Growing up in the Philippines, I went to a Korean school in Saturdays so I wouldn't forget my Korean. I remember writing a ridiculously childish essay on the unification of Korea for a contest in 3rd grade.
The first real compliment I got was when I turned in a 20-page short story for English class in 8th grade, which was twice the maximum word limit. Only did the teacher not fail me, but she also gave me good marks and complimented me on the story. I think that's what really began encouraging me to write.
Then on the other hand, my IGCSE English teacher told me that my The Great Gatsby essay was completely missing the point. Same thing happened with my English 9 teacher now that I think about it. I think it was a long time before I could get over this and get myself to write another analytical essay.
I actually consider English my first language, because in all honesty I cannot write in Korean, at least not to the standards I want. Writing in Korean always seems awkward, and I always feel like there is a better way to phrase this but my brain refuses to work.
I took a creative writing class last semester (if that counts) and we were told the deadlines of our papers almost a month in advance so we could write at our own leisure. We set aside one workshop day where we could come in and write and ask the professor to read our works and get comments. Written feedback was mostly what the professor liked and didn't like. Grammar was important, but the content more so. He actually gave us time to brainstorm with our classmates and went around asking questions or giving ideas.
When I write an analytical paper, I try to please the teacher because that is the point of the paper. However when I write a creative piece, I first and foremost try to please myself, because inspirations don't come every day and unless you feed it it runs dry. After writing the entire thing and satisfying myself, I will then ask for comments and feedback and change my work to please the reader (whoever that may be), although I won't always take all the suggestions.
I keep a diary (though the intervals between entries are rather unpredictable) and there I actually find it difficult to find a voice, because I don't know to whom I speak. So I mostly write without thinking about what I'm actually writing.
Commentator name: Kim Tatiana
ReplyDelete"She is so smart and she always knows what to say and when it shoud be said. I'm pretty sure writing papers are not hard for her " - that was my first impression. I'm so sorry for that superficial opinion. Of course there is no one who can handle hard things from the very first time.
Also it was quite a surprise that you feel more comfortable yourself with English and that you feel awkward writing in Korean. Because I have the similar feelings with Korean language. It seems that we have something in common
Lim Jung Yun ( 201202968)
ReplyDeleteAlthough Korean is my first language, I also feel more comfortable writing in English like you do . My writing always seems more stiff when written in Korean so I relate to you in that way. I am impressed that you wrote a 20 page short story when you were only in the 8th grade because I am not sure if I could write one now and I am 23 years old.
Lim Jung Yun ( 201202968)
ReplyDeleteAlthough Korean is my first language, I also feel more comfortable writing in English like you do . My writing always seems more stiff when written in Korean so I relate to you in that way. I am impressed that you wrote a 20 page short story when you were only in the 8th grade because I am not sure if I could write one now and I am 23 years old.