14 Nov YOUR STORY 1 – JOSE ANTONIO LOPEZ IN CONVERSATION WITH THE LANGUAGE HUB

Welcome to The Language Hub’s new series of articles entitled YOUR STORY, where we spotlight our clients and share their stories.

It’s hugely important for us to listen and to really understand our customers’ needs, so we’d like to share with you an interview with José Antonio López, Technical Director of GAMEHOUSE in Barcelona.

José has been a client of ours for over two years. We would like to thank him for his time and his clarity.  José is interviewed by The Language Hub’s Director and Founder, Jon Green.

José Antonio López, Technical Director of GAMEHOUSE, Barcelona.

–Good morning José. Can you tell us a little about GAMEHOUSE and your job?

We have two offices in GH: one in Eindhoven in The Netherlands, and the other in Barcelona. Currently, I am the Technical Director here in Barcelona and my role is to manage all the technical stuff the games require. There are seven people in my team and there are 23 in total working in the studio.

-So, have you always worked in gaming?

Well, almost always in gaming and the programming area and part of the management team. I created a company with Max (the Studio Director) as a partner and this allowed me to grow and increase my role. After this company closed, Erik, the CEO of GAMEHOUSE, called us to acquire our studio to become the 2nd one in Barcelona. This first studio had management problems and so Max and I took over and created only one here. It’s bigger than the normal studio setup and after 2 years, we’ve become very successful.

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Tell us a little about the games you’re working on?

We are currently on Episode 16 of “Delicious”. All the games that GAMEHOUSE create are aimed at women and mix 2 different types: one are time-management games and the other are storytelling games.

-That’s quite an unusual niche in the market…

Yeah, but right now we’re realising that this niche isn’t enough to create a big company and so we want to target other markets.

-So what are the opportunities for you at this moment in this fast growing sector?

Well, we have the mobile platforms and this is another type of gaming situation which is different than before with all the hardcore gamers so we can create games to reach other targets. The industry is working on mobile game development to exploit this situation. Another trend is VR (virtual reality) which is very promising.

-..and what’s the role of English in your job?

It’s one of my most important tools because we have to speak about and manage ideas and information between ourselves and the whole world. I mean not only here in Barcelona but also with Eindhoven. Of course, in order to share ideas, you need English. For example yesterday, I had a problem with Carlota, our programmer, and we couldn’t understand why something wasn’t working so we had to look at the instructions in English. I read a sentence that I didn’t fully understand at all and I realised there was a phrasal verb with a different meaning!

–What type of English training Works best for you?

Basically, I like a mix of both new language and communication activities. TLH make the classes fun and useful. Class time goes very quickly!

-..and how have you improved your level of English?

At the beginning, my English was very bad. A few years ago it wasn’t possible to have a conversation and share information and read a document. I misunderstood a lot of things. Now, after two years,  more or less, and especially during the last year, I’ve become very comfortable despite some gaps in my understanding. I feel much more confident although I know I still make some mistakes but I know I can express myself and my ideas and I’m not afraid of stopping the conversation to clarify or try to join a conversation in English.

–So, what about the future?

As I mentioned before, I create things. I think I’ve got a good base and control of the language but I need to have more vocabulary, specific vocabulary, phrasal verbs and especially American vocabulary as a lot of documents we use come from there… and generally to continue my learning curve.

-Good luck and thank you for sharing YOUR STORY with us!

You’re welcome.