Stephanie Weng

STUDENT INTERVIEW: Stephanie Weng, Taiwan. Internship Program

E: What's that in Chinese?

S: Kaoshuing.
E: Ahhh, I know it. In kanji, that's "takai" and then..
S: It's a little difficult...
E: ...okay, let's forget it then.
S: Your writing is really hard to read.
E: I can understand it, and that's all that matters.
S: Really?

E: Sometimes. Anyway, enough insults about my handwriting. When did you come to Japan?
S: August.
E: Now it's October...
S: That's about 3 months.

E: How long have you been studying Japanese?
S: About a year. I studied at Japanese at university in America.

E: Really? Where in America?
S: At university.
E: Yes, well, I got that much on my own. Where abouts in America?

S: In California, in Los Angeles.
E: UCLA?
S: No, UCI.
E: UCI? What's that?

S: Do you know the University of California at Irvine?
E: Ahhh, yes, I've heard of it. Kind of famous I think.
S: Yes, isn't it.
E: So you must be really intelligent.
S: That's true, isn't it.

E: Hmmm. So, how long did you study there?
S: Four years... about four and a half years.

E: Wow. What did you study?
S: Economics.
E: Impressive. When did you graduate from there?
S: In March last year. Then I went home to Taiwan.

E: And why are you studying Japanese?
S: Because I like it.
E: That's the best reason I guess. Why did you choose Yamasa?
S: I saw the homepage, then I found the workstudy section... ah, that's not true. First I found the homepage of a cram school, and saw the workstudy section. I sent off my cv and then I got an email from Declan.

E: So what kind of work has he been making you doing.
S: Translating homepages into Chinese.
E: Are you studying Japanese as well?
S: Yes.
E: Which course?
S: SILAC.

E: And what do you think of the studies?
S: It keeps getting slowly more and more difficult. But, in the time that I've been studying here, my level has really improved.
E: That's good. What will you do when you return to Taiwan?
S: Go back to my old job.

E: Oh what were you doing before you came here?
S: I was a secretary.
E: At the same company? What sort of company is that?
S: We make LCD displays. At the moment, I'm taking a 3-month break from work so that I can study Japanese.

E: I see. Can you use Japanese at work?

S: There is one Japanese person at the company. Also, sometimes Japanese customers come. Even so, there are people in the company that can speak Japanese, so I don't really need to.
E: But if you could speak Japanese, your own work would become more interesting maybe?
S: Maybe. At least I'll be able to understand if the others were saying nasty things (laughing).

E: Yep. What about the future? Will you come back to Japan again?
S: I haven't decided yet. Maybe...
E: What about this 3 month's experience. What has it been like?
S: It's been really great.