Hometown: Pinehurst, NCGraduating Class: 2025
Current Profession: Student majoring in Linguistics and Information Science & minoring in Speech and Hearing Sciences
What languages did you study at UNC and what were your most memorable moments from those global language courses?
I studied Japanese and American Sign Language (ASL) at UNC. Both were very memorable and meaningful experiences. For ASL, the professor, Ginger, is Deaf, and she is very knowledgeable about ASL and Deaf culture. For Japanese, all the professors I had were native Japanese, and in addition to teaching us the Japanese language, they also shared the culture. Once, we had the opportunity to try calligraphy ourselves.
Did you study abroad or do an internship abroad and, if so, what about these experiences impacted your bachelor’s degree the most?
Yes, I did study abroad. Before coming to UNC, I had studied abroad through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), learning Mandarin Chinese and about Chinese and Taiwanese culture, for summer 2018 and the 2020-2021 academic year in China and Taiwan, respectively. I also had the opportunity to engage in the Global Gap Year Fellowship (GGYF) through Campus Y, which, due to COVID, was domestic and involved volunteering at a Zen Buddhist center in California and interning for the State Department, conducting research on disability rights legislation. During this past summer, I conducted honors thesis research in Taiwan on clear speech as produced and perceived in American English and Taiwanese Mandarin through the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) and the J. Desai Global Service-Learning Travel Grant. NSLI-Y and my love for language and language study were some of the primary factors that encouraged me to major in Linguistics and minor in Speech and Hearing Sciences, as well as regularly volunteer with organizations/programs supporting international students and community members on and off campus.
How did the study of these languages shape your overall academic training at Carolina?
Although I never took Mandarin Chinese at UNC, I came to UNC with high proficiency in the language. My proficiency in this language, as well as connections to Taiwanese, allowed me to effectively conduct honors thesis research on Taiwanese Mandarin. Without proficiency in Taiwanese Mandarin, as well as Taiwanese friends, I would have had great difficulty in designing experiments, running participants, and analyzing data.
How has language study at Carolina shaped your outlook and professional aspirations following graduation?
I am currently applying to graduate schools with the aim of becoming a speech-language pathologist. With Mandarin Chinese becoming increasingly common in the United States, I hope to use my language skills to support individuals whose native language is Mandarin potentially through accent modification, an elective therapeutic service that works to increase the speaker’s intelligibility, among other functions. I hope to continue my study of ASL, especially if I end up working with Deaf populations, and learning Japanese is something I hope to continue to maintain as a hobby.
Is there anything else you’d like to add that you believe new students should know about your global language experience at Carolina?
The organizations/programs that I regularly volunteer with on campus are the UNC Writing Center’s Speaking Group and US English Pronunciation Mini-Course, as well as the Graduate School’s Preparing International Teaching Assistants Program (PITAP). If you are interested in supporting international students and community members, I would encourage you to look into these programs.