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Student Profiles: Amanda Menichello

Amanda Menichello, the coordinator of the Tertulias (Spanish Conversation Practice) at Hillside Grind talked to WCUSpanish for a quick profile about her.

Remember to  check March's  schedule for Tertulias

Where are you from? Where have you lived?

I was born in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, but I have lived the majority of my life in Franklin, North Carolina, where I cannot be happier—I’ve always preferred vibrant nature over concrete jungles.

What are some other places you have traveled?

I haven’t traveled too much even within the United States, but I have studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain and visited family in Poland.

 

 

You are majoring in Professional Writing and Spanish . Why did you choose these, particularly in this combination?

I have always wanted to work with books, whether that be writing or editing them, but as creative writing is not a major at WCU (and is not a degree that opens up many jobs), I chose the professional route. As for Spanish, I never imagined I would major in it upon starting college, but I have always loved learning languages and, even more so, studying them. Given all that our country is going through, I felt it was not just logical to pair the two but necessary, and I have never regretted that decision since I made it.

What have you learned that really spurred you to think?

In my first semester at WCU, I took a class called “Grammar for Teachers” with Dr. Catherine Carter. At the time, I was set on ESL, and ever since she brought up “the principle of language subordination,” I have never been able to look at grammar or dialect the same way. I used to pride myself so much in my grammar that I even had a shirt saying, “I’m silently judging your grammar”—I have never worn it since. No one dialect—let alone language—is superior to another. Even fairly different dialects like Vernacular or Appalachian English have their own set of grammar rules. It is as equal to every other way of speaking on the planet. What makes a language or dialect “correct” is simply that it is used by those in power. Having learned a second language myself, I too came to realize that learning to twist your mother tongue in a foreign way is a lifelong feat and should be respected on whatever level one lies at.

What defines you?

In a typical classroom setting, I am usually that quiet student who sits upfront and studies extensively—but in any class that involves creativity and writing, whether that be English or Spanish, I explode, so much to the point that I have asked my teachers privately if I need to tone it down. I am not the bookworm in the sense that I know every novel on the market, but I am the one who when asked to critique and workshop a piece will take it to heart because I want to evoke the best writer in everyone.

Tell us about your motivation to study Spanish.

Spanish was a language that had surrounded me for much of my early life, but I only at first explored it in bits and pieces; this changed greatly when my family adopted my sister, Maria, from Guatemala. She came to the United States when she was very young, so she does not speak Spanish, but once I began to seriously study Spanish in high school, I did so with the purpose of one day going to Guatemala with her so that she could see her roots and hopefully find her mother. Since then, my motivation has evolved further—I continue learning Spanish simply because I have fallen in love with it, and I am determined to use my skills to help in any way possible, whether that be on a larger scale with interpretation or simply helping someone in a grocery store.

How do you foresee using Spanish in the future?

My love for books and language do have overlapping qualities, but ultimately, unless I worked with the translation of books (which, let’s be honest, is a far-off goal at the moment), my two passions will not overlap much in my professional career. After graduation, I want to continue working with Spanish in anyway possible; currently, that has my eye set towards being a freelance author/writer, hopefully picking up some sales, but working in some way with the Spanish community as my day job, whether that be in an office or through advocacy.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Part of the reason that I wanted to take over Tertulias this semester is because over the past few years, I have come to realize more than ever that it is impossible to learn a language without practicing it. Apps such as Duolingo are great for setting the foundation and building vocabulary, but ultimately, unless you practice speaking, achieving fluency is next to impossible. I hope that by offering Tertulia twice a week now, on varying days at varying times, that more people will be encouraged to attend. There is a paralyzing fear that comes when speaking a foreign language—that you will mess up—and guess what? You will, and that’s okay. There is no other way to learn but to try, to mess up, and once we overcome the fear of speaking, our learning and retention rate increase exponentially. Never take an opportunity to practice for granted! 

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