Newsletter from the Hymers College MFL Department • Issue 2
During this half term, the Language and Culture Club has welcomed a variety of speakers who have given us an insight into a variety of topics such as the year abroad and career opportunities with languages, as well as learning about the culture of Uzbekistan! Stella Hodkin Old Hymerian Stella Hodkin provided a fascinating presentation, involving the nature of her work as the Head of Language Services at Translators without Borders | Social Media Manager at Women in Localization Italy. Stella never considered becoming a translator after university but with some exploration, she found herself with 20 years of experience in the language service industry, holding a variety of roles: freelance translator, inhouse translator, communication manager and marketing director at a global top 100 language service provider. It was interesting to hear Stella’s perspective on how to find the right career for you, she
was not always 100% certain of where she saw herself later on in life, but that taking every opportunity as it comes or having a more natural approach to your career path will prove worthwhile in the end. Stella’s enthusiasm when mentioning her experience as a member at Translators Without Borders really shone through and it was clear to see just how passionate she is about this project. Their mission is to ‘help people get the information that they need and more importantly, to hear what they are saying and to promote marginalised languages!’ Stella recognises the challenges of learning a language as bilingualism doesn’t come automatically, albeit she wishes to learn Swahili in the future, one of the most spoken languages in Africa! Shreya
Matthew Harrison Who knew science and languages would compliment each other so well? We had the opportunity to speak to Matthew Harrison, a Multilingual science and marketing graduate with degrees in Physics and Applied Languages. Matthew specialises in marketing and communications as well as having formal qualifications in French and Chinese and speaks a variety of fascinating languages including Spanish, Polish and German. It was a delight for us to hear from someone who has experienced living, studying, and working abroad in France and China. What Matthew has learned from his time abroad and how it changed him as a person, ‘as soon as I was abroad, I felt the urge to go looking for the opportunities which I never had in England’ has really encouraged us to explore the chance to study or work abroad to get a flavour for a different lifestyle! From a young age, Matthew was not really exposed to languages and as a result of growing up in a monolingual family, he turned to school which gave him the foundation to explore French and this led to him developing a lifelong interest in languages thanks to the support from Hymers! When asked the ambiguous ‘what does languages mean to you?’ question, Mathew mentioned how he approaches language learning in a particular way, recognising that learning any language as an adult requires a more analytical approach than naturally learning them at a young age. You’re constantly looking for more scientific patterns whether that be in constructing grammar or formulating sentences in your head. Shreya
‘Languages open your horizons and expand the world from your little corner, and you either use it or lose it!’ - Matthew Harrison