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Oi, pessoal!
I had the pleasure of interviewing my student Ivelina Dobreva for my YouTube channel, and I’m thrilled to share this interview with you.
Ivelina is a member of the Speaking Brazilian Academy, my program for intermediate and advanced students, for almost three years now.
Besides Bulgarian (her native language), she speaks Spanish, English, and Portuguese. She also has a channel on YouTube where she teaches Spanish.
Here are some takeaways from this interview:
1- What inspired you to learn four languages?
“Eu nunca gostei muito do inglês, mas eu tinha que aprender. E agora agradeço isso, porque posso me comunicar com muitas pessoas do mundo inteiro, e também tenho mais possibilidades de trabalho (…) Depois, eu aprendi espanhol, porque eu gostava muito da língua. Eu queria aprender muito espanhol, e eu decidi estudar na universidade. Eu estudei para ser professora de espanhol, e nesse tempo eu descobri que eu gostava também do português, porque o português é uma língua parecida, mas não é idêntica.”
“I never really liked English, but I had to learn it. And now I’m grateful that I did because I can communicate with many people all over the world, and I also have more work opportunities (…) Afterwards, I learned Spanish because I really liked the language. I really wanted to learn Spanish, so I decided to study it at college. I studied to be a Spanish teacher, and during that time I found out I really liked Portuguese too, since Portuguese is a similar language, but it’s not identical.”
2 – Tell us a little about your YouTube Channel.
“Eu tenho um canal no YouTube onde eu falo em espanhol. Eu explico gramática, vocabulário, mas também falo muito da cultura. (…) Acho que a língua é não apenas uma língua, mas também tem a ver com a cultura das pessoas.”
“I have a channel on YouTube where I speak in Spanish. I explain the grammar, vocabulary, but I also talk a lot about the culture. (…) I think a language is not just a language but tells a lot about people’s culture.”
3 – How are you able to separate the two languages and avoid speaking “Portuñol”?
Ivelina said that one of the things that she considers really important to avoid speaking “Portuñol” is listening to the two languages. The combination of a lot of practice and listening helps her to make more distinctions between them.
“Eu acho que o mais importante é continuar estudando. No começo, é muito difícil, mas depois você aprende mais vocabulário. No meu caso, do português, eu pude fazer mais distinção entre as duas línguas. E também acho que é muito importante ouvir, porque quando você ouve, você pode ouvir as palavras e fazer a diferença.”
“ I think that the most important thing to do is continue studying. In the beginning, it’s really hard, but you end up learning more vocabulary. In my case with Portuguese, I could make more distinctions between the two languages. And I also think it’s really important to listen to the languages, because when you listen to them, you can hear the words and understand the differences.”
4- How has the Speaking Brazilian Academy helped with your learning?
Ivelina said that what she likes the most about the Academy is the fact that she can stay in the program for as long as she wants.
“Uma das coisas que eu mais gosto da Academia é justo isso, que você tem aulas a cada semana, e você pode estar na Academia o tempo que você quiser, o tempo que você precisar. Então eu estou, por exemplo, já há três anos na Academia e continuo lá. E também gosto muito que na Academia nós podemos estudar não apenas o vocabulário ou a gramática, senão também muito a história, a cultura. (…) E também a oportunidade de falar com pessoas do mundo inteiro, porque na Academia nós temos alunos de quase todos os continentes, eu acho.”
“One of the things I like the most about the Academy is exactly that, that you have classes every week, and you can be in the Academy for the amount of time you want to be, the amount of time you need to be. So, I’ve been at the Academy for three years now, and I’m going to keep going. I also really like that at the Academy we don’t just study vocabulary or grammar, we also study history and culture. (…) Also, the opportunity to talk to people all over the world, because at the Academy we have students from almost every continent, I think.
If you’re interested in learning more about Ivelina, take a look at her Youtube channel.
I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as we did!
Até a próxima!
Speaking Brazilian School Team
Speaking Brazilian Academy
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