MISSION
Hi! I'm Azren. Nice to meet you.
Learning languages is a passion of mine.
I speak 5 languages: English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, and Gujarati. I’ve dabbled in many other languages such as Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Arabic, German, Portuguese, and Hindi. I even had the privilege of studying Cree and Blackfoot (two indigenous languages) while engaged in a language revitalization project. That was a memorable period of my life. My goal is to be fluent in at least 8 languages in my life.
I founded the Calgary Language Nerds in 2016.
This was to blend my love of languages and passion for business. I’m fuelled by the difference I can make in people’s lives through language acquisition. I love being a part of that transformational journey toward multilingualism.
My current mission is…
I want to help 100,000 people per year reach their fluency goals. I therefore offer free language learning advice sessions. I also have a program called Guaranteed Fluency, which you can learn more about by visiting the homepage of my website.
In the future…
Free language learning advice sessions and my Guaranteed Fluency Program won’t be enough to help 100,000 people per year reach their fluency goals. That’s why I am saving up for a more scaleable solution. I document my progress for this project and share useful language learning advice on my social media.
How it All Started
Let’s go back to the beginning.
I was born in Calgary, a city on the west side of Canada close to the Rocky Mountains. I still live here today. My dad was never in the picture, so my mom raised me and my younger sister alone.
It was challenging for her, especially since my sister is disabled. My sister and I are especially close. Ever since my 18th birthday, I have been her alternate guardian.
Moving on to languages.
My first language is English. However, I have also spoken French from a young age because I attended French immersion schools from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
Another language I grew up speaking is Gujarati since my family is originally from Gujarat, India.
That said, my passion for languages wasn’t born until I was 15 years old.
My mom signed me up for a three-month exchange trip to a small village in France (see the photo below).
I initially didn’t want to go.
Truth be told, I was afraid of being away from home. However, in the end I am glad that I went. It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience!
After that trip, I dove head-first into languages. For example, I:
• Majored in French & Spanish at university
• Studied & traveled abroad for 3 months in Peru & Chile to practice Spanish
• Studied & traveled for an additional 2.5 months in France to further my knowledge
• Began learning Mandarin after graduating university. I was immersed for 6 months in Beijing and Taipei
• Focused on deepening my Gujarati knowledge by taking private lessons, doing some self-study, and taking intensive lessons in Gujarat, India
• Deepened my knowledge about and got more experience with the field of foreign language acquisition
Here's Where Things Get Weird
Even though I have loved languages for a long time, I didn’t immediately choose to work in that field.
As a matter of fact, for 5.5 years I ran a window cleaning business. I was a university student for 4 of those years and General Manager of central Canada for the last 1.5 years. Teaching, training, coaching, and facilitating were significant parts of my job. These are also skills I transfer to teaching languages.
2016: A Pivotal Year
In September of 2016, I stumbled across a video called Teen Speaks Over 20 Languages.
This lead me to finding a vibrant online community of language learning enthusiasts. I was so excited! I had always thought that I was alone in my passion for languages.
About one week later, I decided to make language learning content on social networks.
You can find me @polyglotazren on all major social networks as well as on my podcast, The Language Learning Show. I stopped running the window cleaning business around this time.
As much fun as I was having fun making content online, I was not earning any money.
Therefore, I decided that I wanted to teach English, French, and Spanish. Using the skills I learned while operating the window cleaning business, I started looking for students.
It was quite scary at first.
I didn’t know if I would be successful. That being said, I was gradually able to find enough students to have a full-time teaching schedule. This is how the Calgary Language Nerds was born.
Fast Forward to Today
Over time, the Calgary Language Nerds has grown.
My tutors and I offer lessons and coaching services for multiple languages.
All tutors are personable and skilled at teaching their respective language(s).
They receive ongoing training and coaching while working at the Calgary Language Nerds.
Here are some pictures from one of our instructor appreciation events where we all attended a paint night together 🙂
My role has also changed since 2016.
While I still teach, I also spend quite a bit of time on the business side of things. I enjoy both parts of my job and am excited to see what the future holds!
Azren
Owner of the Calgary Language Nerds