Jillian TS #16

Date/Time: June 14, 2017; 9:00-10:00 A.M.
Location: Home via Skype (Tallahassee/Seoul)
Topic: Americans Overseas and Korean Names/Listening and speaking
Feedback: Article clear up. Soyoung said "taking walk" instead of "taking a walk." Besides that, not much correction was needed.

Today's session was kind of all over the place. I wanted it to be a nice last session, so we mostly just talked about whatever we wanted. I asked about the habit Americans have when meeting strangers. Like we mentioned in class, Americans generally smile or acknowledge people when walking by each other. Soyoung told me that she met many Americans in the Philippines, and when one smiled at her, she got very confused. She thought she knew the person or something because that is not a common thing to do in Korea. If Korean people make eye contact, they generally look away and pretend it never happened. I told her Americans generally say hello or smile at one another. She also mentioned how interesting it is that Americans can easily make friends with strangers. She said it is not a common thing in South Korea to just randomly start talking with people.

I also asked about Korean names and how it works. She told me that Koreans use Chinese characters when naming their children. Chinese characters allow for added meaning behind names. In Soyoung's case, her name means shiny. Sometimes names are generational or family-oriented, as well. If Soyoung had a younger sibling, her parents may call them Ahyoung or even re-use the beginning syllable from Soyoung's name. It is not necessarily a requirement though, it is just something that has happened over the years.

This session was kind of bittersweet. Soyoung and I have enjoyed talking with one another, and it was sad to see the sessions end. We did promise to keep in contact, and we plan to continue our Skype chats.