Aya Katz Interviews mbyL
Insights from a multilingual academic
You are from Zurich, Switzerland and joined HubPages only two months ago. How did you hear of HubPages? Is the HubPages experience one you would recommend to others?
Some months ago, I started to look for some additional income. It shouldn't be a lot, since I am still a student and my expenses aren't too high. I first started on textbroker, but soon realized that it is far too much work and the earnings are far too low. After I quit there, I looked for something else and found a blog explaining, very elaborately, how to start an online income with articles. This blog featured HubPages (the blogger also tested HubPages). Besides Squidoo, Blogger etc., HubPages appeared to be the most lucrative option. After a few reviews I saw HubPages getting very positive reviews and so I signed up and since then I haven't regretted even one single second I have spent on it! And I would totally recommend HubPages to anyone! I have never seen such an active community which is so helpful. Plus HubPages has many other features, e.g. the learning center or the Apprenticeship program. This shows me that HubPages itself cares for their Hubbers!
I understand that you speak German and Serbian perfectly fluently. How did this come about? Are you bilingual from early childhood? Did you have equal exposure to both languages? How did you pick up Russian? You distinguish Swiss German from German. What is the difference?
Serbian is my maternal language. I was born and raised in Switzerland so I learned Swiss German and German simultaneously. Russian is, for me, quite easy to learn, because Serbian and Russian are identical in many aspects (grammar, words etc). Compared with my classmates, who have no relation at all to a slavic language, it is quite easy for me. My only problem that I have sometimes is the intonation of words, because in Serbian, they are sometimes different, even if the word is written identically.
One could say that Swiss German is more of a dialect of High German. Swiss German is more kindred to medieval German than High German. That is why it differs in all aspects and a normal German speaking person wouldn't understand a Swiss German speaking.
You write on some scientific topics, such as genetic engineering and climate effects. How did you come by that knowledge?
I still go to school as stated previously. Unlike in other countries like England, for example, we can't choose our subjects. We have about 12 subjects at the beginning (yes, a school day in Switzerland is a lot longer than in other countries) and biology and geography are one of those compulsory ones. Every time I have to write an exam on a subject with a lot of information, I have decided to write a Hub about it. This way, I can even test myself if I understood everything.
Your favorite kind of music is Trance. What kind of music is that? Where did you learn about it? Are there subgenres to Trance? What characterizes each of them?
That question is a bit hard to answer, because there is a lot to say. I have
which explains Trance in detail, but to the first two questions:
Trance is a type of electronic music. People, who are new to it confuse it sometimes with techno.
I came across trance by random, actually. But I liked it very much and listened more and more to it until I found myself deleting my former YouTube favorites and listening only to trance (later also to other electronic genres like hardstyle etc.).
You wrote an essay about conservatism in which you explored how the definition of that word changed from the nineteenth century to the present. Do you think the conservatism movement of today is still in some indirect way a reaction to the French revolution?
I am not sure, but I would say no. I would say that the term has been altered so much over the centuries that one can't say that this movement is still connected to the French revolution in 1789.
You ask a lot of Questions on HubPages. Do you find the answers you get satisfying?
Yes, I find the Answers satisfying. They are really helpful and the community is really engaged to answer the Questions as well as possible.
Tell us something about yourself that we would never guess from reading your hubs.
I love to draw!! I love it so much I could do it the whole day, besides writing Hubs of course ;). I love to draw humans the most, especially their faces. When drawing people, I become lost in the process and don't even notice the time passing by! When I draw I have such blissful feelings and I sometimes think that I get in a kind of ecstatic state.
One more thing... Hmm... Well, I help out my father in his bureaucratic and financial work every month. It is not difficult work that I have to do, but it is quite time-consuming. I have nothing against helping him, but he almost never pays me!! ;)
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