It wasn’t the croissants that drew Fiona Bates to do a BYU internship in France two summers ago — it was the chance to use her French speaking skills to connect with others different from her. Working with Les Petits Frères de Pauvres, an international nonprofit that supports isolated elderly people, Bates connected with one woman in particular.
“She couldn’t remember basic things about her life, but she could remember a lot of poems she had memorized when she was younger,” Bates said. “We would read them together, and she was always so surprised that someone had come all the way from America to read French poetry with her.”
Those special moments that transcend different backgrounds are why Bates chose to study French — and Spanish, and Mandarin — as a BYU student. Her love of languages began with the daily 15-minute Spanish lessons she received in elementary school. It grew when she visited France for the first time with her family on a high school senior trip and later served a Spanish-speaking mission in Oklahoma. She added a certificate in Mandarin to her double major to challenge herself with a totally different variety of language.
“With other cultures, we see what’s on the outside, like the way people dress differently or what they eat,” Bates said. “But with learning a language, you learn about people’s perspectives. From a young age I realized, this is a secret code into another world.”
Although when she arrived at BYU, she originally planned to major in chemistry and perhaps attend medical school, Bates’ fascination with language kept pulling her in another direction. She was attracted to BYU’s excellent language study options and top-ranked study abroad programs, but she also valued what she could do for others as an interpreter.
“I love BYU’s focus on going forth to serve. I wanted to find something that would not only lead to growth in the future, but that would also be a meaningful way for me to serve my community. My experiences at BYU really helped me to see how I can use languages not just as a fun hobby but as a way to do good in the world.”
In her years as a student, Bates has packed in many such opportunities to learn, grow and serve. In addition to her internship in France, she did a summer study abroad in Spain, completing the 470-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage to Saint James’ tomb.
Along the way, she used her language skills to befriend another pilgrim, not in Spanish, but in Mandarin. They had a broken conversation in Chinese and English, then saw each other down the road four weeks later, where they were each excited to reconnect with their friend from the other side of the world.
Motivated to improve her Chinese, Bates capped off the summer with an intensive six-week Mandarin experience in Taiwan, studying six hours a day, five days a week with a one-on-one tutor. Back in Provo, she’s also worked as a translator for Spanish-speaking patients at Utah Valley Hospital, where her favorite experiences have been in labor and delivery.
“It can be difficult when you’re in a country, and you’re not speaking the primary language of that country. I love being able to speak with people as a medical interpreter and see them recognize, ‘Oh, this person has learned my language,’” she said. “In L&D, it’s such an exciting thing to be a small part of, to see patients go through the process from getting admitted to learning how to take care of their baby.”
Bates’ versatile experiences are a testament to her willingness to keep learning — this year alone, she’s taught a French course at BYU and taken courses in the organ and ballroom dance.
“Fiona is curious in the best possible way,” said BYU librarian Matt Hill, who supervised Bates on Spanish translation and research projects at the library. “She’s intellectually curious, very intelligent and perceptive. She demonstrated the same enthusiasm for the work that I would, the same interest, the same dedication, the same tenacity in working out difficulties in the translation or research.”
After she graduates this April, Bates will take that work ethic to Salt Lake City, where she will be a Spanish medical interpreter at a pediatric hospital. Based on her time as a student, her advice to incoming freshmen is to embrace every opportunity.
“If something is interesting to you, take a class for it. I started Chinese and French at the 101 level! This is a great place to have a support system as you’re learning.”
