Marta Vicente Crespo's blog

It's Friday Again

Submitted by mvicentecrespo on Sat, 06/15/2013 - 2:37pm

Last night (a few weeks ago now that I finally get to publish this) I was sitting on my couch, tired after playing a bit of basketball with people that are much younger, much stronger, and in much better shape than I am, and I realized that I was hearing loud music; the kind of music you would hear in a disco around here. “Of course”, I thought, “It's Thursday, and we are in a (tiny) university town.

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Language Brain(s)

Submitted by mvicentecrespo on Sun, 05/12/2013 - 10:59am

It has been long since I realized that, when I try to speak any foreign language, English words keep coming to my mouth without much control. I am not talking here about the contamination that happens when I speak my mother tongue, Spanish, and terms come to my brain in English because it is the language in which I use them more often. I am talking about interference: out of control unconscious short circuits in which the words come out in the wrong language.

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You have a beautiful accent

Submitted by mvicentecrespo on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 4:02pm

I have to admit that I hated English Language in middle school. My teacher was awful and I just couldn't see why I had to study a language that didn't make any sense to me when the closest people who spoke such language were living in an island that was by all means out of reach. Somehow I managed to have good enough grades. I improved in high-school, mostly thanks to a much better teacher and the fact that by that time I was obsessed with having good grades and couldn't let a weird language screw up my marks. Read More »

From Latina to white in a couple of flights

Submitted by mvicentecrespo on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 1:47pm

I am a Spanish researcher, born, grown and educated in Spain thanks to a great public education system that makes made higher education available to most of the people at a cost much lower than the real expense (now that we are in crisis they say students pay less than 15% of the real cost). I left Spain even before I finished my PhD, mostly for personal reasons but helped by the scarce possibilities of developing a scientific career in my country, and joined the University of Cambridge in the UK. Read More »

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