Interview Report 2

Interview Report 2

ENGL191 SECTION21

Wei Zhang

Interviewee:Yoojung Shin

From: South Korea

Date: Nov.1st 2009




Part1: Preparations made
Questions:
1. Where are you from?
2. What are your family remembers? Where are they now?
3. How was your life like when you were at home?
4. How many special festivals do you have in your culture? What do you do?
5. How’s life going in a different country now?
6. Do you feel any culture shock?
7. What do you think is the biggest difference between the people in your own culture and those in America?
8. Are you feeling homesick?
9. How do you feel about using a second to study?
10. What’s your dream in America?

Objectives:
1. Do some research about the culture which i am going to visit2. Find some students from that culture3. Find a comfortable place for the interview4. Prepare acceptable questions for interviewees5. Try to warm up the situation when doing the interview6. Try to be friends with those students so that they can share more7. Prepare something to record the answers, maybe writing or taping8. Compare the answers from different students9. Deep dig the culture from the answers and online resources

Locations:
Shoemaker activity room
Technology:
Iphone
Part2: How did you approach people, how did you secure three for interviews?
Actually, It didn’t take me muck time on this. I have some good Korean friends so that I just asked them to introduce some new Korean students to me.
At the first time, my friend brought three of her friends to me and we had a small nice talk in library. Since my friend was there, we were not in such an awkward position.
For this second interview, my friend give me the student’s phone number and let me contact with her myself. Then I call her to find a time and a place to meet, and we finally choose to do it in the place where she lives.

Part3: When, where, and how did you conduct the interview?
At the first time, on Oct.17th, my friend brought her three friends and we met in the library. It was a quite comfortable small talk. I explained the reason I wanted to ask them for help and introduced myself to all of them.
During my second interview, I choose to do it in the activity room in shoemaker because that’s where she lives and it’s more convenient for her. Since that’s where she lives, she should feel more comfortable to talk in that kind of situation. When the interview starts, I began with some basic questions to make her feel comfortable about the situation, after that, I started to ask more complex questions. From what I heard from her answers, I added some new questions to the interview.


Part4: Whom did you interview, provide an abstract of the interviewee's biography
Name: Soojin
Gender: Female
Nationality: South Korea
Major: Tourism
Want to be in the future: A hotel manager
Hobby: watching TV shows, party with friends
Years been in America: One year ( going to back to South Korea very soon)
Favorite food: kimchi
Favorite movie: lord of the rings

Part5: Describe the interview process from your vantage point. Was there any part that impressed you, moved you, gave pause to you?
During the second interview, I find it a little bit hard to do because the student is studying in IEC and can’t speak English very well. Sometimes, she can’t explain her thoughts very well, but fortunately I can understand most of them since I did some research about her culture. When she talked about the life in America, she did mentioned a lot about how nice the people are here, and she enjoyed the life here. She would like to stay here if she has this chance after one year exchange. I actually feel the same way about this. Most of the people in Asia are kind of conservative and don’t talk to each other every much, especially between strangers. In the U.S, at least in St.Cloud, it’s totally different. We feel every warm to stay here.
Part6: Provide a short report about the country and culture of your interviewee
South Korea is located in East Asia, on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. There is China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul.
Government：Just like many democracies, “South Korea's government is divided into three branches: executive, judicial, and legislative.” [1]

History：Korea was founded in 2333 BCE by Dangun. On Jun.25th 1950, North Korea tried to unify the country by military force which lead to the Korean War, and it was ended in 1953.

Foreign relationship: Historically, Korea used to have relatively close relations with the Republic of China. “Before the formation of South Korea, Korean independence fighters worked with Chinese soldiers during the Japanese occupation.” [2]

Geography and Climate: South Korea locates in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. It has a humid continental climate and a humid subtropical climate, and is affected by the East Asian monsoon
Economy: “South Korea had the world's second-fastest growing economy from 1960 to 1990.”[3] Korea's development during this time was called the Miracle on the Han River, and South Korea was also one of the Four Asian Tigers. “South Korea has a high-tech infrastructure, with the world's highest broadband internet access per capita, and the fastest average Internet connections.” [4]
Religion: Less than half of South Koreans have no religious beliefs. Those who do are mostly Christian or Buddhist. Other religions include Islam and various new religious movements such as Jeungism, Daesunism, Cheondoism and Wonbuddhism.
Culture: Besides domestic consumption, South Korean like televised drama, films, and popular music, also generates significant exports to various parts of the world. This phenomenon, often called "Hallyu" or the "Korean Wave", has influenced many countries in Asia and other parts of the world.
Korean cuisine is largely based on rice, noodles, tofu, vegetables, fish and meats. Traditional Korean meals usually include side dishes, banchan (반찬), which accompany steam-cooked short-grain rice. Every meal is accompanied by numerous banchan. Kimchi, a fermented, usually spicy vegetable dish is also commonly served at every meal and is one of the best known Korean dishes.

1. The Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracy 2008
2. Asia Times – News and analysis from Korea; North and South
3. Pecotich, Anthony; Shultz, Clifford J. (2006). Handbook of Markets and Economies
4. http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/08/24/daily20.html U.S. is 15 years behind South Korea in Internet speed, San Francisco Business Times - by Steven E.F. Brown