200701508 배지윤
A Lesson Learned : Silence is Gold (Narrative)
It was peaceful gathering, protected by fake smiles and affected, sophisticated manners until I broke the tacit agreement of being docile recipient of the scholarship. In the office of Peace Nakajima Foundation, located in one of the most expensive districts in Tokyo, I was with other exchange students having lunch with the chairman and the employees of the foundation. After lunch, we were introduced to each other and we had some small talk. Then I got an unexpected question from the chairman. “Tell me,” he asked, “Why do many Japanese people go to Korea for sightseeing nowadays?” I answered to the chairman, “Maybe it’s because of the huge boom of Korean soap operas in Japan.” He shrugged a little bit then said, “Well, well… In good old days, the only reason for going to South Korea was to be entertained by Korean Geishas, you know.”
I felt my stomach got clenched. I was overwhelmed with my bitterness, sitting helplessly next by the chairman. What could I do? I was too aware of my position as the recipient of the scholarship. So I kept my silence. Silence is truly gold, especially when you can’t afford to use weapons of words. The whole office got silent until finally an employee dared to change the topic hastily. After the gathering, learned a lesson: just let it be when communication has to fail. It was hard lesson to learn because until then I naively believed in the possibility of communication that a person other than myself could really, understand me if I try good enough. Yet I learned painfully from this experience that sometimes you don't need to try hard. Misunderstanding, prejudice, and the curse from Babel are everywhere in this world. The only weapon you have is, silence.
A Lesson Learned : Silence is Gold (Narrative)
It was peaceful gathering, protected by fake smiles and affected, sophisticated manners until I broke the tacit agreement of being docile recipient of the scholarship. In the office of Peace Nakajima Foundation, located in one of the most expensive districts in Tokyo, I was with other exchange students having lunch with the chairman and the employees of the foundation. After lunch, we were introduced to each other and we had some small talk. Then I got an unexpected question from the chairman. “Tell me,” he asked, “Why do many Japanese people go to Korea for sightseeing nowadays?” I answered to the chairman, “Maybe it’s because of the huge boom of Korean soap operas in Japan.” He shrugged a little bit then said, “Well, well… In good old days, the only reason for going to South Korea was to be entertained by Korean Geishas, you know.”
I felt my stomach got clenched. I was overwhelmed with my bitterness, sitting helplessly next by the chairman. What could I do? I was too aware of my position as the recipient of the scholarship. So I kept my silence. Silence is truly gold, especially when you can’t afford to use weapons of words. The whole office got silent until finally an employee dared to change the topic hastily. After the gathering, learned a lesson: just let it be when communication has to fail. It was hard lesson to learn because until then I naively believed in the possibility of communication that a person other than myself could really, understand me if I try good enough. Yet I learned painfully from this experience that sometimes you don't need to try hard. Misunderstanding, prejudice, and the curse from Babel are everywhere in this world. The only weapon you have is, silence.
Interpreter, the Best Job for Brave New World in 21st century (Opinion)
With this world becoming more and more flat, faster, and flexible, I believe there are many students, especially as the graduation day coming nearer and nearer, who feel nervous about what they are going to do in their future. For me, the best job is interpreter for two reasons. First, there is pleasure in interpretation for it is about dealing with the linguistic and cultural barriers. It is privilege for an interpreter to be able to help other people overcome those barriers. Not only the interpreters can enjoy the process of interpreting using their linguistic skills and knowledge, but they also have pride for their ability to enable communication between people.
Secondly, there are many benefits of networking with many people if you become an interpreter. The fact that interpreters have the opportunity of working with ambassadors, and other influential leaders that can provide the interpreter the chance of experiencing something special than other ordinary people. Even though some say interpreting is boring because they just repeat the words other people say, I think interpreting is creative process because an interpreter has to create the precise and beautiful expressions after analyzing the original message. For these reasons, I believe interpreter is one of the best jobs for the future for its all glamour and pleasures it can give.
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