TUFS Student Wins International Hindi Day Speech Contest

June 1, 2018

On Wednesday the 10th of January, TUFS student Yoonji Lee (School of International and Area Studies, South Asian Area Studies, International Relations Course, third year) won first place in the ‘International Hindi Day’ Speech Contest (held by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Thoughts on Winning

At the ‘International Hindi Day’ Speech Contest held on January 10th by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I came in first place. The topic of my speech was ‘Similarities between my mother tongue and Hindi, and how this influenced my love for Hindi’, in which I spoke about understanding foreign cultures through language, using examples of the various phrases regarding ‘the moon’ in Japanese, Korean and Hindi. I participated in this contest as I had a clear message I wanted to convey to the Indian people and my classmates studying Hindi alongside me. Because of this, I was deeply moved when people reacted and smiled during my speech, and when I received an applause at the end, I could feel that my message had been received. From the speeches of the other first place winners, I learnt much about Hindi phrases, pronunciation, and presentation skills. It was an unforgettable experience that has left me deeply motivated.