University of Hawaii at Manoa

Alumni Stories

Testmonial

In this inspirational series our alumni share, in their own words, stories of overcoming challenges, setting up pioneering projects, and bringing about positive change in the world.

M.M.

but after deciding to change my major to Korean, a subject I was passionate about, I wanted to find the best place to study. I did a lot of research, and finally I found the Korean Language Flagship at UHM. It is the best Korean program in the United States. Therefore, it was the obvious choice for me, so I applied and joined the Korean Language Flagship soon thereafter. For me, giving presentations is stressful and nerve-racking. However, after doing several presentations in Korean, I found not only did my confidence increase, but my Korean skill increased as well. I enjoyed learning about various topics, and taking different perspectives on subjects I had never really studied before. I became passionate about the things I presented. It was a lot of hard work, but I definitely think that doing presentations are essential to language learning. 

M.R.

What attracted me to the Korean Language Flagship is the number of resources and support the program offers. At first when I had told my parents about the program they thought it was a very good program and had wished I had joined the program earlier. Being in...

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J.M.

I never imagined I’d one day give a presentation on the collapse of the Berlin wall and how it symbolized the end of the Cold War and affected Europe all in Korean. The presentation required more work and preparation than all the homework from my 6 other classes...

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K.H.S.

The presentations have allowed me to learn and utilize a variety of useful expressions that are found in the textbook. The topics we present on are diverse and are all connected to different cultural aspects of Korea. Through the detailed guidelines given in the...

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E.V.

Through the presentation experiences, not only have I had the chance to develop more professional Korean skills, but have also gained a lot of confidence in speaking Korean and even giving presentations in other classes as well.  With every new assignment, there...

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J.Y.S.

Any study abroad opportunity would be by far the most important experience for a language learner. While the summer study abroad opportunities and the capstone portion of the program are extremely beneficial, I have found that here at home the content has proved to be...

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