Hi, I’m Erin and I am the Social Media Coordinator here at Coffee Break Languages. I first worked with Coffee Break as an intern in 2017 when I was involved in the development of Coffee Break Chinese Season 1. After graduating from the University of Glasgow with a degree in Linguistics and Spanish, I joined the team once again and have now worked full time with Coffee Break for over a year. I spent many of my student years sharing my language-learning journey on social media, so it feels like a full circle moment to continue sharing my passion for languages in this way with our wonderful learners!
What is your role in Coffee Break?
I plan, produce, film, edit and schedule content across all of our social media platforms. I also work on Coffee Break Chinese, writing and developing new course materials and interacting with our community of Chinese learners. Furthermore, I support our Spanish learning community by answering questions on the Coffee Break Spanish Masterclass.
What experience have you had speaking and learning other languages?
I learned Spanish in high school and I was lucky enough to take part in a Spanish exchange programme with a Spanish girl from Villa Real called María. I loved the thrill of navigating the language barrier in order to communicate with María and I gained a deep satisfaction from learning a phrase and using it practically to find out more about her. For me, as soon as language became about communication and getting to know a person or a part of the world better, it became the most rewarding activity.
I began to develop a deep curiosity for other languages and cultures and my interest in Mandarin was ignited at the Chinese supermarket in Glasgow of all places! I remember going there several times with my parents and feeling a sense of awe at seeing all the packaging for mundane things like rice, juice and bread covered in these beautiful Chinese characters. I then asked for some Chinese lessons for my birthday and took a couple of beginner’s classes at age 16. My head teacher found out about my interest and helped me to apply for a two-week trip to China organised by the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools. I then applied for a year-long scholarship in Tianjin, China, with the same organisation and I was delighted to be accepted. I moved to China at 18 years old and studied Chinese in a highly international environment surrounded by speakers of Russian, Korean, Japanese and Italian, to name but a few. At university I was fortunate to be able take courses in Russian and Portuguese, and study abroad in Huelva, Spain for one year. I hope to continue learning languages – working with so many talented polyglots is definitely a great motivator!
What are your favourite memories of working with Coffee Break?
Our office is based in a Scottish beach town called Ayr. During the summer we sometimes have “beach meetings” and walk along to make the most of the sun (which is rare in Scotland!) and the lovely location, whilst being productive at the same time. On one occasion we went to the local ice cream shop and walked along in the sun with our ice cream cones. That was certainly a great day at work!
Where would your ideal coffee break be and with whom?
My ideal coffee break would be around a fire on a beach (in Ireland, preferably) with my whole extended family after a BBQ, just after the sun has gone down and the beach is getting cold – that’s when the hot drinks taste best. Of course, marshmallows and a sing-song would also have to be involved!
What’s your best language learning tip?
Don’t take yourself too seriously. As a non-native speaker, you are never going to be mistake-free, no matter how “fluent” you are. The best language learners make mistakes constantly because they know that is the only way to learn. I would advise you to get really, really comfortable with making mistakes and sometimes, let’s face it, embarrassing yourself! The end goal of language learning is communication, not perfect fluency, so keep that in mind when you are using your language skills for the first time. One of my favourite quotes is by Amy Chua in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, where she says: “Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.” Your willingness to put yourself out there is very brave, so don’t give yourself a hard time for mistakes, just keeping using the language and improvements will come with practice.
Quickfire round
- Favourite language: Mandarin. For me it is the process of language learning that I find fun. The Chinese language continues to fascinate me and I feel like I will never stop learning.
- Favourite word/phrase: I love any phrase or word in Chinese where I get to use the 儿 ér pronunciation from Beijing. For example, 快点儿 kuài diǎn’er (faster). Not only do I enjoy how it sounds, but I learned Chinese in Tianjin, in the north of China, close to Beijing, so this accent reminds me of the people I met there.
- Favourite film: Todo sobre mi madre (All about my mother)
- Favourite destination: Tuscany
Do you have a message for the Coffee Break Community?
Thank you for being such a supportive, loyal community. I love interacting with you all online, and one of the best parts of my job is responding to lovely feedback and questions from enthusiastic learners. Keep being you!
