yes, I often surprise people coming out with expressions, proverbs, cool words, in Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Turkish, Vietnamese, Polish even a few words in Tamil.

Anyway, let's stop this pretentious exercise. On the other hand, I encourage young parents around me to teach their children more than one language.
How many times have I heard that the people I talk to regret that their parents did not teach them the language of their ancestors. Their parents thought that since they were in America, English only was the key language they should speak. What a pity!

I must admit that all things considered, I could teach my six languages to anyone who shows an interest. And without earning a penny. For me, the pleasure will be enough. It will be double, for me and the candidate.
The question becomes: Would you like to learn a new language with me?

If you ask me how come I love languages , the reply is easy: at a tender age, by 10, I already spoke three. People understood me and it was a good feeling.
I loved switching from one to the other with my own people who spoke them.
I developed this liking so fast and believe that if I knew three by the age of 10, I should know six by the age of 20. And that thought stayed with me.

At the end of high school I felt bad not to have learned Greek and Latin, so I decided  to learn a bit of them on my own, and realizing that most words used in French or English have their roots in Greek or Latin, it became easier .

Memory is an important factor and am sad to think that my memory is not too great . Discipline, however is even more important and I make sure I respect it.
Yes, I feel good but at times wonder if people are jealous of me. And that  idea does not please me. I rather wish they make an effort to show themselves they can do it.

Reader, if you have a comment, an idea, an edit, a suggestion, please tell Jacques@WisdomWhereAreYou.com