"There is a huge need in all different industries for students who know different languages and are knowledgeable about different cultures, not just in the security and translation industries. It's important to keep an open mind to any opportunities that come your way, you never know when or where your language skills will come in handy."
Major(s) and Certificate(s): Linguistics; Certificate in Environmental Studies
Language(s): Russian, Japanese, French
Graduation Year: 2018
What motivated you to study this/these languages?
For Russian I was really interested in learning about a place that I really did not know much about. Most popular depictions in American movies at the time are/were very much influenced by Soviet Union and American relations during the Cold War, and so I wanted to learn more about Russian history & people in the Russian-speaking world, as I realized I only knew stereotypes! I realized a great way to do that would be through learning Russian. Also, I’m a huge hockey fan and since there are so many Russian speaking hockey players, I was really curious about the language!
For Japanese, when I was younger, I wasn’t really interested in learning it as all my other classmates were taking it and I wanted to do something different. However, in college I realized that in wanting to be different, I denied myself the opportunity to study a language I really wanted to learn! As somebody who is half Japanese & comes from a place where Japanese is spoken regularly, I had always wanted to learn a little bit of Japanese to learn more about the culture and history of my family. I also really enjoyed (and still enjoy) Japanese music and anime, which motivated me to take Japanese at Madison!
I also took a couple of courses in French since I wanted to maintain what I had learned in high school! I also knew that I wanted to improve my conversational skills (as I’d liked to travel to some Francophone countries), and so I decided to take some conversation courses at Madison to push myself to use French in conversation (which has always been my weakness)!
What do you remember about your UW language classes? How were they different from other classes you took?
The UW language classes really varied from language to language! For instance, the French classes I took were purely focused on conversation, and so we would communicate only in French while eating lunch together at the French house. This was my first time taking a purely conversation-focused language class, and while it was definitely a challenge, it really pushed me to speak (even if I was really nervous). On the other hand, the Russian and Japanese classes I took were a mix of conversation, grammar, writing, speaking, and listening comprehension. However, even they differed from each other as my Russian classes focused a lot on Russian literature, poetry, and art, while my Japanese class focused much more on writing and reading comprehension due to the complexities of the Japanese writing system which was much more difficult than the Russian alphabet. I’ll never forget the first experience I had reciting poetry during an oral exam for Russian, that was very different from any oral exam I had done before!
How valuable were your out-of-classroom experiences? How did they add to your undergraduate experience/coursework?
Throughout my time at Madison, I lived in the Adams international dorm and did Study abroad in Kazakhstan while learning Russian!
While I wasn’t in a specific language-house in Adams, it was a great experience being around both American and international students who were open to learning about different cultures and languages. As somebody from Hawaii, where I frequently felt like an international student despite not being one, having the opportunity to be around people who were interested in and respectful of different cultures really helped me find a home away from home! The dorm would also bring in speakers every month and would have field trips and cultural events where we would learn about diverse cultures and experiences in Madison and around the world. In many ways this experience really led to my interest in majoring in linguistics and it was also a great place to network with faculty and other peers!
I also studied abroad in Kazakhstan for a summer to learn Russian. It was a great opportunity to really experience language learning in an immersive environment and helped me improve my spoken Russian. In addition, it helped me expand my worldview of a different part of the world that I did not know much about. In many ways, I think coming back from Kazakhstan really helped me to re-contextualize what I wanted to get out of the courses in college.
What have you done in a professional capacity since graduating from UW-Madison?
Since graduating from Madison, I’ve had a variety of positions from volunteering and jobs that incorporate both my interest in language and in the environment. I’ve volunteered as an archivist at an arboretum and as a mentor helping speakers to document their endangered languages. As for jobs, I worked as an ESL tutor and a Project Coordinator. Currently, I’m now a Project Manager at a translation company where I work on managing translations into foreign languages of life science materials (e.g. informed consent forms for patients, clinical research protocols, e-learning courses, etc.)
What are ways, either expected or unexpected, that your language study has benefited you in your career?
Currently I work as Project Manager, where I coordinate translation projects for life science materials. One of my jobs as a project manager has been to check that the final translated product does not contain any errors (e.g. incorrect numbers, inconsistent terminology, formatting etc.) and to flag anything that might seem like an error back to the translators & proofreaders. As a project manager we do not have to be fluent in the languages being translated, however, having studied both a romance language (French) and Russian (which is written in Cyrillic) has unexpectedly been helpful for me, when I’m doing the final checks on these documents. For example, when I’m checking the translation for consistency, I’m able to more easily identify what might be a mistake and what is simply a feature of the language (e.g. inconsistent terminology due to cases in Russians). Being able to read Cyrillic has especially been a huge boon, as even if I don’t know a language like Bulgarian or Mongolian, I’m at least able to read the letters! Being able to read Cyrillic has made me the go to point person on a lot of the Cyrillic projects!
In addition, knowing just a little bit of some languages has also been really helpful in connecting with translators as greeting them and asking about their day in their language goes a long way!
How have you maintained or improved your language(s) since graduation?
Since graduating, it’s been a little challenging to maintain language practice because I don’t have a scheduled class time like in college and, except for Japanese, there are not many people where I currently live that speak either Russian or French. However, I’ve recently gotten back into studying & maintaining my languages, particularly French, where I’m now making sure to carve out little slices of time in my day to make a regular schedule for reviewing. I’m working on reading fun short stories, listening to podcasts, and television series to maintain my language skills. Since there aren’t many people to talk to here, I’m also working up to doing language exchanges online to make use of those tools and am working on keeping in touch with people I met during study abroad! I think realizing that doing just a little bit at a time on a regular basis (rather than just 1 long session on the weekend) and finding fun ways to stay involved with the language has been really helpful in getting me to work on language and not burnout.
What advice do you have for students who are studying language(s) about how to incorporate their interests and skills into their future goals?
My advice would be that there are more opportunities to use your language skills in your work than just translation! There is a huge need in all different industries for students who know different languages and are knowledgeable about different cultures, not just in the security and translation industries. It’s important to keep an open mind to any opportunities that come your way, you never know when or where your language skills will come in handy!
One of the things you can do to incorporate your language interests with your future goals is to see what work is being done in the fields you are interested in, in the language you are studying. Feel free to reach out to your language professors, as well as your professors in the field you’re interested in, so you can meld your interests together!
Lastly, I think it’s important to know that while some professions do require a high level of proficiency, not all professions do, and so your language skills can be useful even if you are not “perfectly fluent.”