Minor in Spanish

Gabriela Martinez, 2024

What was the most impactful class you took in your major? what made it so? The professor? The assignments? What you read or learned?

The most impactful class I had taken for my major was Professor Jihye Moon’s KORE 440 Topics in Korean Translation: Lyrics and Poetry. I have the desire to find work in translation after graduating and thought his would be the perfect class to get started. Despite knowing that it wouldn’t be an easy class, I was equally determined and excited to gain the experience of reading and deciphering the words and meanings of one language and translating it into another language. Every week I was faced with new challenges, but it was greatly rewarding after every completed translation.

Taking this class further stressed the fact that translation is not simply a changing of one language into another, but a retaining of the intended meaning in the source text as much as possible, while also making it comprehensible for the target audience. It is not something that should be done haphazardly. It requires great amounts of care and intention. To me, these poems and songs were not simply an assignment to be completed. They were the outward expression of poets’ and lyricists’ inner thoughts and feelings that I had the honor of translating into English with the skills I had gained in the class. By the end of that semester, I had understood with complete confidence that this is something I deeply enjoy doing and I hope to continue down this path in the future.

What activities were you involved in during your time at Mason that impacted you? A club? Research? Internship? Study abroad? Can you describe that experience a bit?

I had the opportunity to participate in the Mid-Atlantic Korean Speech Contest (MAKSC) twice during my time here. Public speaking is difficult and scary for many people—me included. Adding onto the fact that my speeches had to be memorized in a language I was still learning, the idea alone was quite intimidating. However, I had many friends and professors who supported and helped me the entire way, and I couldn’t be more thankful for them. In the beginning, I didn’t believe I was capable of being a good representative of my professor’s teachings nor as a representative of the university, but our collective effort paid off and I was thankful to have been awarded 3rd place with my first speech and 1st place my second speech. Both experiences increased my confidence and willingness to participate in activities I never would’ve had the courage to partake in before.

What is your most memorable moment at Mason inside or outside of the classroom? Can you describe it?

It’s difficult to choose a single memorable moment at Mason as I have been blessed with opportunity after opportunity during my time here. Each one has had a lasting impact on me. Although it wasn’t a singular moment but rather a collection of them, I would say it was the days I spent learning Korean in each of my classes. I had my own motivations to study the language before going into this program, but I was further inspired by my professors’ passion for teaching Korean. Their contagious enthusiasm ended up becoming another motivator for me to want to put in the best work that I could do and to improve my skills. I am thankful for every single one of them.

As your reflecting on your time at Mason, what is one piece of advice you would give a student who is just starting off on their Mason journey?

One piece of advice I would give is to not walk this path alone. Try to make friends with some of your classmates and get to know your professors and build relationships with them. I can confidently say that I am here writing this because of the collective support of my friends and professors at Mason. Without them, I don’t think I would have participated in any of the events I have been in. I am graduating as a different person because of them. They encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and I found the courage to trust them and follow through. Opting to stay in my comfort zone and keeping to myself would not have brought me here today with all of the gained experiences and valuable memories I have now. I was terrified in the beginning, but it ended up being more than worth it in the end.

What is your next step after graduation? What are your future plans?

Learning a language means learning it for life. It doesn’t stop after your classes are all done. So, I plan to continue my studies in Korean and hope to test and gain a higher score on the TOPIK II. Alongside that, I have been looking into graduate schools that focus on translation and interpretation. I want to eventually find work in translation and, when I have reached a high proficiency in the language, become an interpreter.