Colt strives to attract employees from diverse backgrounds for the unique insights, experiences and interests they bring.
Samantha Lee explains how her love of language, cultivated by a global childhood, strengthens her role as a Colt Trainee Solicitor.
Discovering the nuances of different languages
Samantha was born in Hong Kong but at the age of 13, she started boarding school in the UK. Samantha describes it as "quite a stressful experience" but being in a completely new place sparked her love for languages and the way people communicate.
"I grew up speaking English, Cantonese and Mandarin, and I did French at A-levels. I sometimes find speaking just one language limiting, because the perfect phrase for what you’re trying to describe can be found in another language," says Samantha.
"I also love the way that different attitudes come through in languages – Chinese, for example, is a very direct language, whereas in English there are many words for the same thing, so meanings are sometimes more subtle."
Learning a new language of telecoms
In Samantha's interview for Colt, they asked her why she wanted to pursue the legal profession. She told them that it comes back to her love of language.
"Contracts or terms and conditions are like a whole new language that so many people don’t understand but they’re everywhere. I thought, ‘I want to learn this so that I can translate it for everyone else.’ On top of that, there’s the language of telecoms, which is all around us at Colt. It’s very challenging, but I really enjoy it. Hopefully it’ll be the fifth language that I master," she says.
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