Did you know that there are Interpreters & Translators teams at Coupang entities to bridge the communication gap between businesses? Let’s meet Hyunah, Edwin, and Luke from CFS (Coupang Fulfillment Services) and Coupang Pay to listen to their stories.
Hello. Please introduce yourselves.
Hyunah: Hi, I’m Hyunah, manager of GEIST in CFS. Before joining Coupang in August 2020, I had worked as a freelance interpreter and translator for about 8 years. I first joined Coupang as a freelancer and decided to settle down as an in-house interpreter. As the Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) organization was rebuilt, an interpretation and translation team dedicated to the EHS domain was created, and I have managed the team since then.
Edwin: Hi, I’m Edwin and I’ve been with CFIT, the interpretation team of CFS, since I joined the company in February 2023. This is my fourth year I’ve been interpreting. Before joining CFS, I had been working as an interpreter in another industry for about a year and three months, but there were not many opportunities for simultaneous interpretation and, plus, lack of proper work system made me think about changing jobs. I heard a lot about Coupang’s work environment, so I applied. Since joining the team, I’ve been doing a lot of simultaneous interpretation to my heart’s content.
Luke: Hello, I'm Luke. After graduating in 2023, I worked as a freelancer for a little over a year. During that time, I had the opportunity to work with Coupang Pay as a freelance interpreter, and I was fortunate to be offered a full-time position after going through an assessment. It's been about four months since I joined the company. I had always wanted to work somewhere with more opportunities for simultaneous interpretation and to deepen my expertise in specific domains, so I'm grateful and satisfied with where I am now.
Please tell us briefly about your team.
Hyunah: The GEIST (Global EHS Interpretation & Translation) team is in Coupang Fulfillment Service (CFS). Still, we provide interpretation and translation for the Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) and Environment, Society, and Governance (ESG) domains across all Coupang entities including Coupang Corp, CFS, Coupang Logistics Service (CLS), Coupang Eats Service (CES), and Taiwan Rocket Fulfillment Company (RFC). To be specific, we have expertise in the fields including occupational safety, occupational health, fire safety, construction safety, safety design, and physical security, facilitate communication among domain experts and stakeholders, and touch upon overall topics such as fulfillment and logistics operation, automation, and IT.
Edwin: The CFIT (Coupang Fulfillment Interpretation & Translation) team is part of CFS and supports various communications that take place when different FCs, related departments, Coupang Corp., and subsidiaries that are involved in the fulfillment services work together. Coupang FCs bring together experts in a variety of fields, such as product receiving, stowing, packing, shipping, and follow-up processes including returns. CFIT is here to facilitate communication to ensure discussions and decisions for FC operations are made in a timely manner. Due to the nature of our domain, I’ve had many opportunities to visit different FCs, and I’m always amazed and proud of the cutting-edge technologies we have at Coupang.
I’m also proud to say that Coupang’s growth to this level of technology would not have been possible without the support of CFIT making sure that the language barrier doesn’t get in the way.
Luke: The FTIT (Fintech Interpretation & Translation) is part of Coupang Pay. As an independent subsidiary, Coupang Pay has not only tech-related teams but also its own Finance, Legal and other teams to support its operations. Our FTIT team is responsible for facilitating communication across all teams within Coupang Pay. So, you can think of our domain as being quite broad.
You may not have been familiar with the domain when you first joined the company. How did you get through that period?
Hyunah: While I interpreted for various areas of expertise as a freelancer, I found safety and health rather unfamiliar compared to the environment. After joining Coupang, I delved into more technical aspects of specific domains such as occupational safety, occupational health, and fire safety, and I encounter new terms and concepts even today. We regularly update the terms or topics in a glossary, hold knowledge sharing sessions among team members, and share feedback on interpretation to convert short-term memory into long-term memory and hone our interpretation skills.
Edwin: Well, I think most interpreters are wired to constantly study and learn. CFIT regularly invites people from the field to learn about different business domains, and we visit FCs to get a better understanding of what’s going on in the field. Once I grasped the big picture and key processes by watching how inbound and outbound processes work at FCs in person, it has gotten much easier to understand detailed processes along the learning curve.
Luke: I was fortunate to have some freelance experience at Coupang Pay before joining full-time, so I was able to come in with a bit more familiarity with the domain than others. But what really made a difference was the structured onboarding I received from the FTIT team after becoming a full-time employee. It allowed me to gain a deeper and more professional understanding of areas I had only superficially known before, which has been incredibly valuable.
I heard that you need to go on business trips or work outside the office sometimes. How is it assigned?
Hyunah: We visit camps or FCs together with businesspeople four times a month on average. One interpreter makes a site visit at a time, and considering travel time and energy, if possible, the interpreter supporting on a site is not assigned with online calls for the day. A site is not an interpretation-friendly environment due to noise, but you can have in-depth understanding of the domain if you actually go to sites.
Edwin: CFS is made up of different operational organizations, so there are opportunities for interpreters to visit FCs when Directors who oversee multiple FCs need our support. We regularly go to FCs based on a rotating schedule, taking turns to make sure one person doesn’t get to go to FCs multiple times in a row. I think we usually end up working outside the office 1 to 2 times a month per person. When we go out in the field, we get to meet with the site leaders in person and build rapport with them. They treat me to lunch or dinner or share more stories with me, so sometimes I even look forward to working outside the office.
Luke: I haven't had any opportunity to work outside the office yet, but I've heard there are occasional business trips depending on business needs. Unfortunately, I haven't had that experience myself so far.
What are your future career goals?
Hyunah: 12 years into my career, I believe I could have a wider perspective by working in a team in Coupang rather than working by myself. In order to catch up with the recent changes brought about by artificial intelligence (AI), interpreters and translators should keep practicing and studying. As Coupang is a growing company, there is a constant demand for interpretation and translation. That is why interpreters and translators can find a lot of opportunities here to develop capabilities and build background knowledge. I hope I can continue to work and grow as an in-house interpreter. As a manager, I would like to support my team members so that they can enjoy their work and build the right career path.
Edwin: Now there are a few juniors coming in after me, and I feel a little bit more responsible. Personally, I want to live up to the role that’s expected of me in the team; at the same time, I want to help the juniors and make it easier for them to get through the struggles that I went through. I’d also like to eventually move into a managing role if I have the chance. In our field, as an interpreter, it’s not something that you can experience often. So, I believe leading a team is one of the career opportunities you can look forward to as you grow at Coupang.
Luke: Since I haven't been at Coupang for very long, I've mostly been focusing on doing my current work well as a short-term goal. The Fintech domain I work in often involves cross-functional meetings with different teams, so rather than limiting myself to one area of knowledge, I want to build a broader understanding of how various teams and domains operate. My current goal is to be an interpreter "who can truly pull his own weight."
Thank you for the honest answers. Lastly, is there anything you would like to freely share, like your team’s strong point, or who you would like to work with?
Hyunah: I would like a teammate who is responsible for a given work. GEIST has many senior interpreters and translators who actively share their knowledge, experience, and constructive feedback. There would be a synergy effect, if a newcomer is willing to cooperate with colleagues and contribute to the team.
Edwin: Coupang needs a lot of interpreters, and the system is very well organized. So, it’s a great place to learn the ropes. Especially in our team, we are all busy doing the same thing, interpretation and translation, so there is a lot of empathy and open communication about our shared pain points.
One of the most recent projects the team has been working on is to organize FC tours to provide opportunities for other translation teams to gain knowledge about Coupang FCs. Seeing so many teams actively engaged makes me feel lucky to have such diverse experience in my team, and I’m happy to be part of CFIT.
Luke: Our manager sets a great example by leading from the front, which really motivates the team and creates a strong sense of trust. Most of our team members take real ownership of their work. If you think of Coupang as a large machine made of many moving parts—each business team acting as a cog—then our FTIT team plays a vital role in keeping everything running smoothly. While interpretation skills are of course important, having this kind of mindset is just as crucial. I'd love to work with someone who share that perspective.
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