Ingrid Taranger is a first-year Nursing student at CEU UCH.
She’s from a small island in Norway, but it’s her command of Spanish that has really caught our attention. One reason for that is that she decided to sit the Instituto Cervantes’s Spanish exam, known as DELE B1.
All of this left us at the Language Service wondering what lay behind her decision to take the plunge and try the DELE exam. Read on and let’s find out together what her motivation is to learn Spanish.
She could have chosen to sit the University’s internal ECIE exam to fulfil the language requirement for her degree. But she saw that sitting the DELE exam, or its counterpart, the SIELE exam, was more useful, because she could gain an internationally recognized certificate.
All of this left us at the Language Service wondering what lay behind her decision to take the plunge and try the DELE exam. Read on and let’s find out together what her motivation is to learn Spanish.
¡Hola, Ingrid! We love your accent. Had you studied Spanish before you came to Spain?
¡Muchas gracias! Not much, really. I did three years of Spanish at secondary school, but that was five or six years ago.
When did you start to become interested in learning Spanish?
I’ve always found Spanish interesting, but I really started to like it at school, as I thought it sounded romantic and soothing. But it wasn’t until I met my boyfriend, who’s now my fiancé, that I really made an effort to learn the language and then decided to go for the DELE exam. I’m from Norway and he’s from El Salvador, but we want to stay in Spain and build our future here. That’s why I want the certificate.
Where did you hear about the DELE exam? What made you decide to register for it?
On my first day at the University, I was told that I needed to get a B1 level of Spanish to continue to study here and I always knew that it was something I had to do. But I forgot about it for a while. Then, when I saw that the dates for the DELE exam were coming up, I considered registering for it.
I had to really think it over, because I could have sat the internal ECIE exam later, when I’d probably have a better level, but in the end I decided to go for the DELE, try and pass, and get it out of the way. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about it any more.
What did you do to get ready for the exam?
I went to all the Spanish classes with my teacher, Dani. These classes at the University really helped me a lot, because everyone got a lot of materials and opportunities to practise the language.
Besides attending Spanish classes, have you done anything else to help you learn the language?
Yes. I had to start speaking the language, because speaking is such an important skill. Personally, I’m lucky because I have my fiancé to talk to, but it’s very important to try to speak to people you don’t know. That’s how you can start to become more fluent. For example, going to church really helped me because I’ve been able to speak to people from different places, with different accents and dialects.
I also think it’s a really good idea to watch Spanish films with the subtitles in Spanish or to listen to music in Spanish. I’ve tried reading too, but I’ve found that more difficult. I haven’t enjoyed that so much. I’d try the other options to improve day by day.
What benefits do you think sitting the DELE exam will bring you?
Mainly making it easier to get a job. Although I’ve only got a B1 certificate for now, I’m planning on going for the C1 in the future, because I think that that could really help me a lot in Spain, because it’s important to speak the language well.
But I also realize that it’s not only important here. I think that it would look good on my CV too and it could be useful for me if I ever go back to live in Norway.
