ABOUT | inmavassar

A BIT ABOUT MY BACKGROUND

We're often judged by the way we speak, our accent, the words we use, the way we look, the way we dress, our written communication skills, etc.

As an immigrant with an accent, I have been wrongly judged in the past, by my accent.

I have an accent because I learned to write English before I learned to speak it; the opposite to the way people usually learn the language of their country of birth; where we learn to speak the language first; by the sounds, and learn to write and spell later.

Growing up in Spain, and spending our summer holidays camping with my parents, I was fascinated by the accents of the tourists that came from other European countries like England, Germany, Sweden and Denmark, to enjoy the warm and sunny Spanish summers by the beach.

I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I knew I wanted to learn other languages so I could understand what these tourists were saying. I was fortunate that my parents supported my desire to learn languages, and enrolled me to learn English after school from the age of 10.

From the ages of 12 to 14, I studied French at school in Spain, while still studying English after school, by now at the Barcelona School Of Languages.

At 15; while studying the equivalent to Year 11, I started learning German, also at the School Of Languages in Barcelona, where I lived until I moved to Sydney, Australia, with my family at the age of 17.

Moral of the story: There's a positive side to every negative.

My positive is; I know how to spell, and I won't mistake you're with your, nor their, they're and there, because I spent hours doing dictations in English, after school, since I was 10. And translating songs English to Spanish in my teenage years even before we moved to Australia.

Since my parents didn't speak English, at 17, I was their personal translator whenever they had to go to the bank, doctors, shops, etc.

As a 6 year old, camping in Spain, and meeting tourists from Europe sparked my interest in languages.

Past Exhibitions

Having acquired my Certificate III in Graphic Design and Desktop Publishing, inspired me to exhibit my drawings and character design around various venues in the Blue Mountains, where my husband and I reside.