Simona Jasova speaks five languages fluently and has visited every continent in the world except Antarctica. Her parents endeavor to expose Jasova to their family’s heritage in order to raise awareness to the opportunities that they have to combine experiences from a multicultural heritage to create a broader outlook.

Revere High School Sophomore Jasova was born in the Czech Republic and lived in various countries in Europe for the first thirteen years of her life. She speaks Czech at home, English, French and Spanish at school and Slovak once in a while.

Jasova talked about how she learned to speak each of the languages that she knows.

“My whole family is Czech, so that is what we speak at home. I learned English when I moved to Belgium and started going to a British school. I also learned French in Belgium, since that is one of their national languages. Spanish I learned once I came to the US, and Slovak is also often spoken in the Czech Republic,” Jasova said.

Jasova also spoke about the advantages that she feels she gained by learning to speak other languages.

“Knowing many languages opens doors for me. Once I start applying for jobs, knowing multiple languages will always put me on top of others who might only speak English,” Jasova said.

Jasova’s mother, Ivana, also talked about the advantages of exposing her daughter to multiple cultures.

“Being exposed to different cultures anywhere is always an advantage, because it changes the way you look at things, and I think that by exposing [Simona] to these different cultures it broadens her view of the world,” Ivana said.

Jasova also contrasted the differences between the United States and European countries.

“You cannot really compare all of Europe to the United States because they are not all one country. Culturally, every country in Europe is somehow different, yet I feel that most of the US is the same,” Jasova said.

Jasova’s mother also spoke about the different parts of the world and Europe that they travel to.

“We go to Czech Republic every summer and Christmas to visit our family. [Jasova] and I also travel to different parts of the world throughout the year. We went to Australia over the summer, and during spring break, we went to Brazil. In Europe, we have visited every country, but still travel there with our family,” Jasova’s mother said.

Ivana Jasova also talked about the differences she perceived between different parts of Europe, Eastern and Western Europe in particular.

“Western Europe is more sophisticated, and from my view point prettier. Eastern Europe is poorer, and is not very modernized,” Jasova said.

Jasova explained what she felt was similar between some of the languages.

“None of the languages can truly be compared to English, because English is very unique. French and Spanish are similar from my point of view. I think that the grammar bears many similarities. They are both somewhat difficult, and to me they can be studied in the same way, while English has many more rules and exceptions,” Jasova said.

Jasova’s friend sophomore Caroline Christoff talked about the differences in outlook that Jasova’s view of different cultures enables her to have.

“She seems to be able to pick up new languages a lot more quickly than you or I would. She’s very tolerant of other people and open minded and I think it is because of her exposure to other languages and cultures. She’s also very confident in talking to other people and is assertive with strangers so I think it has definitely made her very open minded and less judgmental than the average teen,” Christoff said.

Jasova also discussed how learning one language helped her learn to speak others.

“I did not learn English through the usual way of studying since I was put in an English school and did not know any English, but once I mastered it, I think it helped me learn the rest of the languages by giving me confidence as well as the ability to understand the importance of learning multiple languages,” Jasova said.

Jasova feels a deep connection to her heritage and believes that by learning to speak multiple languages, she better understands her ancestry and develops a broader worldview.