March 19, 2026
I met Alex in English in Finland and while I don’t know him in French, I see that sides of him pop out in his fun efforts to communicate with my community in Spanish.
I start this way to honor the multiplicity inherent in being multilingual. As with many multilinguals, Alex´s persona and way of relating to others shift and evolve with the language he speaks. So this is a first glimpse into the many layers of Alex´s expertise, experience and care.
When we met, we were among the few native English speakers in a large international group. I was immediately struck by Alex’s linguistic consciousness; he has a rare ability to adjust his vernacular to meet the context and include others naturally, without it ever feeling forced.
But it isn't just his social grace that qualifies him to lead this magazine. It’s the bridge he builds between personal experience and deep scientific expertise.
Tell us about your experience growing up in a multilingual family.
I grew up in a French-American household in the US, where the main language was English. Still, I had enough exposure to develop the ear for French. During my childhood, I understood most of what I heard but felt tremendous frustration every time I needed to speak French. I just couldn’t do it. But even though I lacked active fluency, the early exposure to another way of speaking - tied with the cultural ways of being - helped me be much more flexible in my learning.
I have always understood language as a gateway to different ways of seeing the world, and that drove my undergraduate studies in cognitive science. As I got older, I wanted to have a stronger connection with the French side of my family. I wanted to feel like I could express my full self with them. I took formal French classes and eventually used self-study literacy methods to reach fluency. I credit the Harry Potter series with getting my French from passable to the level where I could accomplish my goals.
You’ve lived all over the world. What other languages have you picked up?
Along the way, I’ve picked up a smattering of other languages: while teaching English outside of Seoul, I had a conversational level of Korean. As an educational neuroscience researcher in Helsinki, I can get by in Finnish. I know enough Spanish and German to get myself into trouble - and maybe get myself out.
These languages, some of which vary widely from English and French, were acquired using the same strategies and mindsets that helped me overcome the mental blocks that keep us from trying in the world.
As you can see Alex has a DEEP personal love and experience with acquiring and learning languages. This is only compounded by his expertise.
How did language make its way into your academic and professional trajectories?
Seeing these effects of certain language strategies and mindsets in my own life led me to study first linguistics, and then the neurodynamics of language acquisition. I’m endlessly fascinated by the ways that our minds can adapt to new contexts, and by the nearly magical process by which we acquire languages.
In my bachelors degree, I assisted studies exploring how bilingual infants navigate lacunas - gaps in one language that they know how to fill in another. The sophistication and social awareness that was displayed at 2 years old shocked me and inspired a future career a language teacher, where I applied brain-friendly principles to elementary schools in Korea and American high school classrooms. Now, I’m looking at how to help adults learn languages more like babies. With some luck, the lessons of Little Language Labs will help us all be more multilingual.
Why did you want to write Little Language Labs?
I believe that the best ways of learning languages, like parenting, are relational and contextual, and that they’re based on solid neuroscience, psychology, and culture. In my experience, these methods are more joyful, more rigorous, and more effective at building confident speakers. Like Vanessa, I want to help equip parents looking to give their children a wider view on the world with confidence and solid tools based in science to achieve their goals.
Alex approaches languages with a deep curiosity and he loves a good question and a new perspective about languages.