Twitter Interviews – #CKinterview
I held my first Twitter Interview today and it was with Matthew Bennett @matthewbennett using the Twitter hashtag @CKinterview.
Matthew is English and lives in Spain. He has lived in 5 countries and speaks several languages. He has a bilingual English/Spanish blog that is excellent.
Unfortunately Twitter was unusually slow today, so I did not get to ask him all of the questions I had hoped to. But thanks to this Ning group, the conversation continues here.
@CindyKing: Hi everyone! – this is a Twitter interview with @matthewbennett – I’ll be tweeting with him for about 15-30 minutes
@CindyKing: Please join in if you have any questions or comments for @matthewbennett
@CindyKing: Hi Matthew, for those who don’t know you, can you please tell us something about yourself?
@matthewbennett: Hi Cindy, and everyone else who’s reading!
@CindyKing: Cool! Great to see this chat room on TweetChat working!
@matthewbennett: Let’s see. English guy who lives in the south of Spain; translator, blogger, teacher. Enjoy running and Rioja.
@CindyKing: So, I’m curious, you are living abroad… have you ever lived elsewhere? And if so, where and for how long?
@matthewbennett: I have – in 5 countries – UK, Spain (about 9 years), France (6 months), Sweden (6 months) and Russia (3 months).
@CindyKing: 5 countries! So how many foreign languages do you speak? And which cultures do you feel close to?
@matthewbennett: English, French, Spanish, some Italian. I started some Swedish and Russian a little bit when I was there but didn’t keep it up.
@matthewbennett: Regarding the cultures I feel closest to, clearly that must be the UK and Spain, with a good dose of France in there too.
@CindyKing: With so many languages, how much of your international/cross-cultural experience is related to your professional experience?
@matthewbennett: I’ve almost always worked abroad with cross-cultural communication in one form or another – copywriting, translating, teaching.
@lyceum: Hej Matthew Bennett. Greetings from an American in spirit, located in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the moment.
@CindyKing: @lyceum Hi Martin – did you see that Matthew spent some time in Sweden?
@matthewbennett: @lyceum Hej! Tack so mycket. Great memories of Stockholm, visited Gothenburg once to see some friends. Lots of fun!
@CindyKing: Is there a story behind your interest in languages/travel/cross-cultural & international topics?
@matthewbennett: It probably has something to do with holidays with my cousin and her friends in France when I was teenager, although the 1st…
@matthewbennett: … language (I was forced to learn) was Welsh, at school. Hated it when I was 8 
.
@lyceum: @CindyKing I saw @matthewbennett’s message. Stockholm is the capital and Gothenburg the 2nd largest city.
@CindyKing: With your background I’m interested in hearing how you picked up your cross-cultural skills?
@matthewbennett: Just lots of experience (general life + professional) and study I guess. Maybe also a certain curiosity about life generally.
@CindyKing: Is there anything else about your international background that you’d like to share?
@matthewbennett: Perhaps the realisation over time that life is life everywhere and our differences are tiny in comparison.
@CindyKing: It looks like Twitter is very slow in updating Tweets right now… and I have so many more questions to ask @matthewbennett
@Bindi_K: What a brilliant idea this chat is. Am also based in France and have always worked in an international setting.
@matthewbennett: RT @Bindi_K What a brilliant idea this chat is. Am also based in France and have always worked in an international setting.
@CindyKing: @Bindi_K Hi! Nice to meet you like this!
@CindyKing: A great comment!
@CindyKing: Let’s talk about your blog www.matthewbennett.es – How did you come to blog? Is there a story behind it?
@matthewbennett: I was working as a journalist 6 years ago and saw a multimedia report about healthcare somewhere in South America…
@wchingya: Hi Matthew, may I ask, what is the toughest thing you experienced while having a shift of culture?
@matthewbennett: @wchingya Hi! Most difficult? Probably psychology of language, especially when you’ve never studied the one you need before.
@matthewbennett: … I had no idea how I might do something like that so I asked the IT girl. That led to discovering blogging a bit later on.
@matthewbennett: I have been developing my current blog for about 12 months now.
@CindyKing: So you were inspired to blog by seeing a multimedia report on healthcare… it’s interesting to hear other people’s stories
@CindyKing: What sort of people do you meet through your blog? Businesses? International people? People learning Spanish?
@matthewbennett: I don’t know about inspired to blog by that story, but certainly inspired enough to start learning how to tell stories online.
@CindyKing: I’m impressed by the quality of your blog – it’s not easy to maintain a bilingual blog http://bit.ly/7Hizj (expand )
@matthewbennett: All of those categories of people, plus lots of others generally interested in the topic of a particular post.
@CindyKing: I guess that is the journalist side of you coming out
@CindyKing: Can you share one of your favorite blog posts with us? And tell us what you like about it in particular?
@matthewbennett: Thanks, it’s not easy to be honest, it’s taken a lot of effort to get it to this stage structurally and conceptually.
@matthewbennett: I guess so!
@CindyKing: The results of your efforts are there – it is a great blog for people interested in international business
@matthewbennett: Might I share two? ‘Spanish Stereotypes’ http://bit.ly/Y97Vp (expand ) because I think everyone who reads it ends up thinking about …
@matthewbennett: … something really important. And this one about LinkedIn and translators http://bit.ly/RFE5r (expand ) because I was just amazed …
@matthewbennett: … with what Twitter, blogs and social communication are currently capable of in terms of giving exposure to an issue.
@matthewbennett Thanks, there’s still lots left to do though!
@CindyKing: Yes, stereotypes are always interesting to observe…
@CindyKing: Have you noticed any current trends in the conversations you have through your blog?
@CindyKing: Thanks for the link about LinkedIn and translators – I have to read that one http://www.matthewbennett.es/1084/linkedin-infuriates-professional-… (contract )
@CindyKing: There are so many interesting cross-cultural observations with regards to social media…
@matthewbennett: Trends regarding life and current affairs or about blogging and communication?
@lyceum: Have you heard about Interlingua? http://bit.ly/18ic2t (expand )
@matthewbennett: @lyceum I have not, I’ll check it out.
@CindyKing: Do you find social media helps to connect with an international audience? Any cross-cultural observations?
@sylvaf: I find this chat hard to follow & it made me go offline for a while to be able to concentrate on work.
@CindyKing: @sylvaf Thanks for your feedback. Twitter is slower than usual in updates. You might like to try following in TweetChat
@matthewbennett: Absolutely, but I think people should also be extremely careful with misinterpreting messages sometimes though.
@matthewbennett: Yes, they are wonderful tools for ‘meeting’ and talking with people from all over the world.
@CindyKing: I wonder if you could share some tips & golden nuggets of cross-cultural/international advice…
@CindyKing: First… What is your definition of culture in 120 characters? So… “Culture is…”
@matthewbennett: I hope I am able to by now, but very difficult in 140 characters, I think!
@CindyKing: OK…just for fun, now in one word only “Culture is…” in one word only
@matthewbennett: Wow, tough question: “Culture is the sum of a given society’s common history and its ability to reflect on itself.”
@CindyKing: Great definition of culture!
@CindyKing: Matthew, I know you have to go soon, let’s continue on Ning www.internationalbusinessideas.com later on
@matthewbennett: In just one word? Culture is reflection.
@CindyKing: Thanks so much for your time Matthew! It’s been fun doing this first Twitter interview.
@CindyKing: Another good definition of culture from @lorrigharte – “Culture is perspective”
@matthewbennett: Ok, great idea! Thanks for taking an interest and trying out this new tweet interview format at the same time.
@UrbanJibaro: “Culture is why…” I do what I do…
@CindyKing: Looking forward to asking a few more questions & responding to comments on http://www.internationalbusinessideas.com/main/authorization/signIn… (contract )
@CindyKing: Thank you @sylvaf @lyceum @Bindi_K @wchingya @UrbanJibaro @gr8bad @lorrigharte @JustinRFrench for joining in!
@CindyKing: Some great answers for “Culture in 1 word” = Reflection – Perspective – Zappos
More Twitter Interviews
- Charmayne Paul – @psitutor
- Lucy Chatburn – @pocketcultures
- Doreen Iannuzzi – @DoreenatDMS
- Donna Jackson – @wisequeen
- Chris Cotter – @CotterHUE
- Jack Yan – @jackyan
- Silvia Cambié – @XCulture
- Bill Ward – @DR4WARD
- Thierry De Baillon – @t_de_baillon
- Seshu – @PicSeshu
- Neil Urquhart – @culturematters
- Klaus & Flavia Westerwelle – @transdomo
- Donagh Kiernan – @dkiernan
- Christian Hoeferle – @hoeferleconsult
- Caroline – @ohh_la_la
- Deborah Swallow – @DeborahSwallow
- Matthew Bennett – @matthewbennett
She is who I turn to when I have questions and you should too"
-- Chris Garrett, co-author of the "Problogger" book
