I have overcome my fear of speaking

“During my first week, I thought to myself, ‘I’ll never get through this.’ A week of language training at Regina Coeli cannot be compared with anything I’d ever experienced before. It was very intensive and yet it absolutely hit the nail on the head. Due to the fact that the programme was completely tailor made to my needs and because the staff were welcoming and friendly, I felt very much at home. I actually overcame my fear of speaking Spanish! I was there for three weeks and I really miss Regina Coeli now.”

My sights were set on Spanish

That was Arianne van de Gein speaking. She works in the Registration Department of Plant-Research BV. She has a job that entails lots of cross border communication with governmental agencies. “In my job I need to be able to speak another language in addition to English and Dutch. I’d always wanted to speak a third language well and my sights were set on Spanish. I think it’s a beautiful language. In my job I have a lot of contact with the Chilean Government so it’s really good that I can speak Spanish!”

Arianne: “Communicating with the Chileans is going very well. I’ve noticed that they really appreciate my speaking Spanish with them. If something isn’t clear, then we’ll continue the discussions until both parties fully understand one another.”

Cultural differences with Chile

Language isn’t the only reason for communication issues with business partners abroad. Differences in culture can also play an important role. “During the Regina Coeli workshop on intercultural awareness, we heard some good examples of cultural differences that could affect communication. I have noticed that people from Chile do not interact in the way in which we would expect them to. Take, for example, email exchange. In the Netherlands we are rather formal in our approach whereas the Chileans and the Spaniards very quickly adopt a much more informal tone. 

While I was at Regina Coeli, I met some Spanish people who had settled in the Netherlands. We discovered that we lived very close to each other so we now regularly meet up socially. We help each other with our language problems and laugh about the cultural differences between the Spanish and the Dutch people. We always have great fun.

Keeping up concentration levels

I’m enormously grateful that I was given the opportunity to do a language training course at Regina Coeli. Normally, I’m very easily distracted but I noticed that I had no problems keeping up my concentration levels. I made good use of every hour I had. I was very fortunate to have been given the chance to learn a language at Regina Coeli and I look back with pleasure at my time there.”