The Article Translated

Keep in mind that Koreans have a different idea of what makes in into an article. Here is my basic translation of the written about the Korean speech contest.

This year, BYU held its 21^st annual Korean Speech Contest. The Contest was held April 11^th in the BYU Conference Center.

The Korean Speech Contest was the brainchild of two of BYU’s most passionate and visionary professors in the Korean department, Kim Cha-Bong and Lee Ho-Nam. They created the contest as a way for students to hone their skills in spoken Korean.

Roughly 50 students of Korean, professors and various members of the Korea community gathered together as the meeting began. Kim Hui-Jeong, dressed in elegant tradition Korean attire, welcomed the group with her rendition of the Korean classic “Arirang” played on the kayageum.

Nathan Markel conducted the meeting, and welcomed everybody to the competition. He introduced the given topic of the contest, Korean culture. Many in the audience were pleased when he announced that after the contest, there would be a barbeque afterwards. In honor of the Korean culture, bother Korean-style ribs and kimchi were prepared.

He also introduced the judges for the event: Professor Heo Yang-Hoe, a professor at UVSC, Gwan Guang-Hak, a teacher at the local Korean language school, and Professor Julie Damron, a BYU professor of linguistics and Korean.

This year, the competition was split into three different groups: beginner, advanced, and open. Most speakers chose topics that reflected the differences between American and Korean culture they had observed in their travels to Korea, and continued study of the Korean language. Topics ranged from Korean etiquette, the flavors of Korean food, to the importance of friendship in our lives.

This year’s top honors went to Jarom Hillery with is speech titled “The Korean Alphabet and the Phagpsa Script.” His speech examined the origins and unique characteristics of the Korean alphabet. Jarom is currently majoring in Korean, and has been studying the language for over 5 years. In 2006, he traveled to Korea as an exchange student and studied at the Korean Language Institute at Sogang University. In the speech he commented that “King Sejong created the Korean alphabet with the idea that even a fool could learn it in 10 days, but even after 5 years of study, there is so much I do not know.” In a later interview he revealed his plans for the future: “I plan to continue my study of Korean, and I hope to some day work for a company founded in Korea.”

Original Article By:
Sung Daye