Sandra

Sandra Tutor Interview

Q. Hi Sandra! Why don’t you start with a quick introduction.

A. Hello dear students on cafetalk! My name is Sandra. I am 33 years old and I am Austrian living in Barcelona. I study japanese in a language school and I enjoy learning languages so much. Actually my dream is to become a translator one day. My hobbies are travelling, listening to music, reading novels or manga, drawing and watching movies. I love Japan and try to learn new things about japanese culture every day. Recently very nice japanese friends of mine thought me how prepare Hoso Maki and Misohiru Soup. So I also really enjoy japanese cooking :)

Q. Actually, we don’t have enough knowledge about your home country, Austria. Could you please tell us about the country?

A. My homecountry Austria is a very small country and has only about 8.5 million inhabitants. The capital is Vienna, and there is also a study that ranks Vienna as one of the cities with highest quality of living worldwide. I really highly recommend visiting Vienna for many reasons. The city is famous for its fine coffee houses (e.g. Sacher, Cafe Central…) where you can listen to classical music whilst eating a delicious piece of Sachertorte cake, drink coffee (melange) and read the latest newspapers in english or german and enjoy the atmosphere. However, I grew up in the east-south part of Austria, in a very small town called “Lienz” with beautiful landscapes and sensational mountain scenery, with very lush meadows, thick forest and a lot of breathtaking nature. Talking about my hometown I am starting to get a little bit homesick hahaha :)

Q. According to your profile, you live in Spain for 8 years! Which city do you live?

A. I live in Barcelona now, where I have moved initially to learn spanish. But very soon after my arrival I soon feel head over heels in love with Barcelona and its exceptional and impressive architecture, mild clima, its lively street life the multicultural atmosphere and soon decided to move here. Some days can be very challenging as people in Barcelona speak two languages here – Castillian Spanish and the official language is catalan. Now I speak spanish fluently and can understand some catalan (though I am working on improving it). For example, at the moment I study japanese at school in catalan, so I get the chance to improve both languages at the same time.

Q. I heard you can speak multi languages! Do you have any recommendations to learn multi languages?

A. When I started to learn spanish or japanese, one thing that really helped me effectively was watching TV and video in the language I was learning using the subtitles. It really helped me to get used to the language and pronounciation, and to pick up new words and phrases every day. Regularly I also go to a language exchange group in Barcelona where I can meet people to practice languages. Many times I would also write post-it notes and stick them around my flat or my walls to practice new vocabularies. Very often I also try to listen to language learning podcasts, whenever I am travelling by public transport.

Q.As we know, you like reading e-books on your kindle! Who is your favorite author and why?

A. My favorite author would have to be Haruki Murakami. He has been my favourite author for many years since I discovered his novels “Norwegian Wood” and “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.” Many of his books I read over and over, many times in english, spanish and german, so I guess I am a very huge and dedicated fan of him. I dont know so many another authors who manage to put me so completely into a character’s head and emotions. His novels seem to be about everyday people, and stories that could be real, mixed with surreal elements.

Q. What made you to be in love with Japan?

A. I always dreamed about visiting japan since I was a little kid and had very high expectations. But when I finally got to visit japan for the first time by myself in the year 2008, it really exceeded my expectations.

Japan has a very rich culture, thats what I love so much about it. As well traditional culture and art, but then high modern technology, pop culture like manga, anime and video games and modern architecture. And defenitly in Japan I also had the most delicous food I ever had: Sushi, Ramen, Okonomiyaki, and many other wonderful dishes. I also love the fact that Japan also has a wide range of foods with green tea flavour “matcha” which happens to be my favourite too. I drank green tea every day and enjoyed matcha flavoured ice-cream and chocolate.

The people were also very polite and very helpful when I lost my way in Tokyo. Because I had such a great impression of Japan, I inmediately inscribed myself to take a japanese language course soon after my arrival in Barcelona. I have so many more points to mention why I love japan, but anyway I think Japan is my favourite country in the world and I hope that very soon I will have the chance to visit again :)

Q. Before we finish, would you like to give our students a message!

A. It is said that children learn languages easily from their environment, because they are in an environment where language can happen and then learning a language happens. So my advice is to speak as much as possible and be surrounded by the language you want to learn every day (listening to the radio, podcasts, watching TV, and listen to music, or even things like setting your iphone into another language). And most importantly dont be afraid of making mistakes. People will really appreciate it you learn their language so your efford will make them very happy. Mistakes have always helped me to improve my language skills even more.

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Sandra

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