[Interview] Professor Jung Imsuk, University for Foreigners of Siena, Italy
Jung Imsuk, Professor, University for Foreigners of Siena, Italy
Professor Imsuk Jung was born in Seoul, but she has spent the last 20 years in Siena, Italy. Since 2017, she has worked as a faculty member and a professor of Korean Literature, Korean Language, and East-Asian History at University for Foreigners of Siena. I met her at a fair for people who want to study abroad for the first time and then interviewed her by email.
Q1 Thank you for your accepting the interview. me little ayourself.
A1 I was born in Seoul, but I live in Siena, Italy. I studied there for a Ph.D in
Linguistic and Foreign language teaching L2 from University for Foreigners of
Siena (UFS). I completed the KLTTP (KoreanLanguageTeachers Training
Program) from LEI (Language Education Institute), Seoul National University.
I also studied Linguistic Science for the Intercultural Communication for a MA
degree,and Linguistic & Cultural Mediation for my BA here at Siena. Now, I’m
a professor of Korean Literature and Korean Language and East-Asian history
at University for Foreigners of Siena.
Q2: I wonder how you became a professor at a university in Italy.
A2: First of all, I’d like to tell you about some good teachers whom I have met. About 30 years ago, I met a good teacher in an elementary school in Seoul. I was very impressed with her way of teaching and her talks about the importance of life, dreams, family, and many other things. I was young but I vaguely hoped to become a teacher like her. Since then, I have luckily met good teachers in middle and high school. I got a lot of advice from them about my future.
I had a chance to study abroad in the first year of high school thanks to my parents. At UFS, I met another great teacher named Sabrina during my 9 month training. Now, she has become my colleague.
I really liked studying foreign languages. Also, thanks to my father, who traveled a lot in Europe and especially in Italy for his work, I started to be fascinated by Italy and Italian music and wanted to study Italian. I decided to enroll in the Italian department at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and I thought that one day I would be an Italian language professor. After graduation, I moved to Italy. College classes in Italy were really difficult, but I worked hard to avoid regretting my decision. The existence of “teacher” in my life seems to have been very important.
Q3. Please tell me in detail about how you prepared to be a professor and how you started to teach students there in Italy?
A3: I’ve completed all my studies at UFS from BA to Ph.D. I can say it was a very long and tiring journey, considering I had to start my study in a foreign country like Italy. After a long effort, I have completed my PhD, presenting the dissertation on the contrastive analysis between Italian and Korea in 2012. It was a continuation and further development of my dissertation of MA degree on Teaching Italian in Korean and Teaching Korean in Italy.
My seriousness and determination during my studies had been recognized and I started to teach Korean as a visiting professor at the University of Rome La Sapienza from 2010 and I gave lectures of Korean Literature and Korean Language at the University of Venice Ca' Foscari until last year.
In the meantime, I insisted that UFS should introduce Korean language course. Responding to the continuous increasing interest towards Korean language education in Italy, UFS finally launched a Korean language course for the Academic Year 2017/2018 and I was selected as a responsible Professor of Korean Language course.
Q4 What is your vision or plan for the future?
A4: In the future, I would like to establish Korean Studies curriculum within the BA/MA courses. Currently, UFS collaborates with organizations such Korea Foundation, LTI Korea, Korean Cultural Institute in Rome, Academy of Korean Studies, and Korean universities. We are promoting various projects for Korean Studies and providing useful exchange programs and events for our students.
Teaching Korean to young students is amazing. Even if time passes, I have the impression to be always young like them. I can say we are a big family united by the love for Korea and Korean language. I really hope my students can realize their dream and I will always be where and when they need me. I want to be remembered by my students as a teacher exactly like my teachers who led me during my life time.
Q5 Now, let’s talk about choosing a job for our young readers who want to have a wonderful job. What do you think the most important things are in choosing a job?
A5 The most important thing in choosing a job is that you should do what you really like. Even if it is tough and takes a lot of time, you should find it first and get accurate information on it and routes for it and then you should make every effort to accomplish what you want.
Q6 Finally, do you have any message or words of encouragements for our readers?
A6 I’d like to recommend to the readers to enjoy the present by making their given situation effective and positive. And then find goals they really want to achieve and do their best with passion and patience. They should pursue their dream, be determined, and don’t never give up. Lastly, I would like to tell them to try to become an indispensable person in their field. And, I really hope they can meet a good teacher who can be the mentor of their life.
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