Anthony Galli

Hey, I'm Del! My name is short for Dellar, which is actually a surname for most of my family. My mom wanted to keep it from dying out, so she gave it to me as my first name. It's Ashkenazi Ukrainian; my family spoke Yiddish, Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish before they immigrated to the US. My dad's side of the family spoke English, Irish, Scottish, French, and German before they immigrated here too. Perhaps my linguistic fascination is genetic; it's in my blood. I've been fascinated by languages for many years now – I speak English, Spanish, and some French. Sometimes I believe that each language someone speaks is like a different art form with which we can express just about anything. I do this too; when I do homework, I usually think in Spanish, and when I cook, I think in French. Part of the reason I love learning about languages so much is because of other people's names – I want to be able to pronounce anyone's name on the first try, no matter where they're from. Some of my friends with non-Western names deal with that problem a lot, and I don't ever wanna put someone in a sour mood like the one my friends get when they have to correct people. I plan on continuing my linguistic studies far beyond college; I hope to learn languages for my whole life!