Zai's story

Zai works as Interpreter at Education Fair in Bangkok.

Lucksavee (Zai) one of Asian University’s fourth year BA students, has recently been working as an interpreter at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Bangkok. The work was part of her Persuasive Oral Discourse course and afterwards she prepared a report on some of her experiences.

Zai was working for the British Council during their recent International Education Fair in Bangkok. She was assigned to assist on the stand of Abertay University (Dundee, Scotland).

“I was offered a part time contract as an interpreter at the education fair. In order to prepare myself for the job, I studied the prospectus of Abertay University like a text book. The University is famous in biotechnology, computer games and MBA in economics. My main duties were interpreting from Thai to English and English to Thai. Interpreting is not difficult, but the most difficult thing is to be an active listener, I had to pretend to listen actively for what they want; for instance one visitor would like to study further in biotechnology, he talked so far about his background and work experience. During the exhibition I found out that most visitors were teenagers and students and they are able to speak English well, but for those who want to study for Doctoral degree, they are older so their English is not that good as the younger. Sometimes they speak like they speak in Thai, and it was difficult for the exhibitor to get the message so I could help a lot.

My second duty was explaining the university to the visitors. The most typical question was “is this university the same as the University of Dundee?” At this point I had to say ‘no’, but I had to use my persuasive skills to convince them the Abertay University is also an excellent place to study.

Being an interpreter, I have practiced people skills including always smiling, talking when necessary, dressing well and properly, having a good personality, being sincere, polite, respectful, punctual, responsible, cheerful, active, extrovert, open mind, friendly, and the most important thing seeking first to understand then be understood. I have learnt the way the international and professional organization like the British Council works. I found out that the British Council is very organized and its working system is excellent. I believe that it is because of good communication and leader.

I have lots of new friends from various faculties and universities and I found out that our University is perceived in very different ways. Some know Asian University from Dr Vip, some know about our English Summer Camp. Some think that our university is an excellent international university. However, some think that it is so far away. I took this chance to build a positive image of our university. I used my experience as a Bangkokian to tell our unique benefits which firstly are international standard taken from Imperial College. Our university also has a warm and friendly culture, and we can find fresh air and beautiful view where we couldn’t find anywhere else. "

Zai is due to graduate this year and then hopes to go on to either study Master degree abroad in the United Kingdom or work in an international organization.