Jahmai Lamont I   

New tutor

I love Deutsch

What is your favorite word in your language and why?

It means a longing for distant places, an ache for somewhere you have never been. English has wanderlust, borrowed from German, but Fernweh is sharper and sadder. Wanderlust is desire. Fernweh is closer to pain. The fact that German has a single word for that specific feeling, and English has to borrow it, tells you something important about both languages.

What is your favorite dish from your hometown? If you no longer live there is there a good local restaurant that serves it?

My favorite dish in my hometown of Kiel is called "Fischbrötchen". The best Fischbrötchen is sold in Schilksee in a place called "Goldfisch".

Besides the languages you teach, do you speak or study any other languages?

As I studied Latin at university, I am comfortable navigating all the Romance languages. I speak French at B1 level, Spanish at a working level, and have a basic grasp of Italian. Latin gives you the structural skeleton that connects them all, which makes picking up new Romance vocabulary considerably faster.

What are your interests outside of teaching at Strommen?

Opera and performing arts production. I have produced international opera festivals and programmes across Germany, Spain, and Ireland, which keeps my ear tuned to language at its most precise and expressive. I am also a voice artist and workshop facilitator, which means I spend a significant amount of time thinking about how sound, tone, and delivery affect communication. Outside of that I follow developments in education technology and language acquisition research, which feeds directly back into how I teach. I read widely in German and English and I travel whenever I can.

What do you consider your hometown? Why do you love it?

My hometown has changed throughout my life. I grew up in Kiel, Germany, and have since lived in Hamburg, Berlin, Lisbon, Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, New York, and currently Baltinglass, Ireland. Each place has shaped how I see the world and how I teach. But Kiel will always be home. It is where the language I teach lives in my bones rather than in my head.