December 2001

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

With the end of 2001 approaching, I want to wish you every happiness this holiday season and throughout the coming year and offer my sincere gratitude for your continuous support, trust, friendship, and love. THANK YOU!!! Since I have not been able to keep in touch with you as often as I would have liked, I'll share some of my eventful year with you here.

In 2001, I took 30 domestic and international trips (28 on business and 2 for pleasure), down from 44 trips last year - that's a 32% drop attributable to the September 11 attacks. The topics covered during my conference interpretation assignments were vastly different; from art history, to credit rating, with heavy emphasis on high tech as usual. Sad to say, as you all know, a few good high tech companies I had worked for are now either out of business or in serious financial trouble.

This year I had four major voice over projects. As I truly enjoy doing voice over work I liked them all. My favorite was performing the female voice in a Korean/English CD recording explaining art objects for museum viewers at the STUNNING J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, where there is more to appreciate outside - the architecture, the gardens, the breathtaking panoramic view of the city, etc. - than what's inside.

In May, I had an opportunity to interpret for one of the FINEST film directors from Korea, Lee Chang Dong before and after the screening of his 2000 film, Peppermint Candy, as well as press conferences, during the San Francisco International Film Festival. As an avid film fan it was a true honor and such a treat to ask this writer/director about his film. It was pure bliss for me to meet with this individual who spoke the most beautiful Korean I had ever heard in my life. He spoke eloquently without ever having to search for the right word. While I am at it, I want to share the movie I enjoyed the most this year, The Closet, and my favorite book, Tent Life in Siberia written by George F. Kennan in 1871.

I think I was also a continuing education junkie, attending 154 hours of lectures and seminars, nearly 13 hours per month, with topics ranging from North Korean culture, to the historical background of globalization, to Korean Buddhism, though the majority of the time was spent learning about interpretation and translation issues. More than ever I was hungry for intellectual stimulation and scintillating conversation. I found both at the Korean Literature (Moon-Hak) camp I attended this summer with guest writer, Lee Ho Chul. Many beautiful memories were made while I immensely enjoyed the mountains, trees, rocks, clean air, delicious food, and most of all the great company.

I also had an opportunity to share my knowledge with the Korean community. I delivered a presentation on the court interpreter code of ethics, hoping that if and when the attendees come to court they will have a clear understanding of what to expect from court interpreters - so they will NOT think of court interpreters as "free lawyers" who happen to speak their mother tongue.

As a translator, my projects included promotional materials, surveys both online (HUGE increase from last year) and offline as well as survey comments, web sites, user manuals, contracts, annual reports, election materials, and more.

Between assignments, projects, and lectures, I was able to squeeze in mini-vacations in Fort Bragg, CA, Seoul, Korea (Robert was able to join me this time), Taipei, Taiwan (thanks to Bill Ososki), and Vancouver, British Columbia.

That's it Folks! Thanks for reading. HERE'S WISHING YOU VERY HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! "Don't worry, be happy!" or as Robert says "Don't worry, be Jacki!"

With Warm Regards,

Jacki NH