Currently at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. I am finishing up my bachelor's with two degrees, one in Spanish and the other in Latin American Studies. I have studied Spanish since the 8th grade of middle school, all four years of high school, and 3/4 of my college years. I have been to Mexico for a one month study in 2006. I did freelance interpreting for other beginner students, whom I also traveled with at that time.
For my Japanese experience, I have studied four semesters in UNO and have recently come back from a ten month study in Shizuoka Japan. I also did interpretation for my family that were there at the time. I have been an English conversation partner with two programs that UNO has with the cities of Hiroshima and Shizuoka. I have been involved with the Hiroshima College of Foreign Languages for three years, and the Shizuoka Summer Tour for two years. Both programs run roughly one month and every year.
My specialty with both Spanish and Japanese is listening and speaking. I am big on good pronunciation and my ability to explain both languages in comparison to English is good. I find that being able to relate the languages to one's own makes for easier comprehension and faster learning. This is not always the case with some grammar, but generally, it helps a lot.