Lee Seung Hwan / Improved language samples / Tue 1 p.m

I interviewed my close friend, Sang-Min Kim

 

-> I interviewed my close friend, Sang-Min Kim, who has a calm, white face with glasses.

 

I prepared 5 questions beforehand, just to make the process more smooth.

 

-> I prepared 5 questions beforehand, just to make the interview go well, which means preventing me from murmuring, urgently making up next questions. I also did not want to give him an impression that I didn't prepare anything for the interview. 

 

 The interview was conducted inside the graduate school building, and the atmosphere there was very comforting.

 

-> The interview was conducted inside the graduate school building. The atmosphere there was very comforting. There was a coffee shop inside the building, and it was nearby from where we stood. We could watch people chatting with each other or doing assignments. The coffee smell tickled our noses.

 

We had few conversations about how things were going.

 

-> We had few conversations about how things were going. We chatted about how the exam was, what we've done recently, and if wasn't there anything new to our mundane daily lives.

 

He said he has done some assignments about this, and he experienced hardships.

 

-> He said he has done some assignments related to adopting the economic theories to the real society we live in, and he experienced some hardships from this. He couldn't find a proper and accurate statics that were needed, and even though he found one, sometimes it turned out to be different from what he have learned.

 

Some degree of flexibility is needed.

 

-> Some degree of flexibility to make the interview not too rigid is needed.

 

The main theme of the interview was 'future and major'.

 

-> The main theme of the interview was 'future and major'. Through this theme, I planned to deal with some topics like hardships of studying one's major, and preference of getting jobs according to majors.

Park So Young/ Improved samples/ Tuesday 56

 1.She had been born into a very poor family at the time. 

       _> Her family had to live off of small bite size potatoes, corn, and few crops that were in the small yet suitable

area that they lived near to.

 

2. Their style of living was much more different.

     _> They lived off a daily survival by having just enough food for them to eat each day.

 

3. For the girls they had to wear a black skirt uniform that reached the knees and a blouse that had a white collar and long arms.

   _>The dresscode was very strict for the girls. They wore an a-shaped black plain boring skirt that touched the knees. The blouse was very simple and clean.

 

4.Also, we could not start eating until my father had picked up the spoon and started eating first.

   _> There was a specific order in which we would be able to place anything into our mouths. My father had to check that everything was tidy and looking shiny before he picked up his gold designed spoon. The moment one of us chidren unintentionally picked up a spoon before her did, he would flip the whole set up table over and ask us to re-do everything on the correct order just like he wanted.

 

5.  Our culture seems to be changing more and more as the years go by

     _> We can see the drastic changes from how long a skirt should be to how short does your hair have to be. These are changes that this recent generation is facing and will face furthermore as each year passes and more so called trends move into place.

Jeong Do Young/ improved language samples/tue56

-Mother's recount of her past history is always interesting.

Hearing Mother's vivid description of her past life is like looking into the pensieve in Harry Potter.

-We played with gonggi and I was a queen of gonggi

We played with gonggi and I was a queen of gonggi (Korean jackstone but in a round shape) 

 

added

-She shrugged, as if saying ' That's the way it is'.

-There was a sense of pride toward my aunt in her voice, the same kind of pride she had for me.

-She spoke with the air of an old warrior, who has been in so many battles that now hardly anything counted as ordeal.

Wonpil Lee/ Improved language samples/ Tue 1pm

1. She had a strong mind, so she smiled even at her painful life.

- Her great willpower did not crumble away in spite of her painful life.

2. I believed those sweet words as you did.

- Those intriguing catch-phrases readily piqued my naive curiosity.

3. There were several wooden standing tables, and people were eating and drinking there.

- Five to six village people were eating pie and croissant respectively at wooden standing tables.

4. I became a regular customer of the bakery. When I felt like eating Apfelstrudel and drinking strong coffee, I went to the bakery.

- I visited the bakery twice a week, because I addicted their Apfelstrudel and German-style coffee.

5. They accepted my knowledge after we were familiar with each other.

- It was not until we became intimate that they started to listen to my explanation.

Young-Lee Seo/Improvement samples/Tue 1pm

1.     Grinning slightly, he said…

è  Grinning as he propped up his chin with one hand, he said…

2.      DaeSung kept narrating his memories.

è  DaeSung spoke of his memories in a low, and slightly nostalgic voice.

3.     I took an entrance test, and barely passed.

è  I took an exhausting 2 hour entrance test, and was barely able to make the cut.

4.     He never really cared for the test too much.

è  He never gave much thought or gave the test any meaning to it. (Same?)

è  It would have been hard for my friend to be less interested in the test, as he had never really given it much thought in the first place. (Same?)

è  HELP (Maybe just keep it the way it was?)

5.     ….he started to become afraid.

è  He developed chronic paranoia. (ok lol, no.)

è  He became scared that one day, he would fall from his shaky perch in the ladder of grades. (hm) 

Young-Lee Seo/ Interview/ Tue 1pm

My friend DaeSung and I talked about his recollections based on the key word 'tests' from his past, in memory of Sunung, the final test all high school students take to enter college. Of course, since the topic was about tests, it was naturally closely related to school life, which he discussed with much passion.

 

His earliest recollection of a test was with his parents. He had moved to the States with his parents when he was 6 months old, and stayed there for around 7 years. When he came back to Korea, his parents decided to teach him Korean proverbs. He studied out of a mini-book and was rewarded with a stamp for every proverb he got right. Grinning slightly, he said "at the time, I didn't realize that it was a test. But now that I look back, I realize that it was a test of sorts, to ready me for society." At the time, he enjoyed the process of learning, and testing. For him, preschool tests were simply fun, enjoyable challenges that he was rewarded with when he got right. He described it as his 'Leeds days', slang for 'the golden days of unchallenged skill'.

 

Then came elementary school. Tests became a bit harder, and he himself told me that he wasn't all that talented in studying. It just wasn't 'his thing'. The only reason he did the tests was because he had to, and because it would be embarrassing if his grades fell further than that. I was surprised at this, because I thought that everyone would try their best to ace the tests. It was different from what I used to be, when I would really break down and cry sometimes on days that we received our report cards. He seemed a bit startled when I told him so, and he agreed with wide, and surprised eyes that perhaps it was a matter of how much outer pressure there was.

 

In middle school, he went back to his preschool days. "I went back to being an innocent child that tried to raise his grades to receive praise. But unlike before, now the pressure was becoming more intense." He said to me. As his grades went up higher and higher, he started to become afraid. "I didn't want to fall back down from being praised. I wanted to stay there at the top, and the fear started to overtake me."

 

DaeSung kept narrating his memories. "And then suddenly, the little kid wasn't so little anymore, and went to a foreign language high school. I took an entrance test, and barely passed. But then I had to take another test to decide class levels, and I ended up as 340^th out of 430 people. I was shocked." Apparently, the 'little kid' had a brutal wake-up call. There were 3 more tests after that, and DaeSung said that he couldn't believe what had happened. "I studied hard, because I thought I was good at it. But the second test and on put me at 280^th, and each test afterwards just proved I wasn't so smart after all." He told me that each test after that seemed like an alarm, telling him that he wasn't the best, putting him 'in his place', as he called it. It was something that completely changed him and his identity, because after a while, it made him stop thinking about grades and more about simply having fun. He scratched his slightly unkempt hair, frowning, but with an apologetic smile, as if he was telling me something that he didn't particularly like to remember. But he blinked a few times and went on to tell his story.

 

High school came and went, and finally there was the great Su-nung test awaiting him. For him, language was his choice of 'weapon' in this battle royale of the survival of the fittest. He never really cared for the test too much. According to him, Sunung was something which "nothing in particular comes into mind." DaeSung stared at me blankly, as if there was anything to really think about. His black eyes were a bit unfocused, as if he was trying to grasp a vague concept. He shook his head slightly while waving one hand, and told me that he didn't regret it though, and that his carefree attitude came from not worrying about tests anymore.

Through this interview I learned many things about my friend that I hadn't before, and garnered some insight as to his personalities and lifestyle choices. We were living in the same era, born at the same period, but led drastically different lives, and I was able to appreciate and learn from his experiences. I can't say that either one of us led the most 'ideal' life, but I think it was good to know more about him, and remember the days, looking back at them once again.

Simmy/ Interview/ Tue 1pm

One of my Korean friends has lived in Argentina for a long time, so I'm curious that whether women's social position in Korea is different from Argentina or not.

We met in a cafe and I asked her opinion about the women's social position in both countries.

Ignoring the noise around us, my friend was lost in thought:" Well, in Korea, women are supposed to be at home and take care of the family. Although nowadays many people has changed this kind of traditional thought, but it still exists. On the contrary, women in Argentina have more freedom. I mean, they just seek for whatever job they want. Ah, there's one point I'd like to mention about. In Korea, or in some other Asian countries, women have to get married when they come to the certain age, right?"

I was a little bit confused:" Don't women in Argentina also marry when they are at their 30's?"

My friend giggled and showed her agreement with a nod:" Yeah, but the situation is not that serious. There are women just having their career in their life without marriages."

My friend also told me that in Korea, people seemed to judge women in a certain prototype. For instance, they thought Korean women should be innocent, cute etc. But in Argentina, there was no right and wrong about what the women should be. Her frank speaking made me feel that women in Argentina own a rather free lifestyle.

My friend drank the coffee, tapping the table as if in that way she would be able to get the idea:" In Korea, women care a lot about the image."

I showed my agreement:" Yeah, I have heard that most of the Korean women go to do the plastic surgery. Do women in Argentina also have this tendency?"

She answered:" Actually it's not that serious in Argentina." She gave me the example that in a job interview, Korean people would take women's ability into consideration, but their appearance and age were the vital elements. While in Argentina, they almost only concerned about the women's ability.

By chatting with my friend, I came to learn more about the facts of women's social position in Korea and Argentina. Personally I think both countries have their own pros and cons. And I'm also interested in interviewing more people to get further information.