A blind schoolgirl who is fluent in four languages has become
the
youngest interpreter to work at the European Parliament - at the
age of ten.
Alexia Sloane, from Cambridge, lost her sight when she was
two-years-old after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour whilst on
holiday in France.
But despite her disability the little girl has excelled at
languages and at the age of 10 she is already fluent in English,
French, Spanish and Mandarin - and is learning German.
Now she has fulfilled her dream of working as an interpreter after
East of England MEP Robert Sturdy invited her to the European
Parliament in Brussels.
"There is usually a minimum age requirement of 14 just to enter the
European Parliament so for Alexia to interpret there at the age of
10 was amazing," said mum Isabelle.
Alexia has been tri-lingual since birth as her mum is half French
and half Spanish and her dad Richard is English.
"She has always been very good at languages and shown an interest
from a very young age," added Isabelle, who also has a
four-year-old daughter Melissa.
Alexia has dreamed of becoming an interpreter since she was six and
chose to go to the European Parliament as her prize when she won
the Young Achiever Community Award of the Year.
She asked if she could shadow interpreters and MEP Robert Sturdy
agreed to take her along as his guest.
"It was fantastic and I'm absolutely determined now to become an
interpreter," said Alexia. "Nothing can stop me."