Polyglot Professor Shows a Passion for Language

Jaklin Yermian brings her passion for teaching and learning to Valley College

By: Hilary Van Hoose, Special to The Star

Assistant Professor of French Jaklin Yermian teaches history and literature at Valley College on April 15. (Astrid Cortez for The Valley Star).

Valley’s Assistant Professor Jaklin Yermian grew up speaking Armenian, Farsi, and French before learning English as a teenager, and has recently started learning Spanish, Hindi, and Chinese in her spare time. 

“Because I was born into a Persian-Armenian family, those two [languages] have been given to me as a gift,” Yermian said. “It helped me expand and have a love for languages and a respect for languages because [many] times it’s helped me either get out of a pickle or get what I wanted, or I was able to help someone who needed something desperately, so I see the huge value in learning a language.”

Moving from Iran to Belgium at 7 and from Belgium to Glendale at 17, the globetrotting polyglot went on to study business administration at Glendale Community College and then French and francophone studies at UCLA.

16 years after she began teaching French language, history, and literature at Valley. The educator’s enthusiasm for teaching and life-long love of language brings a certain je ne sais quoi to her students.

“Once the class is comfortable, you will learn,” the paideutic professional said. “If everyone’s on pins and needles thinking ‘Oh, I’m going to make a mistake,’ there’s no way. That’s why kids learn so well, because they’re always taught through fun. So, have patience, and teach through fun.”

Professor Yermian highlighted some of her favorite words in multiple languages, like “velesh kon” (which means “let it go” in Farsi), “sirem kez” (which means “I love you” in Armenian, but specifically for children), “tartine” (an open-faced sandwich popular in France), and for English “wanna” and “gonna” (because everyone she knew used these contractions, but her English teachers always gave her bad grades for using them).

Heading straight from office hours for her French language classes at Valley to pick up her kids from their dual language immersion school where she helps in her spare time, the mother of two’s everyday passion for multilingualism is evident.

“Language means the world to me,” the plurilingual pedagogue said. “I’m so lost if I can’t communicate with other than what I know, like, if I only knew English, I would be so lost.”