Our Interpreters

This is Hasti and I started studying English when I was 4. My mom registered me in an English learning institution which I had to participate in classes 3 days a week. I cannot really remember the first sessions I took but I know I could read and write in English sooner than my native one which was Farsi (Persian). In Farsi, we write from right to left. So, for first grade, I had so much trouble keeping that in mind, and I used to write all my homework from left to right.

I was doing good in English until I came upon grammar, and that is when I felt like I couldn’t understand anything. We technically start learning grammar in third grade and we had not reached that point yet. That was when English became my Everest, and I kept failing classes. I had a hard time in classes, especially when all my friends had quit, and I was the youngest one in the class at the age of 8. All my classmates were older than 16.

I couldn’t keep going and I quit too, at the age of 10. Thinking of coming all this way and quitting was hard for me. I was kind of used to going to class every other day after school and it felt like something was not there.

At the age of 14, I finally had access to English music. That was when I started getting into English again. I registered for English classes again and after a quick placement test, I was put in a class of people my own age. I started enjoying classes again. When I turned 16, I had access to movies and series and that was the peak of my learning. I remember using some words in the way that the series characters say. Like saying “I know” in the way Monica (from the series “Friends”) says it.

When I was done with my classes, and I graduated from my institution, it was a bummer. That was when my Dad informed us that we are immigrating, and I needed to get an IELTS (International English Language Testing System) for that matter. So, I got back on track and participated in IELTS classes. It was a private class, but you know, I was happy with it.

I enjoy speaking English. In my home country, no one took me, an 18-year-old girl, seriously to give me a job in that area. So, I started to translate movie/series subtitles for free for my own sake. It was time consuming, but I liked it. Although I started working for a website, the money was no good. I just enjoyed translating and learning new expressions.

The day I got hired at CanTalk, I treated my family with a dinner.

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