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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 8:44 am
It had all started with a conversation about language lessons. Arian had been chatting with one of his friends after a chance meeting at a café and she had mentioned that she was thinking of offering English lessons. Apparently some of the other students around DCU had been offering language lessons in their mother tongue and with the holidays approaching she had seen it as a way to earn a bit of extra cash without having to take on another part time job. Arian wasn't quite sure how Marion thinking of offering up English lessons had turned into him doing it alongside her and he had been a little hesitant at first pointing out that he was neither a teacher or studying to be one. Apparently however it wasn't anything as formal as all that more - as Marion put it - akin to a kind of tutoring basis and whilst being relatively decent at the language was important, patience was by far the most important thing. And so he had ended up agreeing to give it a try and like Marion had slipped a up few adverts mentioning that he was a college student willing to help those learning English with their English and had added his name, mobile number and email address. He hadn't heard anything back after that and so it had come as something a little out of the blue when he had received a query about the English lessons, which was how he had ended up out today to meet a Seung Kim. Sleet Tempest Snape Hope this works as a belated start Sleet - as always let me know if I need to change or tweak anything :3
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:40 pm
He had been working on his English, studying as hard as he could, but it wasn't enough in his opinion. So when he'd asked the English teacher that Sovereign Heights provided about outside help they had made the suggestion that he check out the local university and see if they had people who were able to tutor in English. His school provided help had said he'd be paying for the help, of course, but using books to help him weren't always going to be the best and so a person very well might help. He had mentioned to her that he had a few language books he was using at home, in order to help with homework and such.
The idea of looking for a tutor had been a good one as DCU seemed to have a good amount of students offering to help teach English, which had been a surprise to him. Who knew so many people would be offering to help speak the native language, where there that many people in need of learning the language? He had almost randomly picked a name off a message board he'd found loaded down with advertisements, most of which he couldn't read very well.
So he'd called and set up a time, and place, and here he was sitting and waiting for his teacher, what should he called them? He had decided on a place that would be warm but not distracting, at least not that distracting, where they could at least get drinks since he assumed they'd be talking a fair amount. Thus he had decided on a small tucked away cafe. It wasn't anything big or too bright, it certainly wasn't packed with people either, and that was all good for him.
Sitting there, his coat had been removed and was behind him on the bench he sat in, he had his English books stacked four high next to him. Pen and notebook were on his other side as he sipped on a hot drink, his dark eyes resting on the door to the cafe as he waited for someone to enter in the hoped it would be his tutor. Flipping his hair from his face, not that it really helped any, he let his dark eyes closed for a moment as he enjoyed the hot liquid going down his throat. It was certainly getting cold out, though it was nothing like what he was used to back home - not yet anyway.
I wonder what this tutor will look like, if they can help... He couldn't help his thoughts, they'd been running about his head all day and part of the previous day as well. Really they'd been going about his mind since he'd called Arian.
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 8:59 pm
Arian had had to look up the address of the place that Seung had suggested and where they had agreed to meet up as the café wasn't one that he was particularly familiar with. It had turned out to be a small but pleasant-looking and tucked away down a quiet side street. He stepped over to it and pushed the door open and heard the sound of a bell jangling from somewhere as he stepped inside and away from the chill December air. Closing the door, Arian turned to glance around those around in an attempt to try and see if he could spot Seung, a part of him glad of the fact that there weren't that many people inside. There was a chance that perhaps the other hadn't arrived yet, since going by the small clock up in one corner it looked like he was actually slightly early, but Arian figured that he could always pick up a drink if that turned out to be the case - particularly as he thought he could smell hot chocolate and hot chocolate was always good... His musings trailed off as he caught sight of a young man sat alone on a bench - well make that more specifically the books - because he had a lot of them. Starting to walk over in the other's direction, Arian figured that it was as good a guess as any and if he turned out to be wrong then he could always apologise, find a place to sit down and then look into seeing if the shop had any hot chocolate.
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:26 pm
Watching the door he heard the bell jangling again and looked over and he wondered if that was the person - they were looking around. They looked like they were looking for someone...but did he want to chance being wrong? Sipping on the tea he's ordered, something from back home, he watched as they finally decided to head his way. So maybe they were the person?
If nothing else the books he had would certainly give him away, all of them pertained to learning English. They all were labeled as Korean to English or simply learning English, at least Arian had a guess on what he was helping him with and what his native language now was.
"Laith Arian?" He questioned even as he flipped his head to move his hair from his face. Once that was done he bowed his head and motioned the other to sit, already going on the assumption the other was indeed who he was waiting for. If he was wrong he'd manage to make up some excuse and bow out of this as easily as he could, he was good at coming up with things be it on the fly or not - he was good at lying.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:44 am
Arian blinked slightly for a moment as he was addressed by his surname having not expected it, but then he nodded with a small but friendly smile as he took the indicated seat. "Yes that's me" he said quietly, noticing that the books seemed to be mainly learning English or dual language books, further proof had he needed it that the other was the one who had contacted him about the ad - although the fact that the other knew his name was enough for him. "Just Arian is fine though." He rummaged in his bag for a notepad and a few pens and then placed them on the table before holding out his hand "It's nice to meet you Seung."
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:30 pm
"Of course." He figured he would be told, or given permission, to use the others first name but habits died hard as did the manners one grew up with. "Thank you for coming." He was grateful for someone taking the time out of their day, even if he was paying, in order to help him.
Shaking the offered hand he smiled. "A pleasure, it is nice to meet you as well." The words were slow, halting at points, as he worked to pronounce them as best as he could. The accent was heavy, as was to be expected really. The books he had revealed, easily, where the accent came from - Korean.
"I appreciate the help." As he would need it. English was rather difficult, he remembered it being so when he'd been in school learning it, and he hadn't learned more than the basic needs of the language. When he'd learned Japanese, which he'd taken at the same time, he'd gone further into it as he'd picked it up with a good deal of ease. So his Japanese was every day conversational unlike his English which was basic things.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 9:31 am
Arian had smiled back at Seung's smile before letting his hand drop after the handshake, letting it rest on the table. "I wasn't sure what you'd need help with the most" Arian admitted. "So I bought a couple of grammar books with me." Well at least he had checked out a couple of books from the English as a foreign language section of the Destiny City library, although given the number of books that Seung had with him it seemed like perhaps he should have just stuck with the notepad. "Perhaps for today we can have a look at what things you think you need help most with and then pick one to work through...?" He made it a question, trying his best to keep it simple whilst leaving the ball in Seung's court so to speak.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 2:15 pm
Nodding at the others words, and looking at what the other had brought, he knew he was in good hands. He was sure to get some much needed help, and hopefully get further ahead in his English lessons at a faster pace. He didn't like how long it was taking, especially since he had homework to do and that was without help, aside from a dictionary.
What did he need help with? What was important to him? He was sort of tired of getting lost and he did need to find his way about the city, and not just for himself but he might have to help the girls or his parents. "Places, directions....finding way." He said after a moments time thinking before deciding that was what he needed most right now. "Get lost a lot. What places are called." What places were called, how to ask for help, and understanding directions given. That was a big thing for him he felt, since he was new and needed to find places.
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 6:31 am
Arian sat quietly as Seung appeared to consider his question for a moment and then listened as the othe other spoke about the things that he thought that he needed help with most. Places.. Directions - it seemed at least where he was sitting that the things that Seung was looking for was centred a lot around getting from point A to B and the name of places. And as a starting point Arian figured he could work with it. He jotted down a few notes in his notepad for reference as he listened to Seung speak, but waited until the other had finished speaking before speaking himself. "Ok" a quiet nod. "A lot of these look like they can be maybe looked at together." He thought it over "Would you like to begin by looking at places and how to get to them? At least to start?" Because it wasn't something that they could cover in just one lesson. Arian couldn't be certain but he was pretty sure that he had his small a to z with the map of the city and road names in his bag somewhere which could perhaps be of use - at least in giving a sort of visual of sorts of where places where. A thought occurred to him "By the way, please let me know if I'm going too quickly or if I need to explain something more." Because whilst this was something new for him, given that this was the first time he was attempting something like this, Arian still wanted to make sure to do a good job of it - at least to the best of his ability.
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 11:59 am
Listening to the other he nodded his head. "Of course, will tell you if too fast." Since he wanted to learn he would need it at a pace he could learn. There would be no point in all of this if he couldn't learn anything, and he did need to learn - a lot. He was hoping this would help and he would be able to better know how to ask for help and find his way, how to ask someone about a sort of specific place so he could get directions to the nearest whatever.
"Yes, should work together. Yes, please. Don't know what many are called here." He explained. He knew market, for groceries, but most he didn't know. The odd sorts of special stores, like a liquor store or something else like that. He needed to do a lot of learning.
If he could learn the words, even if he couldn't pronounce them perfectly, it would help him and he'd have learned something. He would be a little less lost in this city as well. He could work on reading and writing later, speaking would be important for him as he had to talk to people and interact. If he could learn that also though, side by side, he would take it. He wasn't going to push the other nor himself. He was working on getting help from various sources.
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2016 2:37 pm
Seung had seemed okay with his suggestion of them looking at places and trying to combine it with how to get to them so Arian had picked up his notepad and flipped back a couple of pages until he had found the small list of places he had jotted down. "I made a list of a few places" he said quietly as he set the notepad down. "Just common ones - like the library and the supermarket and the drugstore, but I thought that perhaps we could start with them and see where we get to." He had been out of luck on the a to z front, with a couple of quick scrounges of his bag enough to confirm that the small book was not somewhere within, however Arian decided that perhaps he could try to improvise with his phone if they needed to try looking places up - because perhaps a combination of the location app and Google Maps would work almost as well. At least he hoped that it would work almost as well. Sleet Tempest Snape apologies for taking so long with this Sleet
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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2016 4:30 pm
Finding places, being able to ask where they were, was a need for him. That had to be one of the first things, along with the basic greetings and titles but being in a big city he needed to be able to find his way and not become lost. It was best to learn that first, it was a bit more important than titles and greetings as far as he was concerned. Plus he did know his greetings, he still remembered them.
Looking over the notepad, as it was set down, he nodded his head. "Good places..." He knew where one or two grocery stores were but the other two he still didn't and figured he would need to find them at some point in time, so best he could ask about there where abouts.
"Ok..this one." Pointing to library. "How say and ask where is?" He asked wanting to know from the other so he could mimic the words and work on making it sound clear, easy to understand. It didn't hurt to hear someone else first in order to learn. Meanwhile one of the books he had was looking up the place so he knew what it was in his own language.
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Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 1:21 am
Arian glanced at where Seung was pointing "That word is library" he said, making sure to pronounce the syllables making up the requested word "And it is pronounced lai - ber-ree." He paused for a few moments as Seung flicked through a book in his hands, waiting to see if the other wanted him to repeat the pronunciation or to ask any questions. However finally he continued "You can ask where it is in two ways. The first way would be to say where is the library." Again Arian paused for a few moments before continuing "But it would probably be more polite to say please can you tell me where the library is."
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Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:37 pm
Knowing what the word meant now, what the building was, in his own language, he looked at Arian and listening to how the word was said he worked it over in his head for a moment before trying to mimic the other. "Lie-per-ree." Though perhaps the ree could also be mistaken for a lee, it was a common thing, r's and l's seemed to sound the same for an Asian person just how it was. It wasn't perfect, he knew it, but he was close that much he did know and was proud of. Had he learned this word back in school? He couldn't remember and he didn't have the notebooks from then either, he hadn't needed them after getting into university. He hadn't taken any English courses and hadn't been planning on it, he'd been planning on a business degree as his father wanted but not international.
"Was good?" He asked the other wanting to know how he'd done, and how to improve - of course. The point of this was to improve, he would continue to try and improve as long as he was in school and beyond likely.
"Where is...the library. Not proper....when use?" He asked wanting to know when it was proper to use that form, so he didn't make a mistake. Where he was from everything, proper and improper, language had to be right. It was all about proper respect given to people and he figured it was the same here so wanted to know, so he could remember it and not insult someone by accident or be seen as rude. litian Some of the errors to expect him to make, just cause typing it out would be a pain...and a bit annoying for spelling and such: http://nathanbauman.com/nathanbaumankoreanpronunciation.html http://englishspeaklikenative.com/resources/common-pronunciation-problems/korean-learners/
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 3:46 am
Arian listened as Seung tried to repeat the word that he had spoken. It wasn't a bad first attempt, with the other managing the first and the last syllables correct. He had mixed up 'p' with 'b' however in the middle syllable, which meant that the word had come out sounding more like liperry than library. "It's not bad for a first attempt" he said when Seung asked him how he had done, turning to a clean page of his notepad as he spoke and writing down the word library and doing his best to split it into the three syllables. "Although it's not quite right." Arian pointed to the beginning of the word "You got this part" and then to the ending part "And this part correct." He shifted his finger to the middle part, "However you used a 'p' for this part instead of a 'b'." He did his best to emphasise the b sound in b and the p sound in p respectively as he spoke. Seung had also asked him about when to use each of the two ways that he had given to ask for where the library was and so Arian continued "I would use 'where is the library' with someone who is the same age as me or younger" he thought about it and then added "Or with a friend or family and I would use 'please can you tell me where the library is' with someone who is older and a stranger."
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