Spanish – Page 6 – Cultural Portfolio

Beginners’ Spanish I (SPAN 201): Interviewing a Spanish Speaker

Amanda Leung

For this culture portfolio, I interviewed one of my Chilean friends in Spanish. He is currently studying engineering at the University of Calgary. In this interview, I asked him basic questions in Spanish such as his background and reasons for coming to Canada. This allowed me to practice the conversational Spanish skills we’ve been learning in SPAN 201. He purposefully used simple sentence structures and slowed down his speech so I could understand what he was saying.

Hola, Vamos a emprezar este entrevista
¿Cómo te llamas?	Yo me llamo Avi.
¿De donde eres?	Yo soy de Chile.
¿Qué haces?	Yo soy un estudiante, y estudio ingenieria mecánica.
¿Por qué quieres ir a Canadá?	Me gusta mucho el invierno.
¿Cómo eres? ¿Describe tu personalidad?	Me gusta hablar mucho. Tengo muchos amigos y me gusta hacer presentaciones en clases.
¿Qué es la diferencia cultural más grande entre Chile y Canadá?	En chile, comemos muchos mariscos del mar y en Canadá comen mucha carne.
¿Cuál es tu lugar favorito en Chile?	Mi lugar favorito en Chile es el desierto Atacama. Específicamente, la ciudad de San Pedro de Atacama.
¿Cual es tu actividad más favorita durante tus vacaciones?	Mi actividad más favorita sería hacer el surf.
¿Cual es tu serie de TV más favorito?	Mi serie de televisión más favorita es Doctor House.
¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?	Mi cumpleaños es el diecisiete de junio de dos mil uno.
¿Qué lenguas hablas?	Yo hablo inglés y español.
¿Con quién vives?	Yo vivo solo.
¿Cuál es tu lengua materna?	Mi lengua materna es inglés.
Gracias, chao

During the interview, I found it interesting to observe the fluency and natural flow of Avi’s responses in Spanish. The interview connects directly with the material we’ve covered in SPAN 201. The questions asked in the interview reflect the types of basic vocabulary and grammar structures we practised in class, such as greetings, asking for personal information, (e.g., ¿Còmo te llamas?), talking about likes and dislikes (e.g., ¿Qué te gusta hacer?), and discussing where you are from (e.g., ¿De dónde eres?). For example, when he said, “Me gusta hablar mucho. Tengo muchos amigos y me gusta hacer presentaciones en clases,” I could understand basic verbs like gustar (to like) and hacer (to do). This was very similar to sentences we would be expected to comprehend and write in class.

I found it hard to speak Spanish for nearly three minutes straight. I had the questions prepared, but it was challenging to remember how to enunciate every word. There were a few times during the interview when I was unsure of what was said, but since I recorded it, I was able to go back and relisten to the sentence. In particular, when Avi mentioned, “Mi lugar favorito en Chile es el decierto Atacama. Específicamente, la ciudad de San Pedro de Atacama,” I head “Atacama,” but struggled to understand the other words as they were spoken quickly. Additionally, Avi’s pronunciation of certain words was a bit faster in some parts, making it harder to catch everything. For example, when he said “Yo vivo solo,” I heard “yo v” and had to rewind to catch the full phrase. This might have been due to his natural speaking pace, which was faster than what we practise in class. I found Avi’s Spanish very fluid, while mine was broken since I was enunciating every vowel. This is to be expected for beginner Spanish, but it was interesting to hear my accent alongside a fluent speaker. As I was transcribing the interview, I found that I had to rewind several sentences because I couldn’t keep up with the pace. Avi also helped me with enunciation and learning more spanish. To begin the interview, he suggested saying “Vamos a empezar la entrevista”, which further helped me with my spanish vocabulary.

One thing I noticed was the mix of cultural references in Avi’s answers. He talked about Chilean foods like seafood and locations such as the Atacama Desert, which gave me a glimpse into Chilean culture. This was a great opportunity to connect the language to its cultural context, something that is often emphasized in SPAN 201.