http://www.kpopbehind.com/2014/03/kpop-behind-scenes-kpop-idols-trainee.html
http://www.koreaboo.com/interactive/9-things-trainees-must-go-through-before-they-can-debut/
http://www.spin.com/2012/03/seoul-trained-inside-koreas-pop-factory/
Jenny Faust's Posts (42)
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My presentation discussed the auditioning "오디션" and training "연습" background for Korean idols: or "아이돌". Unlike those in the US, people who generally want to become celebrities must audition for an entertainment company or "기획사". The audition process: especially for the big 3 entertainment companies: JYP, SM and YG are extremely competitive. These companies view the trainees as investments and fund these trainees with anything they need both during trainee and after they debut. If you are selected, the trainees or "연습생" (generally students elementary and above) must endure a strict training schedule. Students "학생" often miss school "학교" to attend lessons that can last up to 15 hours a day, going past midnight to dawn "새벽". The training typically can last anywhere from a few months to 10 years. Trainees are constantly very stressed "스트레스" as there are no guarantees of debuting "데뷔" and they can be kicked out anytime. There are also TV shows to pick members of a idol group. They generally consist of these young trainees and are extremely challenging consist of different challenges as its purpose is also to entertain the audience similar to how a normal Korean variety show "예능" would.
For my fourth artifact, I will translate a paragraph from an article like I have weekly with my language partner. I chose from the lifestyle section because that is what I have been doing with my language partner.
중요한 시험을 앞두고 있거나 설레는 만남을 기다리고 있다면 밤을 꼴딱 새울 확률이 높다. 불안감이나 초조한 감정이 수면을 방해하기 때문이다. 이처럼 갑작스럽게 찾아오는 불면증 혹은 만성적인 불면증에 도움이 되는 음식은 없을까?
If you have an important upcoming exam or a nerve-wracking meeting, there is a high likelihood of staying up all night. This is because uncertainty and nervousness disrupts sleep. Is there food that can stop suddenly onsetting insomnia like this?
밤잠을 못자면 다음날 컨디션이 엉망이 되는 것은 물론, 부족한 에너지를 채우기 위해 식탐에 빠지기도 한다. '미국임상영양저널'에 따르면 수면 부족은 칼로리가 높은 음식에 집착하도록 만든다. 이처럼 고칼로리 음식에 현혹되면 더부룩한 속 때문에 또 다시 잠들기 어려워지는 악순환에 빠진다. 이런 불상사를 막으려면 늦은 시간 수면을 유도할 수 있는 적절한 음식이 필요하다. 200칼로리 이내로 먹을 수 있는 건강한 야식들을 알아보자.
When you can't sleep at night, your condition will be shot, and your appetite will increase to fill the lack of energy. According to an American magazine, if you lack sleep, you are more dependent on food with a higher calorie content. If you become misled into eating these high calorie foods, you enter a bad cycle where you can't sleep because you are still full. To stop this from happening, you need foods that will welcome sleep. Lets look into foods that are healthy and less than 200 calories.
◆키위= 잠들기 한 시간 전 키위를 먹도록 하는 실험을 4주간 진행하자 실험참가자의 35%가 수면 시간이 빨라지는 결과를 보인 연구가 있다. 키위에는 항산화물질, 카로티노이드, 비타민 C, 비타민 E가 들어있고 '세로토닌'이라는 호르몬도 함유돼 있다. 이 호르몬은 렘(REM)수면과 연관이 있다. 이 호르몬 수치가 낮을수록 불면증이 나타날 확률이 높다. 키위에 풍부하게 함유된 엽산 역시 불면증을 개선하는데 도움이 된다.
Kiwi - After a test where a kiwi was consumed one hour before sleep for 4 weeks, 35% of the people fell asleep faster. in kiwi, there are antioxidants, carotenoids, vitamin c, and vitamin e, and there is also a hormone called serotonin. This hormone has a relationship with REM sleep. The lower the level of this hormone, the higher chance of getting insomnia. The folic acid that is also abundant in kiwis also helps fight insomnia.
◆체리= 체리는 운동이나 다이어트로 인한 땀 배출, 손상된 근육으로부터 몸을 회복시키는데 도움이 되는 음식이다. '유럽영양저널'에 실린 논문에 따르면 체리주스를 매일 마시는 사람은 그렇지 않은 사람보다 수면시간이 늘어난다. 체리는 수면을 유도하는 멜라토닌 성분이 함유돼 있어 자연스럽게 잠을 유도한다.
Cherry - Cherry is food that is good for helping with recovery in the sweat lost from exercise and dieting as well as any injured muscles. According to an article from europe, people who drink cherry juice everyday sleep longer than those who don't. Cherries contains melatonin which is a substance which helps sleep.
◆탈지우유와 시리얼=아침식사처럼 느껴지는 시리얼과 우유의 조합은 사실상 야식으로도 적합하다. 단 당분 함량이 낮은 시리얼과 지방을 제거한 우유를 먹어야 한다. 우유는 '트립토판'이라는 아미노산을 함유하고 있는데, 이는 세로토닌 분비를 유도한다. 고지방 우유는 소화과정을 늦춰 잠을 방해하므로 탈지우유처럼 지방을 제거한 우유가 좋다.
Skimmed milk and cereal - Skimmed milk and cereal, which feels like breakfast is also good as a late night snack. You must eat cereal with a low sugar content with milk that has a low fat content. Milk contains amino acids called tryptophan which creates serotonin. High fat milk disrupts sleep, so milk like skimmed milk that is good.
Since one of my goals for the semester was to expand my vocabulary and be able to use them, I will use five of the vocabulary words I learned in my last artifact to create a phrase. The vocabulary words are bolded in the paragraph below:
2주뒤에 졸업을할생각에 슬프기도하지만 뿌듯하고 후련해요. 4년동안 잠못자고 숙제를 아슬아슬하게 끝낼때와, 스트레스가 많이싸었을때도 있었어요. 하지만 생각해보면 대학교를 너무 허겁지겁보낸거같아 조금 슬퍼요. 대학교는 조금소란스러운곳이라 졸업뒤에 조용하면 이상할것같아요. 하지만 새로운삶이 시작되는거닽아서 기대되요.
Thinking about graduating in two weeks, I am sad but also relieved and proud. Throughout the four years, there were times where I barely (in a risk) finished my homework with no sleep, and developed a lot of stress. However, when I think about it I feel like I went through college in a hurry so I am a little sad. College is a place that is a little noisy so I think it will be weird when it is quiet, However, it seems like I will be starting a new life so I am excited.
For my second artifact, I practiced a set of vocabulary words I did not know before. They are the following:
후련하다: to be relieved
뿌듯하다: to feel great/proud
기껏: to the upmost
도통: totally (negative)
아슬아슬하다: risky
허겁지겁: in a hurry
엿보다: peep through
흘겨보다: look out the corner of one's eye
소란스럽다: noisy, uproarious
회의장: conference room
동서고금: of all ages and nationalities
막론하다: be irrespective of/needless to say
구사하다: make full use of
추구하다: to seek, pursue
긴밀히: closely, tightly
누누이: repeatedly
간신히: barely
고사하다: to decline
신념: faith
가로막다: to interrupt, obstruct
안녕하세요 저의이름은 제니입니다. 저는 University of Richmond에서 회계전공을하고 사학년입니다. 오월달에 졸업을하고 DC로 이사갈예정입니다. 여름에는 4개월동안 저의언니와사면서 CPA실험 공부를할거에요. 구월에는 제친구두명과 Arlington에있는 아파트로 이사가고, 시월에는 일을시작할거에요. 사년동안 기숙사에서 살면서, 드디어 부억이있는 아파트로 들어갈생각에 들떠요. 그리고 친한치구들이 DC에살아서 같이놀생각에기뻐요. 졸업하면 몇명친구들은 멀리이사를갈예정이라서 슬프지만, 숙제를이제는 안해도되서 좋아요. 졸업식에넌 저의 언니랑 동생 2명, 그리고 부모님도 올거에요. 다들본지 오래되서 재미있을것닽아서 좋아요.
Translation: Hell, my name is Jenny. I am a senior accounting major at the University of Richmond. I am planning on graduating in may and moving to DC. In the summer, I will live with my sister and study for the CPA. In September, I will move into an apartment in Arlington with two of my friends, and in October I will start working. I have lived in a dorm for the last four years, so I am excited to move into an apartment with a kitchen. Also, I have close friends in DC, so I am excited to hang out with them. I am sad because I have a few friends moving far away after graduation, but am happy that I won't have to do homework anymore. At my graduation, my older sister, two of my younger siblings and my parents will be coming. I am happy because it's been a long time since I have seen everyone.
This semester, my goal was basically to expand on what I started last semester. My initial goal was to expand on my Korean skills particularly involving writing and vocabulary in general, as well as becoming more comfortable speaking Korean. In the past year, I feel that I am definitely more comfortable speaking Korean. When I first started, my confidence in Korean was very low, and would always speak it with hesitation and at a low volume, and I only used it when I absolutely had to. However, by practicing it on a very regular basis, I have become much more comfortable speaking it, and feel that it will continue to improve as I practice after graduation. One of the biggest goals I had was to expand on my vocabulary, and improve on my writing skills. I've always had a much harder time reading things like news articles because I didn't know much of the vocabulary. However, this semester, I spent a lot of time reading news articles and translating them with my language partner. I feel like this had a great impact on my vocabulary as I was able to have regular practice with these more difficult words.
In addition, I wanted to work on improving my writing skills. A lot of my difficulty in writing came with the fact that I didn't know a lot of vocabulary. It was even more difficult to come up with the vocabulary myself than to just know its definition. However, throughout this semester I spent some time on writing on different topics with my language partner, as well as just memorizing vocabulary on a flash card. I think this helped a lot, and my writing skills have improved from how it was originally when I started last spring.
In terms of culture, I thought that I already had a lot of knowledge in Korean culture since I grew up there. However, through learning more about it, I was able to see that there were a lot of aspects I did not know. Even in topics which I did know about, I was about to expand my knowledge on it. For example, I learned more about Korean food especially Korean fusion and its impact on Koreans who live in foreign countries, the drinking culture, as well as the process to become an "idol" in Korea. These were all really interesting and I feel that I have a more well rounded knowledge on Korea as a whole.
This semester, I decided to learn more about the lifestyle of Korean students as well as Korean food. I was able to learn more about the Korean drinking culture which was great because I always hear about how it is a huge culture in Koreans for numerous generations. Because I moved to the US at a young age, I was never was able to participate or know much about the drinking culture and other activities students partake in. Therefore, I enjoyed doing research as I could imagine what my life would be like if I still lived there. It was also interesting because it was a continuation of my cultural project last semester. After the end of the semester, I felt that there was more I could expand on, but was limited to due to time and the length restriction of my presentation. Throughout this semester, I was able to expand on it and feel like I have a more rounded knowledge on the culture.
Another aspect which I focused on was Korean food. What I ended up researching about was the starting and expansion of Korean fusion. In the past few years, I've definitely seen a wide expansion on Korean fusion. While I thought it was cool, I didn't think much else of it. But through research, I found that Korean fusion has made it much easier for "gypos" which are Koreans who live in foreign countries to fit in their societies. For gyopos, they don't necessarily fit in Korea because they often have different cultural ideas and/or accents. In the countries they live in, they also don't necessarily fit in because they have different appearances and may have a different cultural background. I definitely understand what that is like because I moved here from Korea, and struggled with differences in the first few years. It is great to hear that even things like food can bring different cultures together.
My culture project this year was about the process Korean trainees go through to become idols. Through my research, I found how difficult it is to even get signed with an entertainment industry - as they have a grueling and extremely competitive audition process. I also learned that these trainees often train for years starting from even elementary or middle school. They have to sacrifice their education as they are often not able to make their school. To be an idol, you have to be trained in acting, singing, dancing, speaking, different languages, etc. In addition, it is extremely important to be fit and pretty, which often requires plastic surgery. Because there is no guarantee that you will debut as an idol, they struggle through a lot of insecurities. I think this fits well with the fact that the Korean society is extremely competitive and fast paced, and it is amazing what these young children go through to follow their dreams.
In the past two weeks, I've discussed what I've learned with my language partner and what I plan to do after I graduate to keep up with my Korean skills. Since I am graduating this semester, obviously I am not able to continue on with taking SDLC classes. Therefore, in order to continue on to develop Korean skills, I have to be able to continue on my own. While I am concerned that with my work schedule, it will be difficult to find time to do so, I think I have learned through this class how to learn on my own while managing my time.
We also read articles as we always do when we meet. This one was about "luxury camping," a common vacation that many Koreans seem to take. I have briefly heard of this because I saw it on a show and thought it would be a fun, quick trip. In the US, when you think of camping, most think of being in the middle of the woods with a tent, toasting marshmallows on your own. However in luxury camping, there is a outdoors "tent" set out for you, or there is a trailer already at the camping sight. At some places, you can order restaurant quality food, and at others you bring the food to cook in front of of your trailer or tent. I think this is a great way for areas especially like Seoul to bring camping right next to the city. It's more convenient and takes less planning, so I think it fits very well with the Koreans' hectic lifestyle.
The article itself was one of the easier ones we've read this semester because most of the vocabulary used was more simple. Therefore, I was able to get through it with less help from my language partner. While reading, I also remembered some of the words which I had learned before this semester. It was great to see the improvement that I have made throughout the semester, and realize that a lot of the things I am learning was really sticking with me.
In the past two weeks, we decided to try something new and I took a Korean intermediate language quiz to see how I would score. I did a few when I took my language assessment at the end of last semester, and I thought it was a fun way to see at what level my Korean skills were. I took another quiz at an intermediate level, and found that the quiz wasn't too hard. It basically just made me read passages and tell them what it means. I think because my strengths are speaking and understanding every-day words and phrases, quizzes like this are easier, but may not be a fair representation of my Korean skills. Therefore, I took another quiz which focused more an grammar where I performed not as well. This quiz made me identify grammatical errors in a given sentence. Because I know Korean grammar by basically what sounds right, some of them were difficult to identify. As I continue to progress in Korean, I think coming back to these quizzes to test myself will be a good way to see how much progress I have made.
An article I read with my language in one of the weeks was about a new way of counting calories.This article was somewhat harder to read because it contained a lot of health terms that I was not sure of. However, my language partner helped me through it, and I was able to make through it. We also talked about the Korean culture and their almost obsession with appearance. I've heard about Korean celebrities who only eat less than 1,000 calories a day, or only eat sweet potatoes for a week in order to loose weight. This obviously is also an issue in the US as well as throughout the world, but I often feel that Koreans take it to another level. I think this relates back to the importance they put on appearance.
In my own time, I've also been practicing writing more and watching and reading more of the news. As I've stated before, I think practice over time is what will allow me to improve Korean and let it stick for the long run. I think this in combination with the work I have been doing with my language partner has definitely helped my Korean skills.
An assignment we had this week was to teach someone something in Korean. I had this same assignment for SDLC 110, and I taught my 105 class how to order food in Korean. This semester, I decided to teach my friend how to say different colors in Korean. The colors I taught her included red - 하얀색 pink - 분홍색 purple - 보라색 green - 초록색 orange - 분홍색blue - 파란색 yellow - 노란색 white - 하얀색 and brown - 갈색. I taught her the colors by showing a sample of these colors and saying them out loud. I then had her repeat after me a few times so that it would be easier for her to remember. Then, I wrote out the colors, and had her practice a few times. After all of that, I finally quizzed her on whether she could remember how to say and write them. Since this was one lesson, she obviously did not know how to write/say all the colors, but was able to remember some of them. This experience was a bit different from last year, as I was teaching one of my friends and not the whole class. Therefore, I was able to get more personal, and it seemed a lot easier to teach her since I could correct her mistakes at an individual level.
With my language partner the past two weeks, I read an article as we always do every time we meet. One of them was about a cherry blossom festival that is coming soon. Cherry blossoms are a huge deal in Korea and Japan, and I have always wanted to go back to see them. The last few times I went were in mid-march, and so I always missed them by a few weeks which made me sad. The article we read talked about a festival at a horse-themed park, where not only would there be cherry blossoms to look at but also activities for children and couples as well as a horse themed light show that would happen at night. When reading the article, I was able to identify the majority of these words. However, I had a little trouble with technology words that were used to describe the light show. In addition, I do generally have trouble with words that are in english but are written in Korean. People in Korea seem to be using these words increasingly over time, and it's hard to identify quickly when reading because they're spoken in such different ways since Koreans don't use "r"s or "fs" For example, "Paris" is pronoucned "Pah-li" which makes sense when you know that's what the reading is talking about but it doesn't seem to click as quickly sometimes when I'm reading quickly.
During our meeting, we also talked about different aspects of culture such as relating to the cherry blossom festival. My language partner explained to me that Koreans enjoy things that are beautiful like outdoor festivals. He said this also relates to the fact of why Koreans like plastic surgery so much. I never thought of it in this way, and it was interesting to think of it in a more positive sounding way.
One of the two topics I picked for my cultural post is the lifestyle of students that are my age. Being somewhat familiar with Korea, I know that drinking culture is a huge part of university as well as adult life. Because it is different from how students in the US spends their weekends, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about it.
Unlike drinking in the US, the drinking culture in Korea has a lot of etiquette rules - even in a university setting. Generally, the hierarchy runs based on age. Therefore, if there is someone older than you which you're drinking with, you must accept any drinks they give you and make sure their glass is filled. I've heard a lot of stories where some students were not comfortable with drinking. However, since it is often considered rude to decline a drink, they are forced to do so.
Korean students also play a lot of drinking games. Examples include: 3-6-9 where you count excluding numbers with 3,6 and a 9 and take a shot if you mess up, the quick wit game, where people count and stand up, but if more than one person does so, they must drink, and the name game where you pick a topic and say as many words you can think of while keeping track of what people said before you, among many others.
Korea also has a large club culture. In areas like Hongdae, which is by Hongik University, the streets are full of bars which continue well into the morning. The Korean drinking ate is 19, so people ranging form 19 to around 30 usually frequent the club scene. Along with Hongdae, areas like Gangnam and Itaewon are also full of clubs - and generally play electronic or hip hop music. There are also bars in addition to clubs. However, unlike most bars in the US where you can mingle with strangers, most Korean bars have restaurant-like seating only, so most people tend to hang out with the people they came with. However, bars in areas where foreigners are more common - such as in Itaewon - tend to have more "American style" bars where people can mingle and meet new people.
The past two weeks, I have been watching more news clips as well as reading news articles. For the most part, we have been sticking with more lifestyle news articles when it comes to reading because of my vocabulary skills. With lifestyle articles, it seems that there are still many words and grammar rules I don't know, but enough that I can get through it and ask questions. As we do every week, I read an with my language partner, one of them being an article about a popular outdoors market in Korea. It took some time to get through it due to the vocabulary (since I ask for its definition as I read), but I was eventually able to make sense of it. However, I feel that I did learn a lot of new words, and reading articles every week is definitely improving my vocabulary skills.
This article was also interesting because it gave me an insight into the Korean culture. This article discussed that there is an outdoor market in Seoul, which is becoming bigger and catching up with those in other Asian countries. While I've been to Korea within the past few years, I had never heard of this market. I know Korea is famous for overnight outdoors market with cheap clothes, but I was surprised to hear about a more trendy market. I am definitely planning to visit the next time I am in Korea.
In addition to reading the article, I also wrote a paragraph about what I've done in the past week. For me, the most difficult part of writing in Korean is coming up with descriptive words to write about, as well as the spelling. I think as my vocabulary expands, it will be easier for me to come up with words to write with. After I finished, my language partner noticed a few mistakes and corrected some of my spelling errors. I feel that I often resort to the same sentence structure and words I am familiar with when I am writing. One of my additional goals for the semester will be to extend out of my comfort zone and start using terms and structure I am not as familiar with.
We also talked about differences in Korean culture to US culture. For example, Koreans tend to believe that your blood type is a good indicator of your personality type. Since personally, I don't really believe in that your blood type or horoscope can tell the future, it is interesting to learn about it. Often in Korean TV shows, they will ask what their blood type is, and discuss how fitting it is with their personality. While I don't believe that there are only four (since there's 4 main types of blood) personalities, I do agree that it may be fun to connect personalities to blood types.
One of the things I did in the past few weeks is watch news clips, as well as clips from variety shows to see how much I could understand. One week, I watched a clip from the Korean SNL, where a lot of new slang was used. While I am familiar with most of the older slang, I did not know what a lot of the newer words meant. I feel that compared to the US, my generation in Korea uses far more slang, and like to shorten words - kind of like how we shorten "laugh out loud" to LOL. Therefore, when watching the clip, I had a somewhat harder time with not knowing the definition of some of the words, but my language partner explained it to me after. Therefore this was a good opportunity for me to learn new worlds for daily usage in Korean.
Trying to understand the news clip was also somewhat difficult at times because I did not understand some of the technical words. Because they are also speaking fast, and in monotone, it was harder to get a grasp of what they were talking about, compared to variety shows - where the tone tends to be far more dynamic. I think as I watch more news clips, I will be able to continue improving on my vocabulary.
As we do weekly, I also read a news article out loud, and was given feedback by my language partner. Vocabulary is also the hardest component here. The article was about the Obama administration - thus included a lot of more difficult political words. While I could grasp the general idea of most of the sentences, it is hard for me to be able to know the definition of each individual words. However, I think this is something that will improve over time.
We also had a conversation about culture, and compared the environment in which we were raised. Although my mom moved to the US at a very young age, she always pushed academics very hard growing up, which seems to be the norm in Korea. However, what seemed drastically different was the more open relationship I had with my parents. Especially as I have gotten older, my parents are comfortable talking about most topics whether it pertains to love life, alcohol, etc. However, it seemed that my language partner's parents were not as comfortable. This made sense because it seems that the Korean society is much more conservative than that of the US.
In my first artifact, I did something that was similar to one of my artifacts I did for 110 but tried to expand on it with phrases I was not sure of. It took me a while to make sure I had all the spelling right and used the right vocabulary. However, with the help of my language partner I was able to get through it. I hope that by the end of the semester that I will be able to utilize even more vocabulary, as that is one of the main things I hope to work on. In addition, when listening to the recording, I can definitely hear an accent when speaking, but I think it is understandable enough. However, I did stumble a few times and hope that practicing speaking will get rid of those issues.
A couple of weeks ago, I heard about a Korean reality TV show about 101 "trainees" who are fighting for 11 spots to debut in a girl group. The girls' ages ranged from about 15-28 years old, and they had been training at their entertainment companies anywhere from less than one to 10 years. Hearing about this TV show, I was reminded of the crazy process in which aspiring Korean "idols" go through in order to debut. Idols are young singers generally in groups who have been trained by entertainment companies often for many years before their debut.
The process of becoming an "idol" is vastly different from the process in the US. They often audition or are scouted at a very young age - often in elementary or middle school. They are then expected to train almost daily in areas such as singing, acting, speaking, having charm, etc. However, while many of these trainees spend a majority of their childhood practicing taking away from their school, friends and family, they have absolutely no guarantee as to whether they will one day be able to debut. Due to this, these young trainees are under tremendous pressure in that they are essentially sacrificing their whole lives for something which may never come true. The entertainment companies who take in these trainees are generally large companies who train trainees, debut them, and basically control them even after they debut. While they are technically singers, idols are not only expected to sing. To be successful, idols must have singing, dancing, acting abilities, be funny, be kind, never date, but preferably not have plastic surgery (which is difficult since the audience expects idols to be flawless).
Even if the trainees are able to debut through grueling competition and uncertainty, the stress continues. First includes financial issues. When the entertainment companies are training the idols (as well as when they debut), they spend money on their training, plastic surgery, housing, or even their hairstyles whether the idol wants it or not. The entertainment company essentially sets up an account for each individual, and after they debut takes the money back of what they spent. While this may seem fair to some, a lot of the money that goes into the idol is mandatory. For example, idols often do not have a choice in their haircut, where to live, what training they must receive, etc. Therefore, while the idol may be bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars upon their debut, the idols themselves will be making a very small percentage of that revenue. Because what is included in this "account" is often not transparent, lawsuits against the companies by the idol are not uncommon.
In addition, the idols are expected to practice day and night, go on variety shows, music shows, tv shoots, etc forcing them to stay up to sometimes four days in a row. It is not uncommon to hear about a celebrity who faints due to exhaustion. Not only is there physical exhaustion, it is also mentally difficult. The Korean fans have extremely high expectations for these idols - and essentially expect perfection both physically and mentally. If they gain minimal amounts of weight they are called fat, if they are not smiling on a show, they are accused of being rude but if they're too smily, they are then accused of stealing the spotlight. This causes tremendous stress on most idols - shown in the fact that many idols quit and return to normal life after a few years.
I think this is an interesting reflection on Korean culture in that it relates back to the extremely hard-working, fast-paced environment most Koreans live in. Because it is so different from the culture in the US, it is interesting to see the different cultural environments.
Because I have the same language partner as I did last semester, it has fortunately been an easy transition into this semester. Last semester, the focus was for me to be able to improve on my speaking ability and my confidence level while speaking Korean, my vocabulary so that I can comprehend more difficult conversations/readings, as well as my writing level. While I made progress last semester, my goals were not something that can be achieved on a period of 4 months. Therefore, for the most part my goals have stayed consistent from last semester. Because it took a few weeks to get assigned to our language partner, I have only met with my language partner once. An area we decided to discuss more this semester compared to the last is culture. Because I took SDLC 105 in the fall along with 110, I was able to get both without really having to discuss it with my language partner. However, now that I am only taking 111, I feel like discussing culture as well as learning the language will be beneficial.
During our first meeting, the main topic we discussed was Korean superstitions. Growing up, I remember my grandma telling me about a few of them such as that if you slept with a fan on you would die, or that if you dreamt about a pig, it means that you will get money. With my language partner, I was able to learn about a few more of them like if there is a bird in your home, it means somebody in your family will die, or that the number 4, shaking your legs, or writing your name in red is bad luck. I know from experience that many Koreans strongly believe in superstitions, as well as fortune telling. I thought this was an interesting insight into the Korean culture, and enjoyed learning more about them.
In addition to learning more about the culture, I also read a news article with my language partner. The article we read was about depression and its symptoms and what you can do to overcome it. The vocabulary in the article was difficult, therefore it took quite a while to read out loud and get through. However, it was a good chance for me to learn some vocabulary - especially some medical terminology, and read about a heavier topic. Getting immediate response from my language partner on vocabulary I didn't know was very helpful. In addition, just reading Korean out loud helps me in that Korean can sometimes be hard to read out loud because it is so different from English. This is something we plan to continue for the rest of the semester, and I think it will be extremely helpful in getting me towards my goal.
One of the topics I wanted to learn more about was Korean food. Recently, I've noticed that fusion seems to be a huge thing in Korea - and there is so much more to Korean food than Korean BBQ and Kimchi. I wanted to explore how the cuisine has evolved, and did a little research on the internet.
One of the articles I read discussed two Korean Americans who opened up a Korean-Mexican fusion restaurant in Seoul. The owner states that as a child, he had a lot of Korean BBQ items in his fridge, and would often throw these items in a tortilla and make himself a taco without thinking of it as "fusion." Then he simply took what he used to eat often as a child and turned it into a menu for his restaurant.
He also said that there was a time where "gyopos" who are Koreans who grew up abroad were not fully accepted into the Korean culture because they had different cultural backgrounds or sometimes because they could not speak Korean or spoke with an accent. This situation was made even worse because gypos were also often not accepted in the countries they lived in because of different looks, origins, etc. However, thanks to Korean dishes with foreign influences, gypos are becoming more accepted as Korean fusion continues to expand into the food and beverage market.
I know from outside this article that Korean fusion food - especially Korean-Mexican is becoming increasingly common. I see it at food trucks, the frozen food isle, many restaurants, etc. Compared to other types of Asian foods like Chinese or Japanese, I feel like Korean food has always been much less known throughout the world. Thanks to fusion items which are becoming common in the US, people are becoming much more aware of Korean cuisine and therefore Korean culture.
It was interesting to see that just the expansion of Korean fusion can make a new culture in both Korea and foreign countries such as the US. It definitely helped me see the importance of food in culture and what impact it can have even abroad in other countries.
Because I lived in Korea until I was about 10 years old, I feel that I have a pretty good idea of the general Korean culture. However, because I moved here at a young age, I don't have as great of knowledge when it comes to the culture of people my age. I also don't have a lot of Korean friends, so I'm not really sure on the lifestyle of Korean students my age. Last semester, I presented about the student lifestyle in Korea for my culture project. While I learned a lot while researching, only so much could fit into my project, and I felt that there was a lot for me to learn. Therefore, this is a cultural topic I'd like to focus on this semester.
Second, another cultural topic I'd like to learn more about is on Korean food. I know about the basic Korean dishes, but I'd like to know more about traditional Korean food, or how their cuisine has developed over time. I know recently, Korean fusion has become a bigger concept, and I'd like to learn more about how that has developed. I think my main mode of learning about these two topics will be through internet research - such as through articles or YouTube videos. I can also interview Korean students who would probably have a good idea on these topics.
Through these topics, I feel that I will gain a better grasp on the Korean culture - specifically on the younger generation. For example with food, I know the Korean cuisine, and the etiquette that comes with it is a huge part of Korean culture and is what makes them unique. I feel that this would give me a good insight into the culture, and and their main beliefs.
With what I learned last semester, I would say that my Korean level is about intermediate. Continuing on from last semester, my goals for the next few months is basically to continue what I learned last semester. Because Korean is my first language, I am somewhat able to understand basic conversations and read basic passages. What I do have problems with is speaking in general, writing, or reading in context that goes beyond what is discussed in daily life. This is something that I started to work on last semester. While I did improve, I feel that these are skills which needs more than 4 months. I am hoping that by working with my language partner this semester, my skills will continue to improve. As we started to last semester, we will continue to read more challenging articles and speak about topics which discuss more difficult topics.
Interpersonal communication remains one of my focus points for this class, as it was last semester, as it is still an area which needs more work. My reasoning for taking this class is to be more knowledgeable in my first language, and be able to use it comfortably. Therefore, interpersonal communication is obviously an area which needs focus. I can generally understand most of what someone is saying as long as the vocabulary remains somewhat basic. However, it still takes a little more time for me when I try to say the same things. I sometimes have problems with coming up with the vocabulary or saying my sentences in the correct grammatical structure. This becomes a much bigger area to work on when it comes to discussing things like current events. The main issue seems to be my lack of knowledge in higher-level vocabulary. By studying on my own as well as conversing weekly with my language partner, I feel that I will be able to continue to improve in these areas.
Listening: As it was last semester, this is probably the area I am most comfortable with. While the issue with my lack of knowledge in vocabulary sometimes causes issues while listening, I can generally use context clues to get the general idea of most conversations. However, this becomes more difficult when watching the news because they generally speak in monotone and use difficult vocabulary. Because of this, I have been watching news clips as a part of my learning plan since last semester. By doing this alone and with my language partner, I hope to continue in this area as well.
Writing: This is probably the most difficult area for me, as it requires me to come up with vocabulary on my own, as well as knowledge on spelling. For me, the most difficult part of Korean is spelling, as there are numerous ways to write something that sounds exactly the same. I think this just requires more hands-on practice, and thus is something I have been working on since SDLC 110. Last semester, my language partner had me write a paragraph on various topics and he would correct me on my mistakes. I feel that this helped me a lot as I was able to practice writing and get immediate response. Since this was very useful, I plan to do this during this semester as well.
Reading: Generally, I can read anything in Korean although I may stutter or read slowly compared to as I would in English. However, sometimes because I'm focusing on reading out loud and my pronunciation, it becomes more difficult for me to comprehend what I have just read. I think this also takes more practice and will improve over time. Therefore, I will continue to read out loud news articles in order to practice this skill.
Overall, I think I did pretty well in achieving my goals for the semester. However, I definitely think I have a long way to go before I get to a point where I want to be overall since that is not something that can be achieved in four short months. Throughout the semester, I definitely felt that my progress went pretty smoothly. Some of the stumbling blocks was that because one of my biggest goals was to be able to understand more from more technical things like news articles and broadcasts, it was frustrating that I could study a set of words, but then watch another broadcast and still be confused. I was able to overcome this by realizing that this is a big goal that will take some time, and learning to be more patient. By the end of the semester, while there are still many words which I still do not know, I have adapted to the fast speaking, and monotone, and have improved a little in my vocabulary.
One of the most interesting things about taking this class and SDLC 105 was the knowledge in culture I was able to gain. Not only was I able to gain knowledge on Korean culture (and other countries' cultures) through being enrolled in SDLC 105, I was able to gain a lot of insight through speaking with my language partner. My opinion on Korean culture is outdated since I haven't lived there in over a decade, so it was interesting to see what my language partner had to say.
After this semester, I definitely plan to keep learning Korean. I have yet to decide whether I will be enrolling in SDLC 111, but whether I decide to or not I will keep working in order to become completely "fluent." I will continue using resources like watching and reading the news in order to expand my vocabulary and speaking/writing skills.
