성격, or My First Korean Report

I have been taking Korean language courses at an 학원 (private institute) in Seoul for the past few months. This last month the teacher had me write a paper on personalities. Now keep in mind that this has been corrected and is not exactly the rough paper I wrote but the ideas and the words are mine. It is just the grammar that has been polished.

성격

사람에 따라 성격이 다릅니다. 심지어 쌍둥이의 성격도 가끔 다릅니다. 형은 느긋하고 정중하지만 동생은 성급하고 게으를 수사 있습니다. 성격은 평생 동안 바뀔 수 있습니다. 이를테면, 젊었을 때 성급하다 자란 후엔 느긋해질 수 있습니다.

성격과 관련해서 6명의 사람을 소개하겠습니다. 우선, 저는 내성적인데 솔직합니다. 저는 언어에 관심이 많고 열심히 공부합니다. 그래서 저는 부지런합니다. 제 남동생 '팀'도 솔직하지만 저보다 느긋합니다. '팀'은 긍정적인데 저는 그렇지 않습니다. 제 여동생 '앰버'도 솔직합니다. 우리 어머니 때문에 그런 것 같습니다. '앰버'는 소ㅗ극적이고 외향적입니다. 우리는 형제인데 다릅니다.

제 여자친구는 이정아라고 합니다. 정아는 느긋하고 긍정적입니다. 정아도 부지런합니다. 그녀와 저는 다른 점도 있고 비슷한 점도 있습니다. 학교에는 'co-teacher' 2명이 있습니다. 홍효심과 전효민이라고 합니다. 홍효심선생님은 근면 성실하고 부정적이며 내성적입니다. 다른 한편 전효민선생님은 느긋하고 소극적이고 아주 정중합니다. 이 선생님들은 영어를 가르치는데, 서로 아주 다릅니다.

Some Foreign Language Writing

I have just written a very modest little conversation between my coteacher and I about getting something to eat. This is the chapter I am in, in my Korean studies. I have written it in Korean and in German. I will also translate it to English for you to see how sadly pathetic my skills are.

교실에서
리차드: 배고프니까, 식사 하고 싶어요.
홍효심: 그래요! 잠깐만 기다려 주세요. 점심을 함께 먹을 거예요.
리차드: 좋아. 어디에서 먹고 싶어요?
홍효심: 나는 피자를 먹고 시퍼요.
리차드: 그럼, 피자집에 갈 수 있어요.
피자집에서
리차드: 피자는 어느 것이 맛있습니까?
홍효씸: 고구마피자 좋아해요.
리차드: 아주머니, 고구마피자 1 판 주세요.
웨이트리스: 네, 알겠습니다.

Im Klassenzimmer
Richard: Ich möchte essen, weil ich Hunger habe.
Hyoshim: Wirklich. Warte kurz und wir werden zusammen essen.
Richard: Okay, gut. Wo möchtest du essen?
Hyoshim: Ich möchte Pizza essen.
Richard: Dann gehen wir zu die Pizzeria.
In der Pizzeria
Richard: Welche Pizza gefällst dir?
Hyoshim: Die Süßkartoffelpizza schmeckt gut.
Richard: Hallo, wir möchten eine Süßkartoffelpizza, bitte.
Kellnerin: Ja, eine Süßkartoffelpizza. Danke.

In the classroom
Richard: I would like to eat, as I am hungry.
Hyoshim: Really. Wait a moment and we will eat together.
Richard: Okay, good. Where would you like to eat?
Hyoshim: I would like to eat pizza.
Richard: Then we will go to the pizzeria.
In the pizzeria
Richard: Which pizza do you like?
Hyoshim: The sweet potato pizza tastes good.
Richard: Hello. Yes, we will have the sweet potato pizza, please.
Waitress: Yes, sweet potato pizza. Thank you.

The burger

He walks out to the subway station looking for his friends. It’s cold that February evening and he hopes that he won’t have to wait long for them. They are going to go eat a Burger. It is not easy to come by a decent burger in Korea. One has to scour the city searching for something outside the sickening fast-food restaurants he feels so guilty his country has exported. As he waits for his friends he thinks about how the students he teaches are much fatter than Koreans his own age. Couldn’t America have given the world something greater than the “Golden Arches” and early cardiac health issues?
His tall charismatic Canadian friend walks toward him with the smile that every Korean loves. Surely the jealousy of his friend is unwarranted and stems from previous relationships and not from anything his friend has done. The Canadian shakes his hand in that North American way with a “Hey how’s it going?” that is a comforting bit home.
Shortly thereafter the other friend arrives. The Scotsman, who both had had a hilariously difficult time understanding at first, arrives and the trip to the Burger joint is under way.
“How’s school going” the Canadian asks the Scotsman, expecting something on the negative side. The Scotsman isn’t naturally a pessimist but it seems he got the short end of the stick when he was given a school to teach at. Both the American and the Canadian sort of feel bad for his situation at times. Compounding that he is a new teacher and sometimes isn’t confident of his skills can lead to some hard times.
“I have a date with one of the workers at the school” states the Scotsman. A short while before the Scotsman stated he was interested in a lady with whom he worked. Both C and A encouraged him as he had the boyish good looks that many Koreans find so adorable. This little bit of positivism coming from S caused some ribbing from the others.
From there the conversation turns back to A. “How are you and SY” asks C. “I dun no… it can be really frustrating at times. I haven’t really spoken with her in about a week. I think I am just going to stop talking to her. I think she is just leading me on. Her parents don’t like the idea of her with a Miguk” replies A, disparaging himself as a foreign American in the Korean language.
C ever conscious of the mood and feelings of the others changes the subject to the burgers that they were all anxious to eat. “I’m going to get the Mega-burger” says C in a tone of childish joy.
“I don’t know how this fits into your diet C” states A, still a little depressed about the previous conversation.