The Winner of the International Student Speech Contest
Managing Editor Lee Sang-chul
dltkdcjf0831@gmail.com
In this harsh COVID-19 pandemic situation, there is a proud BUFSian who went overseas to study and was awarded first prize in an international student speech contest which was held by his overseas studying university. He did not give up, instead he constantly tried to achieve something positive from the situation. He took all the exams and interviews to enter as an international student at Keio University, an elite university in Japan. Despite there being many students who study abroad, he won the time-honored international student speech contest. The Woeseong Times interviewed BUFSian Jeong Dae-ho, and he will tell you some of his experiences and what he learned about studying overseas.
-Jeong Dae-ho (Division of Japanese ’13)
Winter in Tokyo, where BUFSians Jeong Dae-ho is studying abroad.
Photographed by Jeong Dae-ho
Q1: Could you please introduce yourself?
A1: Of course, but first of all, I want to say hello to all the readers of the Woeseong Times. My name is Jeong Dae-ho and I am a senior at BUFS, but I am also studying abroad at Keio University in Japan. I was selected for a government-funded international student program which was hosted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) last year. Now, I am studying at Keio University since I entered last October, and I will come back to Korea this October after completing a year of the international student program. For BUFSians who are interested in my overseas education program, this MEXT related program selects two students from BUFS and a total 25 students from the whole Korea. There are some steps such as a written test and interview, but after you get through all of them, you will be selected. If you are selected, you can study abroad for one year and get 120,0000 JPY subsidies per month. So, anyone who is interested in studying abroad should check the programs regularly and frequently.
Q2: Can you tell me the reason why you decided to study abroad?
A2: I am really interested in Japan, so I used to travel to Japan. Every time I went to Japan, I thought I needed to study abroad to study Japanese further. In addition, my major is Japanese, and I use Japanese in class often. It was not that difficult to understand and use Japanese at BUFS because professors used Japanese slowly and exactly for the sake of taking care of students. However, in Japan, it was quite difficult to communicate locally. Speed, intonation and pronunciation were all individually different. Even though I have studied Japanese for a few years, sometimes I could not understand what local people were saying. As a result, I decided to study abroad, which means living in a local area to learn a language and get used to it.
Q3: Last February, you won the grand prize in an international student speech contest held by Keio University. Could you tell your story about the contest?
A3: There are so many reasons why I decided to participate in the speech contest. However, the biggest one was related to the COVID-19 situation. When I applied to the MEXT overseas student program, it was December 2019. I did not expect this pandemic situation to happen. I rarely have the opportunity to go out of my dormitory, but I was determined to do something. I started to find something to do, and just in time, I found the university’s notice that there will be a speech contest.
I enrolled in the contest and through the process I learned lots of precious things. In particular, when preparing a presentation, context and pronunciation are not the only important things to consider. Facial expressions, eye contact, the volume of one’s voice and tone, even speaking pace and so on were unexpected but important. I have to take care of all of the small details and apply them to my presentation. This procedure itself was a really precious experience for me. Through this experience, I became much more confident about giving a powerful presentation.
His proof picture of winning the speech contest in front of Tokyo Sky Tree.
Photographed by Jeong Dae-ho
Q4: Could you give some advice to BUFSians who are preparing to study abroad?
A4: Above all, I sincerely hope that the COVID-19 situation will improve and BUFSians can go abroad to study in the second half of the year. With regards to what you should prepare before you study abroad, you really have to search a lot about the university you are going to study at. It might sound too obvious, but what I mean is do not choose a university just because it has a good name. Find the information exactly and realistic. Also, there are some students who do not know that when you study abroad, you will be affiliated to the university’s language school. You can easily be disappointed if you only searched for a certain department or the overall reputation of that university, so keep that in mind. If you have trouble finding studying abroad information, one of the easiest and most concise ways I would recommend is to have a meeting with your department professors. You can get some advice on studying abroad and if you are lucky, the professor may also be able to put you in contact with students who have studied abroad or are studying abroad.
Q5: Could you give some encouragement to all the foreign students in BUFS and give them some advice on how to spend the life of studying abroad wisely?
A5: If you get a chance, I recommend attending international exchange meetings and meeting some other international students. Lots of events have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation, but there are still some online. Make friends, get motivated and do not stay by yourself. I found that studying abroad alone is not that easy, through this opportunity. If you are with your friends, you can finish studying overseas safely and easily.