Who is Cristina? – Cristina A Schumacher

As a writer, a language teacher and an artist, I believe in the transformational power of words, the liberating energy of creativity and the magic of innovation in language.

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words, my own and translated

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language assessments

books

I am a published author, a language mentor and an artist. I have acted as a language consultant in international companies, performing language assessments and designing teaching and learning programmes for different purposes. I have dedicated my life to understanding how languages and their words produce human worlds, developing methods and systems so that both our languages and our worlds are understood better and also dynamically. I speak five languages and have studied many others.

Technically, I explore language as a tool and as a system.

Creatively, I explore language as a means for self-development and self-realisation.

With the help of my technical work, my readers, students, coachees and colleagues have had access to a unique approach to language learning which enables quick and authoritative access to upgraded effects and views of communication.

The readers of my fiction – novels, flash, and poetry – are presented with surreal realities and use of language that challenge their expectations.

My educational background:

I have a degree in translation and a master’s degree in Management with emphasis on Organisations from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where I come from.

I used the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and Linguistic Relativity in my research at a time when the vast majority of academe thought it to be a pointless theoretical framework. It’s a pleasure to see how they have changed their minds since. 🙂

I hold a postgraduate certificate in Applied Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka.

I am also a Marketing specialist.

My language skills:

Besides Portuguese and English, I am fluent in German, French and Spanish. I speak some Hebrew. !עברית קשה שפה

My main achievements:

I’ve run a language consultancy business in Brazil since 1997. My clients are large organisations and international companies such as Dell Computers, Stihl, Yara, JP Morgan, Dana, Parker Hannifin, the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, among many others.

I have developed an intuitive grammar, the English version of which is called Grammar of Questions, to approach language learning from a systemic – and intuitive – perspective. It’s introduced in a book called Uma gramática Intuitiva – liberte-se das regras e tome posse da língua que você fala. With this approach, hours and hours of traditional language learning can be condensed into a dozen or so hours, to name one of this system’s many advantages.

Over the years I have designed many language teaching and learning methods and approaches. They have been widely used – and, I’m proud to add, profusely copied – in Brazil and around the world, mainly in Portuguese speaking countries. Mine was the first book in Brazil to address Brazilians’ issues with English in Portuguese in a structured way. It is called Inglês Urgente para Brasileiros. With all the new editions and changes of publishers (from Elsevier to AltaBooks, in Brazil) it must be nearing it’s 100th print run, with way over 100,000 copies sold. For a thorough list of my books click here.

I have held many in-company language development workshops and coached dozens of executives to help them improve their language skills.

In Aotearoa New Zealand I have done manuscript assessments and storytelling tutoring. I am also a mentor of the New Zealand Society of Authors Mentor Programme.

My creative writing:

My first fiction book was a flash fiction collection, Depois de Séculos (Centuries After) singularly disruptive at the time of its launch, over 30 years ago. Now I see how flash fiction has become a genre in its own right and am very pleased to have won a prize in the international competition called MicroMadness 2021 with the piece The Consequences of a Change.

I wrote a young adult novel called The World of Say – Reho and the Death of Words. It was produced originally in Portuguese and soon will be made available in an English version. In the words of the storytelling consultant James McSill, it’s a story with the ‘potential to be a paradigm-changing work of art.’

One of the distinctive features of my novel is the use of adhoc words, all of which I either created or got inspiration for use from different languages. This is my onomaturgist facet, i.e., my facet as a creator of names, onomatourgos, of which I am particularly fond. Creating words is a dynamic way of approaching – and challenging – the mind.

I have a son and a daughter, remarkable human beings whom I have been lucky to know so well and to learn so much from.

I have also been one of the two protagonists in one of the most amazing love stories I have ever heard of.

I live in a blessed part of the world, called The Waikato. It is in the North Island of New Zealand and, not coincidentally, it is one of the most fertile regions on Earth.

As a writer, a language teacher and an artist, I believe in the transformational power of words, the liberating energy of creativity and the magic of innovation in language.

words, my own and translated

language assessments

books

Technically, I explore language as a tool and as a system.

Creatively, I explore language as a means for self-development and self-realisation.

With the help of my technical work, my readers, students, coachees and colleagues have had access to a unique approach to language learning which enables quick and authoritative access to upgraded effects and views of communication.

The readers of my fiction – novels, flash, and poetry – are presented with surreal realities and use of language that challenge their expectations.

My language skills:

Besides Portuguese and English, I am fluent in German, French and Spanish. I speak some Hebrew. !עברית קשה שפה

My main achievements:

I’ve run a language consultancy business in Brazil since 1997. My clients are large organisations and international companies such as Dell Computers, Stihl, Yara, JP Morgan, Dana, Parker Hannifin, the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, among many others.

I have held many in-company language development workshops and coached dozens of executives to help them improve their language skills.

In Aotearoa New Zealand I have done manuscript assessments and storytelling tutoring. I am also a mentor of the New Zealand Society of Authors Mentor Programme.

My creative writing:

I have a son and a daughter, remarkable human beings whom I have been lucky to know so well and to learn so much from.

I have also been one of the two protagonists in one of the most amazing love stories I have ever heard of.

I live in a blessed part of the world, called The Waikato. It is in the North Island of New Zealand and, not coincidentally, it is one of the most fertile regions on Earth.

I am an Ashtanga Yoga practitioner.

I am a long-time Vipassana meditator.

I am vegetarian.

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As a writer, a language teacher and an artist, I believe in the transformational power of words, the liberating energy of creativity and the magic of innovation in language.

words, my own and translated

language assessments

books

Technically, I explore language as a tool and as a system.

Creatively, I explore language as a means for self-development and self-realisation.

With the help of my technical work, my readers, students, coachees and colleagues have had access to a unique approach to language learning which enables quick and authoritative access to upgraded effects and views of communication.

The readers of my fiction – novels, flash, and poetry – are presented with surreal realities and use of language that challenge their expectations.

My language skills:

Besides Portuguese and English, I am fluent in German, French and Spanish. I speak some Hebrew. !עברית קשה שפה

My main achievements:

I’ve run a language consultancy business in Brazil since 1997. My clients are large organisations and international companies such as Dell Computers, Stihl, Yara, JP Morgan, Dana, Parker Hannifin, the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, among many others.

I have held many in-company language development workshops and coached dozens of executives to help them improve their language skills.In Aotearoa New Zealand I have done manuscript assessments and storytelling tutoring. I am also a mentor of the New Zealand Society of Authors Mentor Programme.

My creative writing:

I have a son and a daughter, remarkable human beings whom I have been lucky to know so well and to learn so much from.

I have also been one of the two protagonists in one of the most amazing love stories I have ever heard of.

I live in a blessed part of the world, called The Waikato. It is in the North Island of New Zealand and, not coincidentally, it is one of the most fertile regions on Earth.

I am an Ashtanga Yoga practitioner.

I am a long-time Vipassana meditator.

I am vegetarian.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

I have held many in-company language development workshops and coached dozens of executives to help them improve their language skills.

In Aotearoa New Zealand I have done manuscript assessments and storytelling tutoring. I am also a mentor of the New Zealand Society of Authors Mentor Programme.