In the beginning

Language comes in many forms, and has never ceased to astonish me. Growing up in Stockholm, I always found myself fascinated by human communication, wondering what it is that makes some people so successful at it while others fail. I realized that every interaction we share with others is a sales pitch whose outcome determines the future of our personal brand—whoever we are, whatever we do, whatever we wish to accomplish. Understanding this, I became eager to master it.

Languages were always my strong suit. I became obsessed with English at an early age, starting to ask my father for words at age five, taking German and French in elementary school. Later, at nineteen, an immigrant friend asked me if I’d teach him Swedish. Strapped for cash, I told him: “Alright, but I can only tell you what we say, not why we say it.” I was an intuitive language learner who until that point had never bothered with formal grammar. Because teaching spawned many more questions in my head than it answered, I became obsessed with grammar.

Journeys

In 2011, I moved to Berlin, where I eagerly studied German and picked up Danish from my girlfriend at the time. Learning German grammar was helpful, as it forced me to draw comparisons to Swedish and thereby helped me understand basic concepts. A world of knowledge previously unknown to me now opened up, sending me deep down the linguistic rabbit hole, where I accumulated a tidy amount of knowledge about other languages and language in general. This and a long-standing desire to discover my Jewish roots got me fascinated with Hebrew, and at the end of 3,5 years in Berlin I sold everything I owned and bought a one-way ticket to Israel. I would spend the next six months there, doing volunteer work and getting a feel for the culture.

Studies

Fast-forward to 2016, I return to Sweden and enroll for an undergrad in linguistics at Lund University, South Sweden. Alongside linguistics, I studied Arabic and Hebrew, the latter of which I had already fallen head over heels for. After having exhausting their Hebrew courses, my university hired me as a supplemental instructor in Modern Hebrew, allowing me the honor of giving back to new Hebrew students over the course of the next three semesters.

It would become apparent over the course of my studies that a part of me had stayed behind in Israel when I left and that one day I would go back. When I graduated in spring 2019, I again bought a one-way ticket, took what little I owned, and hit the road—this time for Jerusalem.

New SHORES

These days I find myself happily settled in Jerusalem and completing my graduate degree graduate in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Apart from the Tanakh and its exegesis, my studies include the history and archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia, Israel, and Egypt, as well as Biblical Hebrew and Akkadian. Written in a syllabic cuneiform script, Akkadian is an East Semitic language (a cousin to Hebrew) and the source of the oldest epigraphic evidence within the language family. Old Akkadian inscriptions date as far back as 4,500 years BP.

Horizons

I will likely pursue doctorate studies in linguistics with a focus on multidisciplinary research with the cognitive sciences and neurosciences. I am particularly interested in syntax, morphology, and language processing, production, and evolution. Consolidating my own background with a hard-sciences understanding of the neurobiological correlates of these topics—so I hope—will allow me to conduct more valuable research and ultimately contribute more to the field.

Little is known about the coming decades, but I see an upsurge of technological innovation and dramatic shifts in almost every area of life which will change the way we live and function in the world. I am much looking forward to witnessing the unfolding of these developments and make the best possible use of my stake in them.