In this blog post, I will present a naturally refined version of the personal statement originally written for an application to the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Keimyung University, focusing on the three sections: academic experience, campus activities, and examples of consideration and cooperation.
Academic Experience: Learning Through a Comparison of Modern and Medieval Korean Grammar
My favorite subject in high school was Korean grammar. I took it as an advanced course during my sophomore year and studied so diligently that my grammar textbook was filled to the brim with notes. Of course, I also enjoyed Korean language and literature, but the content of the grammar textbook was a perfect fit for my aptitude. While most of my classmates generally disliked grammar, I didn’t consider it a dry subject. It was a subject where, if approached in an engaging way, one could become fascinated by the systematic and logical nature of language.
Although the grammar textbook focused mostly on modern grammar, it also covered medieval Korean grammar. Since modern grammar involves analyzing the sentence structures we use in everyday life, I was able to become familiar with it through plenty of practice and solving exercises. On the other hand, medieval Korean presented challenges due to unfamiliar vocabulary and orthography, much like learning a foreign language. When encountering a medieval Korean sentence, I would first interpret it into modern Korean and then analyze its structure; since the characteristics of the sentence structure and grammatical elements differed from those of modern Korean, I needed to approach the study with a fresh perspective. So, I began looking up and memorizing words from the textbook using a medieval Korean dictionary.
Once I had mastered a certain number of words, I was able to interpret the sentences. To identify the differences in sentence structure and grammatical features, I decided to study by comparing them with modern Korean grammar. When conducting this comparative study, I prepared a notebook summarizing the grammatical points of both languages. I wrote down the two sets of information separately, placed the notebooks side by side, and studied by connecting the corresponding points one by one. For example, since the way nouns and particles combine differed between the two languages, I organized and compared this aspect separately. Through this comparison, I discovered many similarities and was able to understand the historical evolution of the languages by identifying clear differences. This was a great help during the actual exam, as there were questions that required identifying both similarities and differences.
School Activities: Practicing Pronunciation and Scripts Through the Broadcasting Club
Ever since I was young, I’ve nurtured my dream by watching news anchors on TV. While I liked their polished appearance, what impressed me most was how cool it looked when they used the Korean language correctly and pronounced words accurately. So, I made an effort to use our language and writing correctly and to construct grammatically precise sentences, which naturally led me to study Korean and grammar diligently. My Korean grades improved in proportion to my hard work, and my passion for this subject grew.
I practiced a lot by imitating news anchors to ensure my pronunciation was accurate. By imitating them, I was able to practice until I sounded similar, and as a result of that preparation, I passed the audition and became an anchor for the broadcasting club. I took great pride in my role as an anchor for the broadcasting club. I was the main announcer in charge of the lunchtime broadcast, and it made me proud that so many of my friends recognized my voice and knew my name. This motivated me to practice my pronunciation with even greater responsibility and strive to deliver the content with a clear, precise voice.
The broadcasting club also included male announcers, scriptwriters, and sound technicians. Broadcasting in a studio equipped with professional audio equipment, I felt a sense of happiness as if I were already a professional announcer. As I continued my activities in the broadcasting club, my dream and goal of becoming an announcer became even more solid, but I realized that the profession of an announcer requires much more behind-the-scenes effort than I had initially imagined. It wasn’t enough just to have accurate pronunciation. Since the lunchtime broadcast wasn’t a professional news program, it was sufficient to accurately convey school news and listener stories; however, my role extended beyond the lunchtime broadcast to include hosting school events and election broadcasts, among other tasks.
When hosting events, I had to thoroughly understand the procedures and practice repeatedly to avoid slip-ups. I paid particular attention to the election broadcasts, as they required me to coordinate closely with a male announcer and deliver back-and-forth segments. Since these broadcasts reached the entire student body, any mistake could have negatively impacted the broadcasting club’s reputation. To avoid embarrassing my seniors, I spent a long time preparing by reviewing and revising the script with a friend who was a writer. My male co-anchor and I practiced the entire script together, focusing intensively on parts that were lacking or where my pronunciation was off. By rehearsing the script repeatedly, I memorized it naturally without needing to refer to it, and I was able to speak naturally while looking at the camera, as if the words were just coming to mind. Thanks to this thorough preparation, I consistently received positive feedback and learned the lesson that practice is the only way to succeed.
Examples of Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation: Planning Various Events to Celebrate Hangul Day
Our Broadcasting Club and the Library Club joined forces to plan a Hangul Day event. I met with the Library Club students in advance to discuss the event details, and I proposed a “Golden Bell”-style event featuring quizzes on the Korean language and literature. My suggestion was selected as the Broadcasting Club’s lead idea, while the Library Club proposed creating Hangul-themed designs for T-shirts and book covers.
At the end of the meeting, we decided to implement both ideas. Since the overarching theme had been set, we agreed to collaborate across all clubs when finalizing the details. We divided the entire student body into two groups to prepare for the Hangul design event and the “Understanding the Korean Language” quiz competition, and I was in charge of creating the specific questions for the quiz competition. For the design event, preparations were complete simply by ordering colored pencils, white T-shirts, and drawing paper for the cover designs; however, since the quiz contest was open to the entire student body, the content had to be rich and a large number of questions were needed.
Although I came up with the ideas, it was difficult to create all the questions on my own, so I worked with my team members to develop them one by one. Since we envisioned a “Golden Bell”-style format, we decided to create at least 100 questions. We divided the tasks among ourselves to create questions covering the basics of Hangul and King Sejong, the characteristics of the Korean language, the unique features of Korean literature and classical literature, and the authors and contents of modern literary works. We drew the questions from high school textbook content and used internet searches only for the final ten questions to adjust the difficulty level. As a result of our collaborative efforts, we were able to host a Hangul Day event that attracted a large turnout, and as one of the organizers, I felt a great sense of fulfillment.
