Portrait of an Artist: Brooks
Janel Lee/KUTAt the age of 20, Brooks Eakin can speak English, Spanish and French conversationally and is studying Vlax Romani, Latin, and Old English. For him though, that’s only the tip of the iceberg, because Eakin is now excited about adding languages with non-Latin alphabets to his repertoire.
His path to language acquisition started with his grandfather who had a PhD in biblical languages. When Eakin’s grandfather passed away, the budding young linguist discovered the world of languages in the large collection of old books that his grandfather left behind. Eakin’s explorations in his grandfather’s books was the catalyst that inspired him to study other languages. His reasons range from the joy he finds in improving his language skills to the simple thrill of the linguistics of languages themselves. Brooks Eakin’s own words say it best, “I think that the ability to create something that requires a technical skill but that is never the less beautiful and can transmit meaning is an art. I found that there is no exercise that I can do that is as mentally stimulating as language acquisition.” One of our great Storyboard interns, Janel Lee, brings us the latest addition to our Portrait of an Artist series.
