Karla Zuluaga former St Peter’s Catholic College Student is an aspiring linguist who was invited to be a panel member at the Women in Languages Conference 2021, an online conference reaching a global audience of 600.
Karla holds a Diploma of Languages, Bachelor of International Studies, Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Anthropology and a Master of International Public Diplomacy. Karla has studied over 10 languages to varying levels of proficiency, including languages such as Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Noongar, Hawaiian and Basque. Karla has a special interest in endangered languages and is pursuing a career in language revitalisation whilst volunteering at the Endangered Language Project. Karla is a recent university graduate and hopes to make a worthy contribution to the field.
Since leaving St Peter’s, Karla has pursued her love of language in educational arenas, which has given her the opportunities to study in Japan, Brazil and Spain, be awarded the European Union prize for excellence in European languages and be a delegate for Australia at an international symposium. Furthermore, it has enabled her to travel to 25 countries on every continent (except Antarctica) and develop deeper connections with the people and cultures she visits. Karla has also used her language skills to lead bilingual tour groups, tutor in Japanese, Italian and Spanish, and translate documents for various UN agencies.
Learning a language can continue after your Year 8 compulsory year, continue to embrace learning when you immerse yourself in other countries culture and languages.
