Language

Language has always been an integral part of my passions, in studying both how we use it (linguistics) and how to help more people find access to quality language education. This led me to complete a B.A. in Linguistics and Asian Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill (specifically sociolinguistics: how language and identity intersect), as well as to continue learning about language wherever and whenever I can.

Over the last several years, I have put my passions into numerous applications: from working as a writing tutor and consulting, to editing and publishing my own books, to leading a nonprofit educational initiative, to organising a team of multilingual writers as a translation coordinator. My familiarity with language is simultaneously wide and profound, due to my unending passion and curiosity to keep learning. While there are many types of language tasks I can contribute to with confidence, I am most fulfilled when I am helping turn ideas into tangible plans; I am most passionate about the process of refining what already exists, asking about its original intention, and finding concrete steps to help build out that vision more fully.

I am currently proficient in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese and always learning more each day - Arabic, ASL, and Tibetan are among my latest language studies. In addition, I have been researching the role technology can play in language work and pedagogy; I am now enrolled in numerous courses focused on machine learning, AI, and NLP (natural language processing), with the hopes of building the next generation of technologies which assist with translation and other language tasks, as well as innovating on what a second-language classroom can look like: I want to build the future of language technologies.

Current works & experience

• Founder & Central Editor at intuit.hue - guiding writing process from ideation to publishing, editing articles, eBooks, and educational course content, collaborating with multiple creators; developing mostly online workshops and courses for multiple skill levels

• Translator & Contributing Editor of Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning Content (translated from Spanish)

  • Completed articles:

    • Introduction to Reinforcement Learning

• Linguist & Editor, Lionbridge - reviewing and revising large sets of data to ensure consistent style, in order to prepare data for machine learning applications; completing additional linguistic tasks as needed

Recent works & experience

• Language Consultant & Translator, Charles & Colvard

  • Translating (from Mandarin Chinese into English) and consulting to ensure that all translated materials align with company's vision, brand, and narrative; offering linguistic and cultural insights to support customer and partner relationships

• Chinese Language Annotator, HERE Technologies

  • Researching and analysing location-based data; evaluating insights to assure that the changes software engineers and developers are implementing align with a meaningful user experience, working especially with Chinese-language data in order to support users who are searching beyond English

• Language and Translation Coordinator, Raise Vegan - Cría Vegano

  • Organised a translating team for Raise Vegan (Cría Vegano), an online magazine publication aimed at sharing lifestyle, culture, and health information around veganism - crafted training and guideline documents to help set internal communication and workflow standards

  • Translated content into Spanish (with Mandarin and other languages planned), reworked and refined content provided by other translators; communicated with first-language Spanish speakers to ensure quality of language content, researching new words and concepts to be able to integrate them meaningfully into the translation work

Current language studies

• Natural Language Processing with Python (course) - using technology to assist in handling language data, providing tools for large corpus processing, receiving text or audio data, and automating analysis of structures

• Building and augmenting various language proficiencies - including ASL (American Sign Language), Arabic, Tibetan, and Yoruba, among others

Completed language studies

• Bachelor of Arts - Linguistics and Asian Studies (Chinese), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Graduated with honors, 3.84 GPA

• Awarded Critical Language Scholarship ($22,000) for commitment to Mandarin language studies

• Studies focused on sociolinguistics and critical discourse analysis, as well as building proficiency in languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and French

• Intensive Mandarin language studies at CET Kunming, China

  • Deeply intensive studies with more than 12 hours of devoted work and study each day; through my focused study and determination, I was consistently ahead throughout the courses and often guided other students along the way.

  • Over the course of just a few months, I was able to transition from almost no ability in Mandarin to being able to use it extensively, easily proficient in both written and spoken contexts.

Other language works

• Mentorship Chair and Co-President of LingoKids: Carolina Language Outreach

  • Maintained organisation's activities and educational initiatives aligned with its intentions, serving the Chapel Hill-Carrboro (and other local) communities through second-language education in elementary schools

  • Guided all processes of organising, training, and supporting mentors (volunteer language instructors), from designing age-appropriate curriculums and team/project management to helping first-time mentors feel inspired, assured, and prepared in their classroom instruction

• Education Leader, UNC Chinese Living Learning Community

  • Tasked with providing opportunities for community members to interact with Chinese languages and to build cultural and historical familiarity; prepared activities which would help new learners build confidence and established learners build deeper proficiency with their language skills

• Writing Consultant, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute

  • Guiding students in the process of envisioning, crafting, organising, and editing their written work; helped students navigate the process of conceptualising goals and communicating ideas through both academic, research-oriented and more personally reflective, creative forms of writing.