Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Calling all non-english natives!

[SaraP]

As this is the International District, it's only fitting we have a call out to the AW'ers that are not from an english-based country.

Come and introduce yourself to the community, tell us a little about where you live (to make the rest of us jealous, of course ) and why you love everyone's favorite writer's forum.

So ... I'll start!

I am Sara, born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal. The things I love the most about my country are the food, the wine, the people and the history. I've known a few people that have come to live here for a short time and could not leave. It's the cream pastries. They are addictive.

I write mostly in english because that's just how it comes out. I'm glad we subtitle just about all the movies and TV shows here, so I can hear the language constantly.

And why do I love AW so much? Is it even possible not to?

 

[Aheïla]

Hi!

My name is Emilie, born and raised in Quebec city, Canada. Despite the fact that my country is supposedly bilingual, it's really English all-around except for the province of Quebec, which is French.
I love the open-mindedness of the people here. I haven't seen much of Canada (it's so big) so I can only talk about my little place. I like Quebec city because it's really like a big village: there's greenery everywhere and you come across people you know quite frequently. While French Canadians are quite often joked about (Celine Dion, anyone?), we stand strong. I like that about us.
But I hate winter. *laughs*

Why do I love AW? It's nice to make some writer friends with whom to discuss the craft. Being a write is too often a lonely thing.

 

[Ehab.Ahmed]

Oh, hey there Sara and Aheïla

Well, I'm from Saudi Arabia... Actually, I'm from Egypt... On second thought, I'm from Sudan. Okay, my father's from Sudan, my mother's from Egypt, and I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. So take what you will from that

I love Saudi Arabia for it's history, religious atmosphere.... And that's about it. I'm not that fond of here, so... Sorry, no advertisement from me.

Hmm, why I write in English? Well, ever since I learned English by listening (from movies and games believe it or not), some phrases and ideas began to flow better for me in English rather than in Arabic. So, gradually, I began to depend on English more and more, till now I don't write in Arabic unless I absolutely have to, haahaa.

Why I love AW? Guess for the same reason everyone else does

 

[aruna]

I am Sharon and I was born and grew up (mostly) in British Guiana, AKA Guyana (post independence). But I've had a very international past so I'm right at home here!

It all began with my travelling for a year, when I was 19, through South America. I had learnt Spanish and French in school and somehow that helped me with Portuguese in Brazil. I love all Latin languages. I'd love to learn Portuguese properly, and Italian, go to those countries. I can't believe I've never been to Italy; it feels so much like home.

I married a German and lived there for a total of about 35 years, which included a year in France. So I speak German more or less fluently though I will never master their adjective endings.

But I also lived a lot in India and have attempted to learn Hindi, but need to learn Tamil because I want to move to South India sometime in the next 5 years. So I guess that qualifies me to move into this district!

I love being international. I love the various perspectives it offers me to life; for instance, no two societies could be more different than Germany and India, and it's great to be able to adapt to both and appreciate both, to learn from both.

ETA: English is actually my first and native and best language. So that's why I write in English -- no big mystery there!

 

[Lauretta]

Ciao a tutti!!!

I'm Italian, born and raised in Siracusa, a small village at the very far end of Sicily.
In Italy, we do not have subtitles, everything is translated into Italian, therefore it's very hard to keep up with the English language. That's the reason why I moved to Ireland 5 years ago.
I do miss my own country. I miss the food, the lovely and sunny weather, people, my family and friends.
I write in Italian, to make my creative side happy. I translate into English, sometimes, especially when I need betas.
Aheila I do agree with you, writing is too often a lonely thing, that's why I need to staccare la spina (unplug?) from it from time to time and do something completely different.

Why do I love AW? What's AW??

 

[OneWriter]

Hi Sara, thanks for inviting me over!!!
And hi to all of you guys.

I'm Italian but I was born in the UK and now I live in the US... Between my husband, my two kids and me we were all born in a different Country, which makes it quite interesting!!

I love Italy but frankly I'm glad I don't live there right now... Won't speculate as to why, but if you know a bit about Italy you'll probably easily guess. I do miss mozzarella and stracchino though.... sigh.

Ciao!

ETA: oh, look: cross-posted with Laura!!! Ain't that neat???

 

[aruna]

I have a lot of half-Italian friends and my granddaughter is one-sixteenth Italian -- her mother's grandmother is from Sicily! So it's high time for me to go there...

 

[maestrowork]

Hi!

I was born and raised in Hong Kong, even though I've been an American citizen for over almost 15 years now. I came to the US by myself for college with only two suitcases. I never left.

 

[backslashbaby]

I'm loving this!

I'm just a Southern girl, but I love different cultures and languages.

I did live in Hungary for a little while, and in Costa Rica for a bit with my aunt and uncle. I flew back and forth between the US and the UK for an Oxford degree I received last Spring (computers, not languages). Got the tattoo to commemorate that in Dublin

I was the tech support for Sara Lee Int'l for Latin America, Haiti and Canada, and I have also studied German. So nice to see you all!!

 

[10trackers]

Hiiiii all!

I'm from the Netherlands *ducks objects thrown by Brazilians* and live in a beautiful rural area because I hate cities My dogs love it here, and I love the peace and quiet. I am a professional translator/copywriter/editor even though I have a MSc in Biology. I don't know why

Why do I love AW? Because it's a veritable font of knowledge, it's mostly filled with awesome people and people are generally wittier and more well-spoken than on other forums I feel right at home

 

[aruna]

Sara, have you invited truelyana? She's Portuguese too...

 

[Eddyz Aquila]

Hi everyone

My name is Edward, I'm from Romania, and I've been at it with English since I was 3. Gap year now to pursue my writing passion and then off to university in Europe, don't know where yet.

J'aime bien AW because it's the best place to enjoy the company of other writers, and to get a thicker skin Honestly, I'd rather get the kicks from fellow AWers and then enjoy the fruits of my writing than get the kicks from agents and enjoy...nothing?

 

[Lauretta]

Aw sooo many people!!! We have to celebrate!!!

 

[maxmordon]

It's the cream pastries. They are addictive.

You know there's usually a stereotypical job depending on your origins, like Italians are barbers and so on? Here, Portuguese people are bakers.

 

[Thump]

Hi, my real first name is Chantal (but don't go telling everyone ). I'm half-French and half-Uruguayan. I was born in Montevideo, Uruguay but I've lived on almost every continent since.

I grew up travelling 'cause my mother works for the French Embassy (not a diplomat though, sadly, I can't commit any crimes with impunity ). I lived in Uruguay, Guatemala, India, Canada, Peru and now I'm living in England (on my own now that I'm a grown-up). I loved growing up like that. Yeah I had to start over again and again but I considered this a good thing. I could reinvent myself, anything embarassing I had done was unknown to my new schoolmates and I got to see dozens of exotic places, meet people with very different backgrounds and eat food I can't name.

It's also made rather socially inept in some ways

I love AW because I enjoy intelligent conversation and the curiosity that everyone here displays. I live surrounded by people with little or no imagination and no curiosity about other people.

 

[maxmordon]

Venezuelan here, born and raised. What I love about my country is simply the people; a beautiful mix-mash of three very different origins boiling down to make a very special kind of folks.

Why do I love AW? For the people as well, hehe. Sometimes I forget people are not usually as well savvy of media as the people of AW is.

 

[aruna]

Re Portuguese:
there's a very strong Portuguese element in Guyana. They are mostly businesspeople. When I was growing up they were second highest on the racial hierarchie, after White. Yep, they didn't count as White. The Whites came to British Guiana as the ruling elite, the Portuguese were "only" labourers. But they couldn't take the heat and the dust and so were replaced by Chinese, and then by Indians.
So that's your history lesson for today!

 

[Lauretta]

like Italians are barbers and so on?

Italians are barbers? Is it due to Il Barbiere di Siviglia?

 

[maxmordon]

Re Portuguese:
there's a very strong Portuguese element in Guyana. They are mostly businesspeople. When I was growing up they were second highest on the racial hierarchie, after White. Yep, they didn't count as White. The Whites came to British Guiana as the ruling elite, the Portuguese were "only" labourers. But they couldn't take the heat and the dust and so were replaced by Chinese, and then by Indians.
So that's your history lesson for today!

In the ancient Venezuelan hierarchy, Spaniards were the ruling elite but if their children were educated here instead of Spain, they were considered another class, lower than then where the poor Spaniards. The independence was a conflict between the ruling Spaniards and the Spaniards settled here.

 

[maxmordon]

Italians are barbers? Is it due to Il Barbiere di Siviglia?

No idea, but doesn't make much sense since Seville is in Spain. But I think it comes from the turn-of-the-century immigrants along with the less famous one of Italian grocers.

 

[Lauretta]

No idea, but doesn't make much sense since Seville is in Spain.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia is a famous Italian opera buffa, by Gioacchino Rossini, based on a French comedy. As I never heard that Italians are like barbers I thought it was because of that.

But I think it comes from the turn-of-the-century immigrants along with the less famous one of Italian grocers.

Interesting to know how Italians are seen all over the world. Here in Ireland it's all about food. Most of fish-and-chips shops were opened by Italians who made a lot of money out of it!!!
We do not have fish-and-chips shops in Italy though...

 

[SaraP]

Here, Portuguese people are bakers.

We have a very big baking tradition. I know it's not very well known around the world and it's not like I've tried a lot of foreign baking, but there's no baking like ours.

History lesson: back in the middle ages, when the people donated foods to the gazzillion convents around the country, one of the foods the nuns received in excess was eggs. What better way to use them up than in baking? This explains a) why our baking is so rich - several convents came up with exclusive treats, b) why so many of our recipes use an absurd amount of eggs/yolks (one recipe calls for 30 yolks - and they are soooooo good) and c) why they are so yellow.

Pastéis de nata:

Tortas de Azeitão:

And my personal favorite - Dom Rodrigo:

I think I'm going to ask Mac for a drooling smilie.

 

[Xelebes]

Il Barbiere di Siviglia is a famous Italian opera buffa, by Gioacchino Rossini, based on a French comedy. As I never heard that Italians are like barbers I thought it was because of that.

No idea but I've always known Italians as grocers, especially in the United States.

 

[Dawnstorm]

Hi, folks.

I'm Austrian. Austrians often gain world fame... once they leave Austria.

My name's Edward, even though the German version of that name is Eduard. I have no English-speaking ancesty; my parents (Austrian mom, Croatian Dad) just liked the English version better. I suppose that would have drawn my attention to English from an early age.

Do I like living in Austria? Don't know. I'm used to it. Politically, I'm fond of Austria's Neutrality (it's symbolic, really, since our army isn't going to make much of a difference either way). I'm not so fond of our role in World War II, but that's what's given us our Neutrality and that's pretty much the only thing that unifies Austria. Culturally, we're very diverse, with dialects changing every three kilometres or so. I like our mountainous areas the most; rocks and trees. For the most part, I don't like the Austrian cuisine; either too sweet or too much fat.

I'm fluent in German and English. I've had four years of Italian in school, which allows me to read with the help of a dictionary, and to have simple conversations. I've also had Latin lessons - which helps with the Italian, but also other romance languages. At university I took two semesters of Japanese, out of curiosity mostly; I was too lazy to be any good at it (though I'm slowly picking up stuff from watching anime). I'm not as good at Croation (my dad's language) as I should be, which is embarrassing.

It's always fascinating to read where people have lived. I can't imagine moving much - not because I'm attached to where I live (letting go would be comparatively easy), but because I'm generally having trouble settling into a new environment. Which is why I like to keep moving in my holidays abroad. I'm an odd mixture of a hermit and a nomad, either extreme is okay for me - but I can't stand the middle ground (moving).

I'm not sure what to expect of this place, but I already love the atmosphere. I'll expect to be lurking in the shadows, mostly.

 

[Diver]

Hi all,

My name’s José Miguel, a Chilean born bum with two beautiful daughters who take after my wife (thus the beautiful).

I picked up my English from a 2 year plus sojourn in Israel when I was a kid (Tabeetha School anyone? – there is always someone).

I started heavy reading around those times – my first ever English book was IT. When I came back to Chile I continued reading in English. It is really no wonder I got into the habit of writing in that language as well.

I live in Santiago, an hour way from the mountains and 1 ½ hours from the beach. You can go skiing one day and diving the next. I love it.

Some distinctive features about my country include the wine and astronomy. We just came from a year way in France, which made us realize another distinctive treat of our country: the people.

By the by, should anyone for whatever reason need any kind of help with Spanish (or Chile for that matter), don’t hesitate to drop me a line.