Interview with an au-pair in Spanish, along Amsterdam canals

http://fi3m.com
My friend Elizabeth from Gran Canaria recently moved to Amsterdam as an au-pair to improve her English. So I invited her for a video interview (in Spanish) while I was pedalling along the canals of Amsterdam. I get a little distracted by avoiding ducks and drunk tourists, but hopefully the questions I asked her were clever enough!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• amsterdam
• canal
• aupair
• au pair
• español
• castellano
• interview
• netherlands
• entrevista

[markforda1]

I am sorry but im Argentine and my opinion is that you dont speak very well but at the same time I dont know where you learned or how long you have been learning also I am led to belive that this was scripted

[irishpolyglot]

@markforda1 How could this 17 minute video have been scripted?? Or more to the point, what makes you think it is?

Let me guess - you are coming here from Steve Kaufmann's video? Honestly, the point of your message is quite silly. I'm both speaking badly AND reading a script? People's need to insult my level is getting quite desperate. You try performing an interview while controlling a boat and avoiding ducks, and I'm sure you'll be distracted too.

[zy0potdark]

Where is she from? her accent is funny.

[irishpolyglot]

@zy0potdark Read the description or listen to the introduction! Gran Canaria is said various times.

Her accent is only funny if you are not used to European Spanish accents in general, but the Canary islands variation is has interesting differences.

[MrLinguaphile]

@markforda1 Ah, but the C2 level does not require that you speak at a level where natives think that you are, yourself, a native. It requires that you speak the language with a great deal of fluency. And he does. The girl, who is a native Spanish speaker, stumbles over her words almost as much as he does. Does that mean she is not C2 level? I speak English natively, and even I stumble over words sometimes. It is often difficult to know the right word to use.

[frosty321]

That girl was gorgeous

[j2zel]

I love her accent. It's funny how it sounds more like a Latin American accent than one from Spain (pronouncing "z" as "s", dropping final "s", etc). It's incredible how much the Spanish accent varies even within Spain itself.

[irishpolyglot]

@markforda1 The caps lock assertion of some random Youtube commenter means nothing when I tell you this: the Instituto Cervantes awarded me with a C2 diploma. This simply cannot be debated. I have a C2 level in Spanish, end of discussion.

Please do some research to find out what C2 means. I've sat 2 C2 examinations and can tell you all about it. It doesn't mean no accent. As @MrLinguaphile pointed out, the native I was interviewing also stumbled and hesitated to find certain words

[Ifan8430]

@markforda1 I am not a native speaker, but I speak Spanish. BTW, sorry it bothers you so much that he says his Spanish is C2.

[markforda1]

@Ifan8430 I am not saying he can't speak Spanish but in his Mandarin video he claims to speak both Spanish and French at a C2 level. I went to school in Spain (and studied teaching English at a European standard) I taught English in Spain and Argentina for 8 years and Spanish in the US for 7. YOU DO NOT SPEAK AT A C2 LEVEL !!! From the second he opens his mouth a native speaker would know he is not not a native and he stumbles with words and pronunciation. Making him not a C2 level speaker.

[markforda1]

@Ifan8430 Ummm ... you speak Spanish or you are a native speaker of Spanish ???

[Ifan8430]

@markforda1 I speak Spanish, I think he speaks fine........

[frosty321]

@markforda1 The question is, Who cares about your opinion? LOL