Derek Allen

I was raised in Steilacoom, Washington, USA. I was an internationally-minded child, but my love for languages really started when I was age 13 when I got into Dutch. I danced around languages, but settled on Icelandic at age 16. I studied the language to the best of my ability and moved there in 2016 at 19. I got my bachelor's degree from the University of Iceland in Icelandic as a second language and my master's degree from the University of Iceland in translation studies. I became really active in student activism and ended up being the president of the National Union of Icelandic Students, the first person of color to hold the title. I speak native English, fluent Icelandic, intermediate Dutch (Flemish), and elementary Spanish and Hungarian. I'm learning Yoruba and can speak Portuguese, French, Danish, Polish, Serbian, Arabic, and Mandarin if a gun is put to my head.