APPLIED MATHEMATICAL finance senior Mary Lai Salvaña received the Australian Ambassador Award during the 19th World Korean Speech Contest held in Sydney, Australia on August 23.
The Australian Ambassador Award is a special honor given to a participant of the non-native Korean speaker category who was able to deliver a persuasive speech.
Salvaña qualified for the world competition after winning first place in the regional round, the 2nd Philippines-Korea Speech Contest, held on July 26.
Prior to this, she also competed against nine non-native Korean speakers during the elimination round on July 12.
Salvaña is currently a Basic Korean 3 Language and Culture (FLC KOR3) student and a recipient of the Korea Foundation (KF)-Sogang University Korean Studies Grant from the Ateneo Initiative for Korean Studies (AIKS).
The KF-Sogang University Korean Studies Grant aims to support undergraduate students from the Loyola Schools (LS) who are interested in pursuing Korean studies through tuition fee subsidies, Korean language fellowships, and research and training grants.
Strengthening relations
Throughout the competition, Salvaña delivered her self-written speech, “Five Senses, Two Countries, One Friendship,” in Korean.
In an interview with The GUIDON, Salvaña said that her speech expressed how both Filipinos and Koreans can strengthen their relations through the five senses.
“We use our sense of sight, smell, and taste for delicious Korean food. Before our stomachs get filled, our eyes and our noses relish the visual and the aromatic feast. [Our] sense of hearing [applies] for the Korean language, which is very much phonetic, [including] the popular K-pop (Korean pop) songs,” said Salvaña.
Finally, she emphasized that the sense of touch plays the most important role in fortifying relations between the Philippines and Korea.
She illustrated this point by mentioning Korea’s “helping hand” through the medical personnel who immediately helped Super Typhoon Yolanda victims in the country last year.
“Korean doctors, nurses, aides and soldiers held the hands of our orphaned children, embraced weeping mothers and cared for our sick survivors. Korea’s kindness should forever be etched in our memory,” Salvaña said.
With the world competition being televised by the Korean Broadcasting System, the country’s national broadcaster, Salvaña said it was inspiring to have reached a wider audience.
Training and impact
Salvaña was trained in writing and delivering her speech by Modern Languages Visiting Lecturer Bae Kyungmin, who started teaching in the LS in 2012.
Acccording to Kyungmin, Salvaña was training for almost two to three times a week after class to pass the preliminary screening.
Upon qualification to the world contest, Kyungmin said Salvaña had “more intensive practice because she wanted to sound like [a] Korean.”
AIKS Director Sarah Jane Domingo-Lipura also shared that professors and students alike of the Korean Language and Culture classes showed Salvaña moral support.
“We organized a simple despedida for [Salvaña] and it was attended by Korean Language and Culture students. The main objective for that was not only to send her off, but also to share her experience to current students learning Korean and to inspire them,” Domingo-Lipura said.
According to Domingo-Lipura, Salvaña is the first Atenean to join and win in the world speech competition.
She emphasized that through Salvaña’s victory, the university’s initiative to promote Korean-related activities has been more recognized.
