About Heejeong Haas

Before Heejeong Haas started working as a business consultant and language professional with international companies 10 years ago, she was always fascinated by language and culture. And she sought to master both. 

Her passion for language and culture took her to the University of Alberta in Edmonton Canada, where she first gained experience living in a Western culture..

When she returned to Korea, she used her knowledge of Western culture and English ability to work as a trainer, translator, and interpreter. This included stints at Toon.Us.In. Korea and at the corporate headquarters of Herbalife, Korea. 

During her time at Toon.Us.In, Ms. Haas was responsible for facilitating communication between foreign storywriters and Korean animators who were responsible for animating popular cartoon series, such as the Simpsons, Casper, and Futurama, and major Canadian cartoon shows. 

She also acted as a liaison between Korean management and foreign staff to ensure effective communication and reduce cultural misunderstandings. 

She first got a taste of international business negotiations while at Toon.Us.In. Up to this date, she likes to talk about the time when she had to work on a deal between MGM Studios and Toon.Us.In. Although experiencing cultural differences in Canada, that was the first time she saw how cultural differences affected business relations between Western countries and Korea. It gave her profound insight into how the business negotiation should work and how cultural difference affects every single aspect of business and its outcome. The deal didn’t go through successfully, but she likes to say; “if I knew then what I now know, I could have saved that deal.”

While at Herbalife, Korea, Ms. Haas trained staff members in foreign customs and facilitated effective communication between the Korean and American corporate offices. Not only did she learn how cultural differences affected American corporations coming into Korea, but she also learned how foreign products and marketing materials should be properly localized in order to attract the target audience..

In 2001, Heejeong moved to Austin, TX to pursue an MBA at the University of Texas. But fate had a different story in mind. While she was attending the school part time and running a full-time business, she soon realized that the real world of business was not quite fitting with the business being taught in school. So she one day walked out of the school, and never looked back. 

Since then she has been working as a consultant to businesses who have business relations with Korea. Through her consulting company, Queen of Seoul, Heejeong has helped a number of companies enter the Korean market, negotiate deals, and market their products or services. But her services are not only limited to companies. She has also helped numerous individuals and small companies through her interpreting and translation services.

Heejeong remains active in the Austin community. She contributes to the local community by interpreting and translating for local schools and non-profit organizations.   

In her spare time, Heejeong, a classically-trained pianist, enjoys playing the piano. 

Heejeong’s Philosophy

Heejeong on How to Do Business

"Having done business with so many different companies over the years, I have developed what I consider to be the 3 core values of business:

1. Reliability
2. Integrity
3. Performance

Reliability—My clients should be able to completely rely on me when I take on their project without worrying if I’m going to meet their deadlines, show up on time to a meeting, or ignore their phone calls or requests for assistance.

Integrity—Every business is out there to earn profit. So do I. I run my business to make profit. But to me it is just as important how I earn those profits. And I do not earn my profits through lying or dishonesty. I owe it to my clients to be upfront and honest with them before, during, and after a project. I learned over the years that honesty is the best way to deal with any business situation and in the long run, it eventually leads to the best outcome.

Performance—I believe in giving 100% to a project and successfully carrying it out. I believe this so strongly that if I feel I cannot give my all or carry out a project, I either refuse the project or point my clients to someone who can. Sometimes this reduces my profits, but I believe that my clients pay me for my best possible services and anything less than that is dishonest."

Heejeong on Translation

"Though commoditized by some in the industry, as a language and Korean business consultant, I have always believed that translation--true translation-- takes VERY specific skills. And having these skills is what really separates a great translator from someone who just happens to speak two languages.

In fact, I think all the translators and interpreters for any Asian and Western language pair should charge premium dollars for their labor. Translation is not only a harsh mental labor, but also harsh physical labor. Many people think that translation is some kind of a math formula. You are plugging one source word to the formula and you get a word from the target language back..

It is a very wrong view. Translation is hard work.   When I mentor aspiring translators, the first thing I tell them is; you should be ready to work on long hours with severe mental and physical labor. If you cannot see yourself sitting in front of your computer for more than 10 hours a day trying to figure out just one perfect word, don’t even bother to join the translation profession.

Language skill is required, but more than that, like any other art form, natural ability and the drive to make it happen will determine success in the translation industry.  

What translation is NOT

Translation is not the ability to speak two languages. There are many people in the world who are bilingual. But that does not make someone a translator.   

Also, just learning another language does not make someone a translator. The fact is that all language is tied to culture and different words in different languages carry different connotations. If a translator is not immersed into the different cultures, the chance for making a mistake goes up considerably. 

I’ve seen this happen to people who, although good linguists, don’t understand the cultural connotations of certain words and expressions and therefore can’t quite get the translation right.

So, I believe that a great translator is someone who has lived in the country whose languages they translate into.    

What translation IS

Translation is the ability to communicate the meaning and the context of language and the ability to grasp the subtle nuances in two languages to properly convey their meaning. 

So, a great translator is one who studies two things: writing and culture. 

Before becoming a language professional, I studied writing. Since most people never even think enough about their own language, it’s difficult to understand what it's like to deal in two of them.

But the truth is I wouldn’t really consider myself a translator. I'm a writer. Now, not all writers are translators. But I believe that all translators have to be good writers in their native language.

For example, when I translate a news story, then the translation has to sound like a news story in the language I am translating it into. And as we know, news stories have their own structure and jargon. So, even if the words in the translation are right, if the tone is off, the document loses its spirit and meaning.

And without spirit and meaning, the translation falls flat. The mark of a good translation is that the readers never even know they're reading a translation."

Heejeong on the Story Behind Koreantranslator.net

“Originally koreantranslator.net was setup as an afterthought. I was looking for a better way to get business as a translator and interpreter when I moved to Austin from Korea. It worked especially well. But as I became more in demand as a business consultant, I narrowed down the fields that I translated for. And as I established my consulting and marketing company, Queen of Seoul, I mostly used my language skills to help my clients market themselves.

But Koreantranslator.net continued to get heavy traffic from the search engines.

And since, Queen of Seoul only deals in marketing and business communication, many of my previous clients and potential visits to my site were not given the opportunity to work with me or the qualified Korean translators in my network (over the years, I have developed good relationships with Korean translators who share my core business values) on other types of documents.   

Because I think everyone—whether it’s a large corporation or an individual trying to just get a letter translated—deserves quality translation, I decided to redesign Koreantranslator.net and take an active role in overseeing the quality of translations from Korean into English or from English into Korean. 

So, if you are looking for quality Korean to English or English to Korean translation from a team you can rely on, please contact us for your next project.”