Brooke Pothecary

Top A level results open the door to international dream for keen teen linguist 

Brooke Pothecary, 18, achieved A* grades across the board in English Literature, drama and religious studies as well as an A in the Welsh Baccalaureate and will now take her place at Cardiff University to study Italian and Japanese, where she will get the opportunity to travel to both Italy and Japan for a placement abroad.

The Coleg y Cymoedd learner, a fluent Welsh speaker from Porth, Rhondda, then hopes to move to Australia to become an Italian language teacher where there is demand for them, after developing a love of languages during her travels in Spain, Iceland and Turkey.

Brooke said: “I’m really passionate about languages because I travel quite a lot and know people who struggle with the English language. It’s widely expected that people should know it globally but that is not always the case, so I try to learn some of the local language whenever I visit somewhere.

“I chose Cardiff University because I liked the fact that they offered the option to learn more than one language at degree level, and I’m really keen to learn as many as I can. Italian is an in-demand language and Japanese is something I am very interested in learning.”

The A* college learner hopes that learning languages will help her to gain a thorough insight into other cultures, in turn enabling her to pass on this knowledge to help others develop better understanding between different cultures.

“I want to become someone who learns languages to accommodate for other people. I know it seems like an enormous task, but I’m determined to learn about other cultures and feel that learning these languages may help in some way,” she said.

Brooke has chosen Italian for her degree because of a demand for teachers in the language in Australia, where she would love to continue her travels. Although she is already learning Korean as a hobby, Brooke has also decided to study Japanese to broaden the scope of her linguistic learning.

During her time studying at Cardiff University, Brooke will have the opportunity to travel to both Italy and Japan on placements, alongside partaking in spoken presentations, group discussions and written coursework to help progress her learning.

In her spare time, Brooke loves being creative, and feels her A level choices illustrate that creative flair. Alongside studying Korean, she enjoys writing, and hopes to volunteer in the future, if her studies allow, for wildlife or animal sanctuaries.

Brooked added: “As I’m sure most people studying their A levels feel, it’s been a stressful year, but the college have been amazing, they’ve always been there if I’ve ever needed anything, and their support has helped me get to where I am.

“I’m so grateful for my teachers and mentors at Coleg y Cymoedd, they really couldn’t do enough to help me through my A levels.”