Interview #2

Interview Transcription

Me: Hi, let’s start our interview. First, what is your name?

Elisa: My English name is Elisa Kwon, but in South Korea I am called Soonjeong Kwon.

Me: Second question is where are you from?

Elisa: I am from Seoul, South Korea.

Me: Can you tell me the education system of your country?

Elisa: Sure, that is an interesting question. We have 6 years of elementary school, 3 years of middle school, and 3 years of high school. Elementary school and middle school are mandatory.

Some prestige schools are required to take entrance exams, but other than that, students go to the adjacent schools.

Almost all students go to college, I think almost about more than 80%. People generally agree that students who graduated high school have to go to colleges.

Me: That sounds familiar. Could you tell me how has your culture influenced your people/family values?

Elisa: We used to have extended families in the past. As the society gets urbanized/ modernized, nuclear families are increasing.

Probably it is not a correct answer you want since I didn't get the word, "family values", but may be useful for you.

Me: That is fine, I think your answer is worthy for me as well.

Elisa: Great!

Me: What is the form of government in your country?

Elisa: Government? I think South Korea is a democratic nation because North Korea is a communism society. We have president who is elected by South Korean citizens. The term for president is 6 years.

Me: Please tell me one thing that makes you proud of your country.

Elisa: I am proud of Korea when the name of the country is well known to foreigners compared to the past. If I ask anybody about my country, sometimes they know much more than me. Especially, as the celebrities are getting popular to the foreigners, Korea gets famous after all.

However, I have a lot of negative aspects about Korea. I am skeptical whether it is a good trend that Korea is only famous for celebrities, dramas, cosmetics and things like visual oriented ones. More like Korean culture such as traditional costumes, houses, food, and more authentic cultural things are neglected by the things are not really a Korean things, westernized, which is recently booming. This is just my thought. You don't need to add if you need just academic statistics, but I thought it is really necessary to express my idea how I, a real Korean person, feel about Korea itself.

Me: I think that is pretty useful for me since you are talking about your own thoughts about your country, and it is a good thing for both of us!

Elisa: Thank you!

Me: Would you like to recommend me some places or sites for traveling in South Korea?

Elisa: Seoul is the best place I would like to recommend. All the cultural events, restaurants, modern facilities, museums are gathered in the capital city. The old palace is a good place to go because there will be a lot of tourists, and all the good things are exhibited in and around the palace.

Me: What festivals do you celebrate in your country?

Elisa: We have a lunar new year which is called, Sulnal, and lunar thanks giving, Choosuk, as holidays. Those are really important for Koreans for family gatherings. We cook different food from normal dishes. We wear nicer clothes than the other normal days.

Me: Could you tell me what the weather like in your hometown?

Elisa: There are four seasons in my hometown which are spring, summer, fall, and winter. The weathers are a year round, and rotate again as another New Year starts.

Me: What are the most popular sports in your country?

Elisa: Actuall, Koreans don't enjoy sports. However, I would choose soccer, ice skating and swimming. Those are popular because we won some medals from Olympics in swimming and skating and we went to the semi final in World Cup for soccer. Some people are enjoying athletics, others are not.

Me: What's the traditional food in your country?

Elisa: The biggest difference between Korean food and the other food from other countries is spiciness. We tend to eat spicy. Kimchi is called the most popular side dish which is seasoned cabbage with red hot pepper powder and other spices such as minced garlic, minced ginger, fish sauce, salt and so on. It is a healthy food.

There are a lot of food rather than Kimchi. We eat Bulgogi which is beef, or Galbi, which is pork, marinated with soy souce. Bibimbop, which is richly with vegetables and hot sauce.

Me: I really like those foods; I miss those kinds of food.

Elisa: Me too.

Me: The last question is, could you tell me what do most women do after they get married in your country? (House wife, working?)

Elisa: It really depends, many people say getting married is kind of like getting jobs for women because the house works are hard and require a lot of times, but many people want to get a real job rather than just being a house wife. My mom was a full time house wife, but now she got a job as a restaurant owner, and she is doing her job wonderfully.

Me: What about you?

Elisa: My independent idea about marriage is not just being a house wife.

Of course, I do want to be a best wife and a wonderful mother, but I just don't want to be in a house and not develop myself. That is the reason why I came to the US. I guess? Ha-ha. I just want to do something what I want to do. That is the reason why I came here

Me: Thank you very much!

Elisa: You are welcome!

Process description:

Because of the first interview, have more experience and courage to find a Korean student to do my second interview. Fortunately, I met a South Korean girl in Malaysia Cultural Night and mad appointment in November 9^th night to do the interview. She was so nice and seemed interested in the interview, when I asked for her and she replied with yes immediately. Her name is Elisa, and I know she is a Korean since we came to SCSU at the same time. We met in library on Wednesday night and she dressed up formally since she said she wanted me know that she really paid attention to the interview. I printed twelve questions with a paper for her and started our interview immediately.

Personal review:

The interview went smoothly, and we were pretty happy in the interview. She said she had a great chance to express a lot about her home country, and I said I learned a lot from her in which something cannot be found in books. I also felt some difference from my first interview since the first interviewee was a boy. Because of that, they have some different viewpoints about South Korea, and Elisa was pretty willing to express her thoughts which are pretty amazing for this interview. I think this interview was successful, not only I learned a lot, but also we had fun in the interview which would be important for any interviews.

Report on Country and Culture

South Korea, in the east of Asia, the official name is the Republic of Korea. South Korea is near by China but separated by North Korea. South Korea is different from North Korea, almost, in public, but for people’s custom and country’s culture, they are similar. The territory of South Korea is 99,392 square kilometers and South Korea has a population of almost 50 million. The capital of South Korea is Seoul.

South Korea has a long history, which is almost as similar as China. In South Korea’s legendary, this country was built in 2333 BC, but it was unified in 668 AD. This dynasty was lasted for long time; it had almost one thousand and thirty years. In 1910, South Korea was occupied by Japan. After the civil war in Korea, South Korea was separated and charged by the United States. After that, South Korea was established with democracy and its economy is developing very fast.

The politic in South Korea usually is unstable, but this country is still performs as democracy. South Korea is a developed country; it has a lot of famous brands, such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG and so on. The most developed industries in South Korea are automobile and electricity. The culture in South Korea is based on Chinese culture, but right now, its culture is affected a lot by the modern society.

cite:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea

Interview #1 Scores

Interview #1 Scores: here

Interview #1 Top 3

1. Chen Hanqiong
2. Brice
3. Cai Hanquan

First Interview

Interview trans ranscription please click here

Preparations for the interview

I prepared twelve questions for Korean international students to realize their culture and their lives. I went to the library to find some information about Korean culture just in case if I cannot understand some specific issues such as education system. So that, I did some research on internet a bout what the Korea and what the Korean culture are, than reread my questions to have a pre-impression. After that, I prepared two papers which are listed twelve questions for my interview and my recorders pen.

How Did You Approach People?

I have some Korean friends on campus. I only need to give calls to my Korean friends or text to them to make appointments. They are also glad to do the interviews with me, so I am not worried about going to approach them.

When, where, and how did you Conduct the Interview?

I interviewed Junhyeon Park in library on third floor in SCSU. We started interview at the Wednesday afternoon at 3 o’clock on October nineteenth 2011.We met in library and found a coach, I gave Jun the paper which has already listed twelve questions and asked him could I use the recorders pen, and he said yes. So that, I turned on the recorder pen and started asking him questions. We felt relaxed and happy in the interview, he answered questions confidently and I took some notes about his answers. When we finished our interview, I felt I got enough information about Korean culture and turned off the recorders pen.

Whom did you Interview?

Junhyeon Park. He is a 20 years old Korean transfer student in SCSU. He is studying international trade right now, but he will be in SCSU for only one year and go back Korea after this semester.

Impression in interview

I think this interview was pretty successful since my interviewee had a good time with me. I also learned a lot from this interview, such as the difference and the in common points in Korean culture and society which are compared and contrasted with China and America. He described that Korean politics and education system are similar as America, but it is interesting that, the Korean people are still affected by Chinese culture. They also have the same cultural activities and behaviors.

Report on Country and Culture

South Korea, in the east of Asia, the official name is the Republic of Korea. South Korea is near by China but separated by North Korea. South Korea is different from North Korea, almost, in public, but for people’s custom and country’s culture, they are similar. The territory of South Korea is 99,392 square kilometers and South Korea has a population of almost 50 million. The capital of South Korea is Seoul.

South Korea has a long history, which is almost as similar as China. In South Korea’s legendary, this country was built in 2333 BC, but it was unified in 668 AD. This dynasty was lasted for long time; it had almost one thousand and thirty years. In 1910, South Korea was occupied by Japan. After the civil war in Korea, South Korea was separated and charged by the United States. After that, South Korea was established with democracy and its economy is developing very fast.

The politic in South Korea usually is unstable, but this country is still performs as democracy. South Korea is a developed country; it has a lot of famous brands, such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG and so on.  The most developed industries in South Korea are automobile and electricity. The culture in South Korea is based on Chinese culture, but right now, its culture is affected a lot by the modern society.

Cite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea

Reference and Facts

Group6:Eliza Pokharel, Jiayin Pan, Huan Yu, Wenda Qian

Reference and Facts

1.     Have you ever needed to know the?

• Population of a city?
• Major achievements of a famous individual?
• Definition or a term or phrase in an unfamiliar subject?
• Date of an important event?

2.     These types of questions are best answered by reference sources, which provide quick, factual information on a topic. There are many types of reference sources. For example,

• Dictionaries contain definitions of terms.
• Encyclopedias contain concise, factual information on topics or concepts.
• Handbooks contain practical information (e.g., how to do something) on a topic.
• Almanacs contain calendars, basic facts, and statistical information relating to people, places, and events.
• Biographical sources contain biographical information on individuals such as birth and death dates and major achievements.

3. Why use reference sources?

Reference sources are often the best place to start your research because they:

• Provide a good introduction to a topic.
• Provide brief, factual information.
• Summarize and clarify issues.
• Define unfamiliar terms.
• Identify additional relevant sources such as books and periodical articles.

That will make our paper be reliable, more informative, unbiased and broad. It is good for back ground information on topics.

4. How can you find reference sources or cite the reference?

There are several different ways to find reference sources on your topic:

1.     We can search on-line to find the reference on web-site.

2.     We can go to library to find books, journals or magazines, probably, to ask help at Help Desk. 

3.     Websites can be cited by different formats two of which are covered here; "MLA bibliography citation style" first, and then the "APA in text citation" secondly. Citations in the APA style are commonly used for research papers and the like.

Interview questions

Interview

Type 1: Self-recognization

1. What are you interested in your daily life? I want to know the interest firstly.
2. What would you like to think in your life? I want to know the one usually will think about.
3. How important the things you think a lot for yourself usually? I want to know the value of one’s thinking.
4. How important the things you think a lot for other people in your opinion? I want to know the value of one’s thinking to some one else.
5. If no one accept your thinking and even do not care what you are thinking about, what will you feel or do? I want to know one’s attitude of thinking.
6. How much do you know yourself, and are you satisfied yourself or do you like yourself? I want to know one’s self-recognization.
7. If you know yourself a lot or you do not know yourself a lot, could you tell me what would you like to be in the future? I want to know one’s self-recognization as well.
8. If you are satisfied your self or you like yourself, or you are not satisfied yourself or you do not like yourself a lot, could you tell me the reason? I want to know one’s self-respect.
9. Who is the most important person in your life, yourself or others? Why? I want to know one’s personal consciousness of value in individuals.
10. Do you like or are you satisfied the situation or circumstance which you are at right now, such as? Why? I want to know one’s attitude about personal consciousness of value in one’s own circumstance.

Type 2: Self-interest

11. What is your major? I want to know connections about the previous questions.
12. Why do you choose this major? I want to know the reason about one’s choice.
13. Do you like your major; if not, will you change your major in the future? I want to know one’s attitude.
14. What is your constant dream? I want to know one’s dream.
15. Do you think your dream is realistic or not, could you tell me why? I want to know one’s attitude about one’s dream.
16. Will you persist in pursuing your dream, or you will or have already given up pursuing your dream, why? I want to know one’s attitude about one’s dream more.
17. If you fail in pursuing your dream, what will you feel and do? I want to know one’s will.
18. Do you think what is much more important for a person, to live with dream or to pay more attention to the reality? I want to know the importance in one’s life.
19. Could you tell me your idea about the realistic world? Why? I want to know one’s attitude about reality.
20. If possible, what kind of world would you like to live? I wan to know one’s dreaming reality.

Ps: I will do interview with American.

Gramma Presentation

grammar presentation is here