Interview #2
3/27/2011
ENGL191
Interviewer: Xiaoping Zhao
Interviewee: Grace, 김지선 (金智善)
Preparation of Interview
For the second interview I use the same preparation of the first one. I have 14 questions for the first interviewer. However I have found that 14 interview questions are too many for a 45 min interview. So I cut off 4 of my questions for my second interviewer. Before the interview, I have printed questions out. One I read those questions again and again to think about that how to ask those questions smoothly. And make sure that the time is in the control range. I also want to make sure that those questions are really gentle for my interviewer to answer.
How did I approach people? When? Where?
To find the second interviewer I asked my sister in New York to introduce one of her Korean friend to me. My sister invited her friend to her home and use QQ (Chinese Skype) to have a face time with me. We use internet to have the interview. We make sure that one day we both have time and sit before the computer have our interview. My sister sits beside her friend to help us make the interview more successfully. We decided have the interview on March 26th at 8:00pm. During the interview I really enjoy it and like the Korean girl very much. She is a really nice girl and has a really great vision.
How did I conduce and record the interview?
Based on we will use internet to have the interview I did not need to have a recorder to record those information that we have talked about. I just use the computer to record all of our conversation. So Firstly, I typed those questions to her to gave her a list of questions for preview. In my opinion, preview for the questions is really important because it makes interviewee feel concrete and exercisable for the following interview. I also asked her is there any questions that cannot be asked in this list. She told me that she felt enjoyable and relaxed about the interview. Secondly, I started from some simple questions. I thought this should make interviewee feel comfortable. Finally I start to ask the questions in the list of my interview.
Who did I interview?
Grace, 김지선 (金智善) is a girl who comes from Seoul, South Korea. She was born on May 1th 1990. There are 3 members in her family. There are her father, her mother and herself. However very soon she will have a little brother because her parents will adopt a child from orphanage. She is really excited about that. She is a student from New York University. Her major is news media. She loves her major because she wants to be a really good newsman. She hopes that one day she can go to some really poor countries to report the life there to the world. She has been to China when his father went to there do some business.
Transcription of my second interview:
Me: hello, nice to meet you, my name is Xiaoping Zhao; I am Sooky’s old sister. You can call me Tiffney. Thank you gives me the chance to interview you. What is your name?
Grace: nice to meet you, my English name is Grace. My Korean name is김지선.
Me: Ok, Grace, Thank you that you give me the chance to interview you. I know that you are Korea and live in Seoul. I also knew that you are a classmate with my sister Sooky. You got all my questions and is there any question that you feel uncomfortable to answer?
Grace: That is Ok; all the questions are comfortable for me.
Me: That is great. So the first question for you is: Do you think it will be easy to find a job after college?
Grace: oh, I have not thought about that yet, however I think it is not really difficult to find a job. I will be a newsman after college and my university is a really good. So that is not difficult to find a job.
Me: ok, that is really good news for you. And I hope that you can find a good job.
Grace: yes, I will work really hard to have a good skill for my job.
Me: yes, before we find a good job, we need do more things to have the ability to handle it. The second question is: What was the hardest thing about transitioning to the U.S.?
Grace: what is the question mean? You mean cultural shock?
Me: yes.
Grace: At first, I was surprised that boys and girls living in the same dorm and they can go each other’s room. That was the biggest cultural shock for me.
Me: Actually for me that is also a really big cultural shock and I feel inconvenience to live with boys in the same dorm. Because in china we have separate the boys and girls in different dorms and they can’t go each other’s dorm only if the teacher allow them.
Grace: the same in Korea and that is really rude.
Me: yes I agree with you. The second question is why you choose to have college abroad?
Grace: I choose to come here because that is better for me to have experiences of study abroad. Now, in Korea more and more people have education abroad. That is good for our professional skills and life experiences.
Me: OK, That is good. I think the same situation in China. Yes, next question is What are some cultural differences between your country and here?
Grace: food is really different, American food is more sweaty and salty but Korea food is not that sweaty and salty and really spicy. Another different is the age to married. Here people normally married when they are really young. But in Korea people normally married more lately like for girl the age for married is 28 or 29. For boy is more than 30 years old.
Me: Oh, yes I also aware of that. American people do marry really young and the same in china. But now, china has a trend that marries lately. Ok, so next question is who takes care of the finances in your family?
Grace: my father take cares of the finances but my mother also have a small store to sell milk and other small things.
Me: ok, what were your preconceptions about the US before coming here and how have they changed?
Grace: before I came to US I saw a lot of American movies that give me a felling that American are really open. Like they will kiss in the street al something like that. However, when I came here I found that people in American is not like the same in the movies. I did not saw any person that kiss in the street or in any other public space.
Me: that is funny. In my opinion, American is a really free country though. So, do you have any personal experiences with racism since coming to the US?
Grace: no, I did not have, everyone here is so nice to me.
Me:oh, good for you. So, what is the most important things in your life?
Grace: the most important things? I think they are God, family and friends.
Me: Oh, for me is family, lover and money. That is a big difference between us. I think you English is really good, how long did you learn English?
Grace: since I was 5 years old. My mother sent me to a learning center. So I have learned English for 16 years.
Me: that is a really long time and you have a really good education. I thought. You came here for one year, right? So what do you like to do for fun in your own country and here?
Grace: I do the same thing in Korea and here. I like to watch movies and chat with friends.
Me: oh, I like to chat with friends too. Ok, all of the questions are done now. Thank you for come to my interview and answer my questions.
Grace: you are really welcome. I am glad to help you.
Me: Thank you really much.
Grace is a girl from South Korea. She loves her country and she thought her country is a really good place to live. South Korea occupies the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula, which extends some 680 miles (1,100 km) from the Asian mainland. This mountainous peninsula is flanked by the Yellow Sea to the west and Sea of Japan (East Sea) to the east. Its southern tip lies on the Korea Strait and the East China Sea. The country, including all its islands, lies between latitudes 33° and 39°N, and longitudes 124° and 130°E. Its total area is 38,622.57 square miles (100,032.00 km2). South Korea's terrain is mostly mountainous, most of which is not arable. Lowlands, located primarily in the west and southeast, make up only 30% of the total land area.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Provinces_of_South_Korea.svg) South Korea has four distinct seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring usually lasts from late-March to early- May, summer from mid-May to early-September, autumn from mid-September to early-November, and winter from mid-November to mid-March. In Seoul, the average January temperature range is −7 °C to 1 °C (19 °F to 33 °F), and the average August temperature range is 22 °C to 30 °C (71 °F to 86 °F). Winter temperatures are higher along the southern coast and considerably lower in the mountainous interior. Summer can be uncomfortably hot and humid, with temperatures exceeding 30 °C in most parts of the country.
Government:
Like many democracies, South Korea's government is divided into three branches: executive, judicial, and legislative. The executive and legislative branches operate primarily at the national level, although various ministries in the executive branch also carry out local functions. Local governments are semi-autonomous, and contain executive and legislative bodies of their own. The judicial branch operates at both the national and local levels. South Korea is a constitutional democracy. Lee Myung-bak is a president of South Korea. The government type is republic. The national holiday is Liberation Day, 15 August (1945). “The nationality flag of Korea, the blue section represents the negative cosmic forces of the yin, while the red symbolizes the opposite positive forces of the yang; each trigram (kwae) denotes one of the four universal elements, which together express the principle of movement and harmony.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Korea#Culture)
Description of interview
I thought this is a really good interview. This is the second time that I have a interview with people. That is a really good experience for me. The interviewee is really nice. Grace answered all of my questions and shall a lot of things from her family too. I can feel that everything that she told me is the real feeling that she had. I really want to make friends with her and hope she can become a famous newsman in the future. In this interview, I have known more things about Korea. I like to interview people because I can learn a lot of things from them. And I can knew other’s story to reflection my own life. And become a worth person to the world. I hope my next interview is more successful. Thank you for all that helped me in this interview.
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