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Babelian of the month

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Cafébabel

Berlininside cafébabel

This month Lilian covered the Berlinale film festival bringing us a series of enticing reviews and fascinating insight. Lilian tells us about her dream about Almodovar, her first time with Cafébabel and the highs and lows of online journalism.

Cafébabel: De­scribe yourself in three words…

Lil­ian Pi­than: No. Yes. No. 

What do you do in your life, as pro­fes­sion ?

I'm a trans­la­tor and lan­guage teacher.  

What's your favourite dish ?

Gu­jarati sweet curry.

Your pre­ferred na­tion­al­ity in Eu­rope ? Why ?

None. They're all amaz­ing and ter­ri­ble at the same time and for dif­fer­ent rea­sons.  

When did you write your first ar­ti­cle/trans­la­tion for Cafébabel ?

In 2009 when I was the taboulé eat­ing and bal­le­rina wear­ing in­tern of the Ger­man lan­guage ver­sion dur­ing strike times. 

The cra­zi­est dream you've ever had ?

I re­mem­ber stum­bling through a post-apoc­a­lyp­tic land­scape once, made of grass and plas­tic. When I en­tered a large the­atre with neon vel­vet cur­tains, I met a di­shev­elled Almodóvar who smil­ingly gave me a bou­quet of faded tulips. 

In one word, what does Cafébabel mean to you ?

The highs and lows of vol­un­teer­ing and of the in­ter­net in gen­eral.

Pick up one pre­ferred sec­tion, ar­ti­cle and au­thor of Cafébabel…

Favourite sec­tion: "Cul­ture" be­cause I like art. Favourite au­thor: Joel Lewin be­cause he has wicked ar­ti­cle ideas and chooses cool teaser pic­tures. Favourite trans­la­tor (they are just as im­por­tant): Daniel Stäche­lin be­cause he is in­cred­i­bly fast.

The most stu­pid thing you've done in your life ?

Not learn­ing Japan­ese when I was young enough to get the ac­cent right. 

The best place you've been in Eu­rope so far ? Why?

Its lit­er­a­ture. It holds every­thing that makes Eu­rope what it is. 

A city in Eu­rope you would like to visit… Why you would like to go there ?

Lis­bon be­cause of its blue tiles and sweet pas­tries. 

What does Eu­rope mean to you ?

Art, clouds, sculp­ture, stuffi­ness, nov­els,  Lautréamont, his­tory, ex­per­i­men­tal the­atre, poi­so­nous ad­ver­tise­ments, life in­sur­ance, pasta aglio olio, melan­cho­lia. A place I al­ways have to get away from, but love to get back to. 

Check out the cur­ry­power-blog Lil­ian writes on Cafébabel

Translated from Babélienne des Monats