Saturday, September 14, 2013

Choe Kyung-Yo/Exercise 2 (pg. 11)/Tue 3,4

1. How do you feel about writing in your first language compared to writing in English.

 

I feel more comfortable with the former, absolutely. Specifically, when I write something in English, I write them in Korean, in my head in advance, and then translate them into English. Teachers say it is a very bad habit which I should break. I agree with them. Thinking in English, however, is still very difficult to me.

 

2. When you are writing a paper for a class, do you try to please yourself or the teacher? Explain.

 

I try to please both of them, however, I try to please the professor more. The biggest and the simplest reason is because it is more than just a paper, it is an assignment, which means it affects my credit. (Credit is always important, sadly)

For the assignments, I tend to choose safer way, which can sound a little vague. So I will explain it.

 

I have some interesting stories in my head, however I don't know how to write them in English, and then I throw them away. I just try to come up with some stories that are easier to express in English. It maybe can sound pathetic. I know I shouldn't, but I did, and I am probably doing now in this writing. Actually whenever I should make a story that has vocabularies and grammars that I know, I feel miserable.

 

In the future, I will try to make a paper that pleases me also please the professor.

 

3. Have you ever done any writing for yourself only – letters to friends or relatives, journals, diaries, poems? If so, explain how this writing was different from the writing you did for school assignments.

 

I'm keeping a diary these days. I will introduce some differences between diaries and other writings for homework.

 

First, diaries give me less pressure, specifically about grammars, vocabularies, whether it sounds natural, and many things.

Second, diary takes me less time even if I write it a lot longer than assignments. When I write for assignments, I should check even one sentence, several times.

Third, I often see my previous entries, but never see my previous assignments. Because they just reminds me of stress at that time.

Last, I keep a diary to show to me, but do assignments to show to others.

2 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree with you with the first subject. I constantly tried not to do that.
    To be honest, i let out a sigh of relief when i read your assignment since i thought that im the only one who did that too,
    In the whole picture, your writing hit home...i felt like im the writer of this homework!

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  2. An Yumi.

    I had a good time while reading your writing. I agree with you almost in every part of your writing. Keeping a diary in English? That sounds great. I usually did it (of course, in Korean) when I was in high school, but nowdays I never do it. I think the beauty of keeping a diary is that no one but me is supposed to read it, so that we can write anything popping up in our mind even some strange and shameful thoughts. You can just write whatever you want. Howver, in English, I just doubt if I can enjoy that beauty if I do it in English. I cannot express every detailed and delicate thoughts that I have in English. It would give me a lot of stress. And For me, English is automatically associated with some images such as grading, pressure, and tests. For me, English can not fall apart from those kinds of negative feeling. Do you minds if you can tell me how to enjoy the beauty of keeping a diary even when I do it in English? What if you can not make your thinkings in a correct English sentence? What if you don't know an appropriate word for the expression that you want to write? Do you mix up Korean and English?

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