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Nothing in my younger life could have told me I would have needed to know how to speak English.

When I was a kid, I resented my grandparents not speaking the perfect English I wanted to speak.

I couldn't speak English. I'm in kindergarten, and the only reason I got through to first grade is because I cheated.

You know, I was a kid who had difficulty speaking English when I first immigrated. But in my head, when I read a book, I spoke English perfectly. No one could correct my Spanish. And I think that I retreated to books as a way, you know, to be, like, masterful in a language that was really difficult for me for many years.

I learned Spanish at home and, since half my family doesn't speak English, it's my first language.

I never had to learn English, French and German because I was brought up as all three languages. I had a private French teacher before I even went to school. That helped a lot.

I've never lived in an English-speaking country, ever, but I lived in Austria. So, my second language is German. And when I went to school, I had a lot of classes in English.

I lived in England to learn English. When I went to England for the first time, it was like being on the Moon. I had no friends, I couldn't speak the language. I was very isolated.