2023 marks the 70th anniversary of the alliance between South Korea and the United States. Both countries have been putting lots of efforts to maintain an ironclad relationship, and the United States Forces Korea (USFK) remains a pivotal element in this.
Yun Yeji, an Ewha alumna from the Department of German Language and Literature, has been serving as a language specialist in the USFK.
As a language specialist to the Director of Operations, United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and the USFK, Yun’s job mostly consists of interpreting for her superior. Some of her major roles are taking part in meetings, translating official letters and memoranda that her superior signs to his counterparts, managing his schedules, and attending his social events as well.
In general, not a lot of local nationals hired by the USFK start working in a General Officer’s front office right away. However, in Yun’s case, thanks to her diverse experiences such as her service in the Korean army and her background as an interpreting officer of the Republic of Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, she was assigned to her current position at once.
Realizing that she had some inborn traits such as a good voice and ability to switch languages quickly, Yun decided to become an interpreter. She also candidly revealed that she wanted an impressive job, which initially influenced her to join the army and other related professions, which brought her to where she belongs today.
Yun emphasized composure, delivery, voice, and a constant learning attitude are crucial qualities required as a language specialist. In terms of military interpretation, there will be some occasions where the interpreter has to speak in front of a large group of people in a conference room. For accurate delivery, one must speak in a coherent voice as some people may give up on listening when they cannot fully understand the interpreter. Most importantly, language specialists must invest their time in preliminary research work. Even if one has great vocalization and delivery skills, lack of knowledge in the agenda could lead to poor communication.
Even after settling down on her current position, Yun’s passion to develop and refine her skills never diminishes. During her transition from the interpreter in the Republic of Korea army to her current position, Yun faced several difficulties. Unlike her expectation, those two jobs were quitedifferent, which distressed her since she wanted to be perfect and professional in her duties.
“Thankfully, my superior had already noticed that I have been working harder than anyone else,” she stated. “He even encouraged me with an inspiring comment that it is okay to learn, but it is not okay to settle for my current state.”
For one of the proudest moments throughout her career, Yun recalled when her superior started to assign her to more duties in terms of protocol, his social event, and schedule management.
“Those were usually the executive officer’s job, but he thought that I had a good enough academic and career background to manage the extra work,” she said with excitement.
Yun also described the meeting she once had with two counterparts of her superior. Surprisingly, all three interpreters for the superiors with the highest positions in the meeting were Ewha graduates. She remarked that there are already many Ewha graduates in her field, wishing more empowering Ewha people could follow her footsteps.
Yun is deeply engrossed in what she does now. There are many other directions she can take, but her current short-term goal and interest is operations interpretation. She is also looking for the things she could do to improve her performance at her job, as she wishes to become a better language specialist that her superior deserves.