Reflective Paper on an Interview with Korean Student

First Reflective Journal

Topic: career&job
Interview time: 1h50min
Communicating tool: Wechat (in text)
Language used during communication: Japanese

|Name                                     |Qian Yiwen (me)                             |Zhung Byung-tuk                         |
|Hometown                                 |Hangzhou, China                             |Busan,Korea                             |
|Gender                                   |Female                                     |Male                                     |
|Age                                     |23                                         |26                                       |
|Status                                   |Graduate student                           |Seeking jobs with a bachelor’s degree   |
|Details                                 |A Former Japanese major, now studying       |A Japanese major                         |
|                                         |English interpreting                       |                                         |

[Before the interview] Zhung was introduced to me by a friend of mine. Before our first formal discussion, we talked briefly and settled a date and time through wechat(in text). At that time, I didn’t know his gender. However, I automatically took him as a girl, mainly based on 2 reasons: a) He was very considerate and polite in a Japanese way. At one time, he even used the highest rank of honorific language to me; 2) The emojis he used during our communication are all cartoon girls. So I was quite surprised when we formally made self-introductions in the beginning of our first discussion. In retrospect, however, his wording or choices of words alone weren’t revealing enough to tell his gender. He even told me he was drinking with old friends when we were chatting. It’s the deeply-rooted image of those soft-spoken Japanese-speaking girls I used to dealt with and the girl-cartoon emojis that affected my judgment and filtered information...