Scholarship / Personal Statement for GKS scholarship (Embassy Track)- Graduate in Spanish Philology [3]

This is my Personal Statement for the GKS scholarship. I want to apply to Seoul National University, Korea University and Jeonbuk National University as my type B university. For all universities I will be applying for graduate studies in Spanish Philology.
I will be happy for any kind of feedback and thank you for reading it :)

"Hola, ¿cómo te llamas?" a four-year-old girl asked me, and that, I think, was my first time I had talked with someone in Spanish. By that time, I was the same age as the little girl, and due to my limited Spanish knowledge, I was only able to say my name and hold up four fingers to express my age. I did not know at that time that this language, which entered my life by accident, would later define my identity, my studies, and my future career. This experience with the little girl made me realize how knowing, or not knowing, a language can close or open every door.

I had a similar experience three years later, when my parents and I moved to Spain. I was now studying in Spain, fully in Spanish. During my entire primary school, I studied two systems at once: the Spanish one during the year, and the Czech one through exams twice a year, to never lose my Czech identity. At the beginning, adapting to Spain was difficult. I was placed one grade above my Czech level due to curriculum differences, so I had to learn in a few months what usually takes a year, and in a language I did not understand yet. At the beginning, my door was closed: weak grades, almost no friends. However, as I became fluent in Spanish, my door opened completely; my grades rose, as well as my circle of friends. This experience at such a young age helped me manage complex learning tasks and adapt quickly, skills that were also beneficial to me during my exchange in Korea.

Thanks to attending humanities-focused high school studies in Spain, where I learnt Latin, French, Ancient Greek, as well as self-studied English to a low advanced level and Italian to a low intermediate level, I got a solid language base that helped me later in my philology studies. Due to these in-depth language studies, I became conscientiously sure of wanting languages to be the main character in both academic and professional life. However, I needed a challenge in my language learning journey. I needed another door to open to me. And that door was Korean.

Korean marked my life deeply, as it opened my perspective, it made me think out of the box, and it made me want to reach and understand the language and culture from a country on the other part of the world. Through my first three years of self-studying Korean, I dedicated my whole free time to learning the language, usually 3 to 4 hours a day. Because of this persistence, patience, and passion for learning Korean, I was able to reach TOPIK 6 in that period of time. As my entire Korean knowledge was self-studied, there were areas where I still needed to grow, especially speaking, a key part of successful communication and translation work. I needed to push my skills beyond the highest level of TOPIK and gain expertise in academic settings. Which is why I applied for and received the Korean Immersion Program scholarship for Sogang University, supported by the Ministry of Education of South Korea. Through this experience, I not only refined and gained confidence in my speaking skills, but it also prepared me for my other scholarship-funded exchange, this time for a semester at Pukyong National University.

At that time, I was already studying at the University of Ostrava in the Czech Republic, majoring in Spanish Philology, with a focus on professional communication, to gain academic knowledge needed to achieve translation skills between Czech and Spanish in business settings , skills I intend to expand to Korean and Spanish cross-language knowledge through GKS. With this knowledge, I will be able to become a true bridge between these three cultures and markets.

The exchange experience in Busan was a key part of my academics, as I took all of my subjects in Korean. I studied for the first time in a Korean-Spanish environment focused on translating these two languages. This experience sparked my academic interest in the intersection between both languages and in studying my graduate degree in this environment through the GKS scholarship. I also had the opportunity to learn how to analyze both languages from a cross-linguistic point of view, the focus I aim to pursue in my future studies as well. In addition, I acquired Korean universities' study methods that will help me in reaching my goals for my master's research project. Despite having had difficulties at the beginning in understanding technical vocabulary, through the Czech-Spanish-Korean vocabulary comparison study technique, I became aware of the number of existing challenges related to structural and pragmatic asymmetries between Korean and Spanish, especially in business communication and translation. Due to these challenges in translation, the cooperation and business trade between Korea and Spanish-speaking countries is negatively affected.
That is why I aim to analyze and study terminological choices, especially those related to neologisms that are strongly present in these contexts due to economic development, through my master's studies and master's thesis investigation. By applying comparative linguistic terminological analysis in both languages to authentic business and trade materials, such as recent news about these topics, I seek to contribute to more effective communication, as well as smoother trade relations between Korea and Spanish-speaking countries, key to a prospective Korean economic future in semiconductors and battery production.

I also attended special lectures at PKNU focused on Korean-Japanese diplomacy, to get a more in-depth view of the situation of Korea as a worldwide leader, and how important it is for Korea to have good relations with strategic countries, especially in exports. Through studying at a Korean University, I gained knowledge of how the education system works, it elevated my Korean skills to university level, and I was able to learn how presentations and reports are done at Korean universities.
As cross-linguistics and translation are the parts I am most interested in, I also participated in a translation contest from Spanish to Czech, a pleasurable challenge for me, as I had to translate figurative writing styles, for which I had to learn different translation techniques and structures. I also gave tutoring hours in Spanish from level A1 to B1 for a year, to strengthen my theoretical knowledge needed for teaching a language. Through an internship at the Moravian-Silesian Regional Authority, where I had the opportunity to work in professional and government settings, I got closer to my goal of working in professional business settings, gaining experience and learning how to work efficiently.

While writing my thesis focused on Spanish linguistics, I also took KMOOC courses to expand my knowledge in linguistic terminology in Korean, needed for my master's, as well as a course focused on Korean trade, the area I want to apply to my master's thesis theme and my future personal career as an interpreter in Korean-Spanish business settings. My main goal is to facilitate effective cooperation between Korean institutions and Spanish-speaking partners in business and institutional settings from a European context and perspective, positioning myself and the Czech Republic as contributing partners in these exchanges.
I consider that all of the important moments of my life were somewhat shaped and made possible thanks to my language expertise. Having lived between languages, systems, and cultures since childhood, pursuing graduate studies in Korea through GKS is not a change of direction, but the natural continuation of my academic and personal trajectory. I am to deepen this expertise in analyzing terminology challenges and to act as a nexus between Korea and Spanish-speaking countries. By doing so, I hope to effectively contribute to communication and international relations.