12: Mandarin Chinese and English Simultaneous Interpreter & Natural Storyteller, Chinese National Liz, 沃维薇 (Wò wéi wēi)

In this episode we talk to  沃维薇 (Wò wéi wēi), also known as Liz, about her dual Mandarin Chinese-English language experiences. Liz grew up in Shanghai, China with a passion for books and languages, which explains why and how she was reading English Sci-Fi at 14 years old. She is now a Simultaneous Interpreter, which is someone that is translating one language to another during a conversation at regular conversational speed. Yes, wow is the correct response to that.

Her love of reading and storytelling has continued through her adult life and in fact, in this interview, she spoils us rotten by sharing a few of her favorite stories. I am not sure if Liz has her insightful views of language and switching between them because she is an Interpreter OR if she is an Interpreter because of these traits but what I am sure about is that she digs into languages and their cultural, social and emotional layers in a way that we have not done before in this podcast. Also, Liz wants to hear from you. Using the hashtag #strongstories on Twitter and/or Instagram, she wants you to share stories of language learning challenges and triumphs.

Links to things mentioned in this episode:
-Neil Gaiman’s American Gods book
-Pudong Library, Shanghai
-Shanghaiese dialect info from Omniglot.com
-What is simultaneous interpreting (what Liz does for a living)?
-Arrival (movie)
-Dream of the Red Chamber
-Liz Gilbert’s TEDTalk, “Your elusive creative genius”  and her book about creativity “Big Magic” (chapter 5 is amazing!)
-Real World on MTV
-The Remains of the Day (movie)

You can follow all of our projects here: https://stephfuccio.com/

Would love to know what you think about this episode! Twitter,Instagram,LinkedIn,YouTube & Speakpipe (leave a voice message)

Subscribe to Geopats Podcast on : iOS , Android devices, Changing Scripts YouTube Channel,  RSS, or join our email list: for weekly podcasting updates

Music courtesy of Damon Castillo,"I Hope You Figured It Out" song on the "Mess of Me" album

This episode was created with:

• My microphones, Samson Q2U
• Remote video software, Zoom
• Auphonic, free online leveling software
• Podbean hosting site: Get 1 month free, https://www.podbean.com/virtualexpats