Scholarship / Linguistics - Personal Statement Global Korean Scholarship [3]

I have written this as my personal statement. I would love to have some reviews to improve it. Thanks ><!

linguistics and computer science converge in a perfect dose

I have always loved languages. My first interest was to learn English because I understood from a very young age that it is a skill that would allow me to know the world. My passion for languages and their learning led me to consider studying English, however, in my last year at school, I began to wonder the learning and teaching of my own language: Spanish. The communication skills have been very significant in my life because it helped me to leave negative experiences away related to the lack of communication with my peers and with my family. For that reason, I started to study Literature and Hispanic Linguistics in the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where I leaned towards the applied linguistics on which I did my thesis. During studying, I also took a minor in Asian Studies, and I had my first approaches with the Korean and Chinese languages. I worked as a research assistant about points in common and in divergence between Korean and Chilean greetings. I participated as an assistant in the organization of the International Seminar on Korean Studies in 2012 at my university, where I was also awarded the fourth place in an essay contest in which I wrote about the reciprocal relations between Korean and Chilean Spanish, and later it was publish in a book. When I learned "Hangeul" and its linguistic peculiarities, I started working during the weekends, in parallel with my studies, to be able to finance a study trip in Korea. At the end of November 2013, I went to study Korean level 1 at the language institute of Seoul University and returned in February 2014 just in time to return to university. The return was not easy because I was delighted with Korea and I just wanted to return there, and when I managed to recover my spirits I suffered a vehicular accident in my way home after work. During my recovery, I started my thesis about the use of articles in Spanish and how not native speakers use them. This topic led me to present it in two different conferences in Chile and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I also re-wrote it as an article with my guide professor and right now is under revisión waiting to be accepted and published. In 2015 I finished my career and I made a specialization in teaching Spanish as a foreign language with an assistant scholarship. Thanks to a government scholarship program, in 2016 I studied an education program and I got my second degree to be a Spanish Teacher in the Secondary Education. I studied all of that at the same University. After finishing my degree, I applied for a job grant to be a language assistant at a college in the United States. This experience was very enriching because in addition to give Spanish classes, I had to take classes. I took and audited classes related to Asian studies, and I got the chance to learn Chinese for a year (Korean did not exist as an option). Within the compulsory course as an assistant, I was able to deepen my knowledge in the use of technologies for teaching in its various facets, as creating multimedia resources, apps, quizzes, and others. This generated that my desires to deepen in the field of linguistics, data processing and analysis of speech and language processing were strengthened. In the meantime, I am working as a Spanish teacher with Japanese students where I have continued to consolidate my knowledge, and studying autonomously. I would like to be able to analyze and develop tools that are of benefit to language learners like me. I still think of Korea because is a leader in both technological and social advances. As an example, at present, the customs of the Incheon Airport is able to speak the language of the people depending on the nationality expressed in the passport. This type of examples shows us the importance of languages and informatics are correlated. That is why I believe that Yonsei University, as a leading university in Korea, has a very complete program where linguistics and computer science converge in a perfect dose.