In the most basic sense, what brought me to this website was a tip from someone from a polyglot community I am a member of (thank you, Linda!). Keeping a journal is apparently a good way to practice foreign languages, and I thought, well, why not? There is no language I am so fluent in that it cannot be improved. Furthermore, as I am going through a rather stressful period of my life (and in 2020/21, who isn't?) I felt that keeping a journal could help me in different ways, too. So here I am.

What brought me to that polyglot community? Well, first of all, the fact that I am a polyglot, of course. But I have been multilingual for a good part of my life, and I have only recently started being active in that community. What changed? Long story short: it was the pandemic. I have always been interested in foreign languages and cultures, and until 2020, I organized weekly international meetings in my city. COVID-19 brought this colourful social life to an almost complete halt, and boredom and depression ensued. I haven't decided yet whether I should call what I went through – what I am still going through – a midlife crisis or an existential crisis, but I started to realise things about myself that I had not realised before. The hardest realisation of all was something that we all understand to be true, but are often happy to ignore: life is short, unpredictable, and precious. I had spent most of my life just following the path of least resistance, going with the flow, never really deciding or wanting anything. I got what pleasure I could from computer games, Netflix series and other diversions, but calling them "pleasures" is perhaps a bit generous. Those were only time-killers. Ultimately, I was only waiting.

So I started wondering, what is it that I want from life? Is there anything? I realised that getting married, having children, buying a house, having a career... well, none of those things seems to have much appeal for me. What I enjoy is experiencing life in all of its glorious variety. Learning languages, discovering cultures, travelling, meeting people. That is why I had been moving from country to country, following girlfriends, without any real plan. That is why I have almost effortlessly learnt five languages. And that is why, I realised, I could easily learn a few more if I only decided to. So, as my life seemed to be rather lacking in purpose, I decided that this was one of my life goals: to be able to speak at least twelve languages by the time I die. Why twelve? No idea. It just sounded like a good number, I guess – high enough to be challenging, and at the same time low enough to be achievable. So I became much more active in the Polyglot Gathering community, and I started learning Portuguese and Russian.

So, what can you expect from this journal? A lot of contradictions, first of all. I often contradict myself. This does not mean that I am not being sincere, though; it only means that I think different thoughts at different times, and that I sometimes get confused. What I can promise you is that I will always strive to be intellectually honest, and to say what I think openly, without too many filters, as I believe intellectual honesty to be one of the greatest luxuries of life. However, I will not always write about life goals and existential crises, don't worry! I will also write about much lighter topics. As a matter of fact, in some languages I will have to. I still lack the vocabulary to convey my existential angst in Portuguese, for instance, so I'll have to stick to easier stuff – I might tell you about something I have just cooked (and, if it's good, share the recipe), or about a great piece of music I have just listened to, or, well, about everyday life in general.

At any rate, I am glad to be here, and I look forward to reading your comments and corrections! :)