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GOING NATIVE
Mi casa, su casa
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Ruben Maiz Banos insists the simplest thing about learning Spanish is that there is just one pronunciation
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Photo: Murali Kumar K.
Safe as houses The Spaniard feels safe in Bangalore
Born in 1983 in the town of Valenica in Spain, Ruben Maiz Banos never thought he would wind up twenty seven years later, teaching Spanish to kids and adults in Bangalore.He arrived in the city nine months ago and is fluent in English, French, German, Italian and Portugese.
“After I graduated, I started looking for jobs in Europe, but because of the economic crisis there, it was difficult and I had no experience so it was tougher for me, which is when I decided to widen my search,” says Ruben who then applied to Africa, America and Asia in his search for employment.
“It was my parent's decision that I learn English, and I attended private tuitions when I was in school and in university I focussed on languages.”
Teaching Spanish at the Institute of Foreign Languages and Culture in Bangalore is not too far removed from Ruben's dream to be a high school teacher. “I always wanted to become a high school teacher, but I prefer adults and children. It is not easy to teach teenagers, in Spain at least teenagers are very rebellious,” says Ruben who adds that he hasn't encountered that problem here.
Being 27 years old, Ruben sometimes has people in his class who are older than him, “That can be awkward, but it gets more so when the person I am teaching is older than me and a teacher themselves, but I still have to do my job and I manage,” he says.
Ruben is a Spaniard through and through and he gives it away when he talks about the FIFA World Cup Spain won earlier this year. “I was not at home when we won and but I enjoyed watching it here with my room mates.”
Besides missing the football, Ruben also misses his mother and friends, “but I'm having a great time out here, I have even gotten used to the food. Food back home is not as spicy, but over time I have grown to like Indian food very much,” he adds. Ruben also sells the idea of learning Spanish and makes it sound as easy as pie. “The simplest thing about learning Spanish is that there is just one pronunciation, and also once you learn Spanish it becomes easier to learn Italian and Portuguese, which are from the same family.”
Before coming to India the thing that worried Ruben the most was diseases, crime and violence, “There are some diseases over here which we don't have in Spain, like malaria, and once I got here I realised I feel safer over here than I do in Spain,” he says.
CATHERINE RHEA ROY
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