It was not until senior Shashank Rao reached eighth grade that he learned how to communicate in his mother tongue of Kannada.

Now, through self-study and help from family members, Rao has not only learned Kannada, but he has also learned Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, and Catalan.

He is currently working on learning Korean and Hebrew.

Rao has written extensive language guides in Portuguese, Hindi, Catalan, Korean, and Italian using all of the knowledge that he has acquired.

These guides are for beginners and those wanting supplement learning, as well as for people who want to brush up on old concepts.

Rao wrote the Italian guide first, which took him most of his junior year because he wanted to perfect the formatting and explanations as well as add photos to make a quality guide.

Although he published the guide through his blog during second semester, he continues to update it.

“I believe that writing these guides is good because it promotes learning other languages aside from the ones that are mainstream,” Rao said.

“I think that it improves a more inclusive world view and teaches people to think outside their own setting,” he said.

He has also written four additional guides between April and July of 2014.

But he does not go on these numerous endeavors on his own.

His father and aunt helped him with his Hindi guide, and his friends, Cal alumna Elisabeth Han and senior Ye Rim Park, helped edit the guide.

But Rao does not plan to stop at five language guides.

He also plans to make a Hebrew guide once he is done learning the language.

Rao goes beyond just making guides in his pursuit of linguistic mastery.

He founded the Foreign Language Student Association (FLSA) his junior year and is currently its president.

FLSA has five student teachers and offers five languages, including Italian, Korean, Hindi, Tagalog, and German.

Student teachers volunteer their time to teach a language, such as senior Mikhaela Santos.

“I believe that learning languages expands perspectives, and little by little removes cultural biases,” Santos said. “I was inspired by Shashank removing these biases, and so I started teaching Tagalog.”

These FLSA meetings aren’t just for beginners learning new languages, but also for those who would like to brush up on their skills.

“Through the meetings, I’ve really improved my Hindi skills,” senior Hasan Syed said.

This school year, Rao recruited history teacher Anja Wheeler to replace French teacher Trish Goldin as the club’s adviser.

“I grew up speaking multiple languages and I think it’s one of the best skills you can obtain for the future,” Wheeler said.

Rao is also the president of the Spanish Club this year.

Spanish teacher Ingrid Rasmus, the Spanish Club’s adviser, sees potential in Rao to become a linguistic expert in the future.

“He has a natural ability,” Rasmus said. “He instinctively senses the rhythm of the language.”

Rao grew an interest in learning languages in his freshmen year when he heard about Timothy Doner, a then-16-year-old New York student who had a working knowledge of 20 different languages.

“I wish I had started young, like [Doner] had, but his passion for language inspired me,” said Rao.

To learn so many languages in a relatively short amount of time, Rao said that he usually used a book, cross-referencing a lot with dictionaries, reading articles, and learning contextual usages.

“I’ve been extremely traditional [in my learning methods] and have stuck to studying grammar and vocabulary and then figuring out how the language works through context in writing and speech,” said Rao.

He also has a blog where he discusses a variety of topics concerning foreign language, ranging from tips on learning to the ethics of certain language policies.

“Originally it was just a way for me to practice my writing. It then also became a way for expressing my thoughts in written form,” said Rao.

Rao has more than just a personal motive for learning. Rather than being provincial, he believes it is important to be a cosmopolitan citizen.

“Languages present, to me, an opportunity to understand another culture, a people, a world,” Rao said.

“Every language, no matter how closely related, is unique, and presents an opportunity to understand the world differently.”

Rao plans to pursue his passion for languages in the future by double majoring in international relations and linguistics in college, and then pursing a PhD in linguistics.

From there, he sees himself entering the Foreign Service, an extension of the U.S. Department of State, where he would work as a translator.

To follow Rao on his linguistic adventures, visit his blog at theworldspeaks9.wordpress.com.