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by Kathy Tzilivakis
MANY people are able to speak two languages fluently, or maybe three or even
four, but Ioannis Ikonomou, who is comfortable speaking almost three dozen, is
not like many people.
In a telephone interview with the Athens News (in English) from his office at
the European Commission in Brussels, the 46-year-old translator says he began
learning English, his first foreign language, at the age of 6.
I liked it so much that there was no stopping me, says Ikonomou, whose mother
tongue is Greek.
The next language was German. Then after a few years I stated learning
Italian. And then, more and more. While I was in high school I wanted to learn
Russian, Turkish and Arabic. I always wanted to learn more. I feel comfortable
speaking about 32 languages.
Chinese is among them. In fact he is the only in-house translator the EC trusts
to translate classified Chinese documents and so the commission will be sending
Ikonomou to Beijing next week to work for the EU delegation as a translator.
They don t have other people speaking Chinese, he says. I m looking forward
to going.
This trip will be for three months, with another three months next year, and
starting as of 2012 he ll be spending six months of the year there.
China-friendly
It s part of the EU s effort to build relations with China, which are
extremely important, Ikonomou says. The commission want to have in-house
translators to translate classified documents - so I m their man.
In a 2008 report published to mark the European Day of Languages on September
26, Ikonomou said: Translation is about commuting between languages - and this
is like magic to me: you stand alone facing a text which few people would
understand without your acting as an intermediary. You start working with a
document, you transform it, you breathe new life into it by giving it meaning
in another language and tah dah! - you come up with a new text, a product of
your knowledge, intelligence and sensitivity.
There s no secret to learning languages, Ikonomou says. You just have to
immerse yourself in the language and the culture. It s easier now with the
internet and satellite television.
So which languages are difficult to pick up?
There s really no hard or easy language to learn, he says. Anyone can learn
a language if they fall in love with it.
Dives right in
When learning a new language, Ikonomou says he lives and breathes everything
connected to it. He spends time studying the language, of course, but also the
people who speak it and the food they eat.
Basically, you have to try to live like a native of that language, he says.
Travelling and spending time in the country where the language is spoken is
also very important.
Ikonomou travels every chance he gets. He has visited Scandinavia, the Balkans,
the Middle East, North Africa and the former Soviet Union, as well as China,
Pakistan, Latin America, Europe, Canada and the United States.
He has studied ancient languages. His studies in Indo-European linguistics
included courses in Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Avestan, Old Persian, Middle
Iranian languages, Classical Armenian, Gothic, Pali, Old Church Slavonic,
Hittite, Luwian, Oscan, Umbrian and Irish.
When I was learning Polish, he says, I cooked Polish pierogies, read Polish
newspapers and watched Polish television.
Clearly, the man is passionate. If I choose to learn a language it s because I
ve fallen in love with it, he says. When I started learning Sanskrit I had a
love affair with this language which lasted for very many years.
Now he s in love with Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. It s the
oldest African language with its own characters and is still spoken today.
I love Ethiopian food, Ikonomou says. I dine at Ethiopian restaurants every
chance I get. I have to put it on hold for now though because I have to
concentrate on brushing up on my Chinese for work.
Brief Bio
IOANNIS Ikonomou was born in Irakleio, Crete, in 1964. He studied linguistics
at the University of Thessaloniki before pursuing an MA in Middle Eastern
languages and cultures at Columbia University in the United States. He
continued with a PhD in Indo-European linguistics at Harvard University. He has
been employed as a translator at the European Commission in Brussels since
2002.