ZeYu Chen
English 191
10/23/2012
The First Interview
Preparations for the interview
In order to do my first interview with my Korea roommate, Jin. He is 24 years old and he lived in south of Korea. I worked out 12 questions for him and reserved a suitable time with him. Before the interview, I also do lots of research on Internet about Korea. At the same time, I asked one of my friends whom lives in Korea now about Korean people daily life and if anything specially for us in Korea. I also prepared a sound record for my interview.
How Did You Approach People?
I did the interview with my roommate. The relationship between is good, so he received my request of interview immanently.
When, where, and how did you Conduct the Interview?
I did the interview with Jin on 20th Oct. Before the interview, I reserved a time with him and he showed me some videos about the history and culture of Korea. I think these are helpful for my learning about Korea. At our reserved time, I invited him to the meeting room in our dorm and we sit face to face.
Country Report
I also choose Korea for my interviewee because that my roommate is from Korea and there is a very popular Korean song called "Gangnam style". " On the other hand, there are so many popular electronic products made by Korea, such as "Sam-sum". I hope to learn that how they make these and how they developed so far.
Geography
Korea is an East Asian country that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states, North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast. It is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan (East Sea), and it is separated from Taiwan to the south by the East China Sea."（1）
Language
"Korean is the official language of both North and South Korea, and (along with Mandarin) of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Manchuria area of China. Worldwide, there are up to 80 million speakers of the Korean language. South Korea has around 50 million speakers while North Korea around 23 million. Other large groups of Korean speakers are found in China (around 1.8 million speakers), the United States (around 900,000 speakers), the former Soviet Union (around 350,000), Japan (around 700,000), Canada (100,000), Malaysia (70,000) and Australia (150,000). It is estimated that there are around 700,000 people scattered across the world who are able to speak Korean because of job requirements (for example, salespersons or businessmen with Korean contacts), marriages to Koreans or out of pure interest in the language." (2)
Culture
"In ancient Chinese texts, Korea is referred to as "Rivers and Mountains Embroidered on Silk" (금수강산, 錦繡江山) and "Eastern Nation of Decorum" (동방예의지국, 東方禮儀之國).[60] Individuals are regarded as one year old when they are born, as Koreans reckon the pregnancy period as one year of life for infants, and age increments increase on New Year's Day rather than on the anniversary of birthdays. Thus, one born immediately before New Year's Day may only be a few days old in western reckoning, but two years old in Korea. Accordingly, a Korean person's stated age (at least among fellow Koreans) will be one or two years more than their age according to western reckoning. However, western reckoning is sometimes applied with regard to the concept of legal age; for example, the legal age for purchasing alcohol or cigarettes in the Republic of Korea is 19, which is measured according to western reckoning." （3）
Religion
“According to 2005 statistics compiled by the South Korean government, about 46% of citizens profess to follow no particular religion. Christians account for 29.2% of the population (of which are Protestants 18.3% and Catholics 10.9%) and Buddhists 22.8%.
Islam in South Korea is practiced by about 45,000 natives (about 0.09% of the population) in addition to some 100,000 foreign workers from Muslim countries.” （4）
Education
“The modern Korean school system consists of six years in elementary school, three years in middle school, and three years in high school. Students are required to go to elementary and middle school, and do not have to pay for their education, except for a small fee called a "School Operation Support Fee" that differs from school to school. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks South Korea's science education as the third best in the world and being significantly higher than the OECD average.” （5）
Interview report
This is my first time to do a interview. I think it was going well with my hard work. I prepared 12 questions for this interview. When I did the interview, I did not feel nervous and I spoke fluently enough I think. In case of this interview, I think I did it well because that this interview was between my roommate and me. I chatted with him everyday, so I never felt shy. During the interview, I also talked something I was interested in about Korea with him without that 12 questions. I felt that it was good for me to learn about Korea and approach my goal to chose Korea for my interview.
Transcript
ZeYu Chen( Z )
Jin ( J )
Z: Hello Jin, are you ready for our interview?
J: Yeah, you can start it now.
Z: OK, let`s start. Can you tell me your full name and please spell it?
J: My name is Young Jin Song. Y-O-U-N-G J-I-N S-O-N-G.
Z: Aha, it just like a name of a song. Could you tell me about yourself?
J: I am from the capital of South Korea, Seoul.
Z: You can tell me more about yourself, such as your hobbies, your major, your favourite food and so on.
J: OK. I like play soccer ball on my free time. My major is management. I came here to study accounting class. I think it is important for me to go out of my country and study more knowledge. This is my junior year and I will go back when I graduate. I like eating some kinds of cakes, you know it, right?
Z: Umm, yeah, I know that. I just remind you that don`t eat too much, it`s bad for your teeth and health.
J: Thanks for your remind. You are a competent roommate!
Z: Hahn, let`s continue our interview. What do you do when you are free?
J: I will play soccer with my friends. Sometimes, I play computer games and use Facebook. I thinks you should know this.
Z: Umm, I know it, but you know this is a interview. I should ask this kind of things even though I know it before.
J: Haha, I just kidding. Please don`t mind.
Z: Yeah, I know this too. So why did you choose to study at St. Cloud University?
J: Because St. Cloud University is a nice place. I search it on website before I came here. I saw that there is so beautiful that I addicted to the landscape here.
Z: What courses do you take this semester.
J: I take accounting 291, accounting 292 and accounting 381 and I need to pass all of them. At the same time, I also take some ESL classes.
Z: Yeah, that`s why you usually complained to me every Tuesday. I know you take two accounting classes in the same day. It`s a kind of brave! I may face two accounting exams or quizes at the same day.
J: Yes, as I often talked to you before, I don`t know why there are so many tests in American university. Until now, I took 3 exams for each of my accounting class. In Korea, we just have a midterm exam and a final exam each class in a semester.
Z: I think you should feel lucky cause you never study in Chinese high school. We often have tests, hmm, maybe 2 test everyday.
J: If that, I will be crazy! But my major is accounting, so I need to put all my effort on it and try my best to study it.
Z: Yes, I know that you are so hard working. Can you tell me about activities that young people like to do in your country?
J: In Korea, most youth like doing some sports during free time, such as soccer ball. On the other hand, some youth like to stay at home. They may watch some entertainment projects in TV and Korean TV series.
Z: I think most youth who watch entertainment projects are girls, right? This is also normal in China, in this kind of TV projects, there are always some handsome boys and pretty girls and some superstars. They are popular for girls.
J: Yeah, you are right, most of them are girls.
Z: So how about the boys who like to stay at home?
J: They like to play computer games and TV games at home. Such as Star-craft. Do you know this game?
Z: Yeah, I know it. I also know this is very popular in Korea, and Korea has the most top players of Star-craft. From a long time ago, I had a question about the electronic products in Korea. Why it develop so quick in Korea?
J: What`s your meaning about it?
Z: Hmm, I mean that for example, I know that Samsung is the biggest company in Korea. But I don`t know how it develop so quick. Please explain to me in short.
J: Actually, at first Samsung just sold fridges on 1980th. But it started to go to the whole world from 1990th. In Korea, we always choose the brand of Samsung for computer, TV, camera and almost all of the electronic products. I think our support is also important for Samsung`s develop.
Z: Thanks for your explain. I think people in your country are so unity. What are the majority holidays in your country?
J: In Korea, Thanks Giving Day and New Year`s Day are the most important. We always have a long holiday during that two festivals.
Z: So , how did you celebrate them?
J: I think it is common. Our family always meet with each other and have a dinner together.
Z: Yeah, in China, we also do the same thing during Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year. What do you usually eat for your festival? I mean what is the traditional food in Korea?
J: In Korea, Kinchi and Bulgogi are popular any time. Kinchi is very famous that made of vegetables and Bulgogi is also famous that made of meat.
Z: Hmm, I`m going to ask you about a serious question. Please don`t mind about this.
J: That`s all right. I guess you will ask me about the North Korea, right?
Z: Maybe not. I`d like to know the considered offensive in your country?
J: Ah, yeah. I think it is also about the North Korea. Let me think about it.
Z: OK.
J: I think the most offensive problem in my country is North Korea. I don`t like the national system in North Korea. I mean that I don`t hate anyone in that country, but I don`t know why there are so many seriously rules in it. In my opinion, people who live in North Korea are poor and tragic.
Z: Alright, is there anything your want to add before we finish our interview?
J: No.
Z: OK, thanks for your time and I know you are going to play soccer ball this afternoon.
J: Yeah, I have a football match an hour later. I gonna to go to football field now.
Z: Oh, good luck. Have a good one!
J: You too. See you.
Z: See you.
Reference:
(1)
Korean Map, The People's Korea, 1998.
(2)
http://baike.baidu.com/view/3299.htm
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