004（7.0）

So let's get started. Can you tell me your name?

Oh, my name is Chong An Saul.

Nice to meet you.

Yeah.

And tell me, are you working or studying right now?

I am studying right now. I'm currently going to Don Documents University, and I'm majoring in performance, music performance.

Yeah, and do you enjoy your studies?

Yeah, I had my passion for music, and that's why I chose my major.

Yeah, and what do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I usually watch YouTube or just hang out with my friends. Yeah, I go around Seoul. I live in Seoul, it's my first time visiting Seoul, so it's cool.

Very good. Let's talk about your hometown a little bit. Tell me, what is your hometown?

I live in Bundang, and it is close to Gangnam, but like other places, I don't tend to go much, as often, because it takes like an hour or so. But it's nice, it's peaceful.

What things do you like about it?

I like that it's very quiet and has a lot of schools around, so growing up there, it's much safer than other places, I think. So I like that.

That's true. What things do you not like about it?

I don't like that it takes an hour to get to every place in Seoul. Yeah, it's not that far, but it's not close either.

Sure, okay, good. Now let's talk about change. Have you changed a lot since your childhood?

I think so, yeah.

Can you tell me a little bit about it?

I used to be very introverted and quiet as a kid, but as time passed, I think I tried very hard to fit in with others, and I think my personality changed because of that.

And what do you plan to change next year?

I'm actually planning to go abroad. I'm planning to go on an exchange program next year, so I think that'd be my biggest change.

Do you like changes?

I think I like changes. I want to try new things if I have the chance.

Yeah, and why?

Staying the way you are is kind of, I find it kind of boring and dull, so I think trying new things out is always a good thing, whether or not it turns out positively.

Yeah, true. And are there any changes in your hometown?

I don't think so. Yeah, they say that they're going to make a new train station or something, but it's taking like 10 years. Yeah, nothing much is changing.

Okay, good. So that will do us for part one. And for part two, you have a question here, and you can take a minute to prepare and take notes, and then in a minute we'll begin with the answer.

Okay.

Okay, that's a minute. So you're going to describe a foreign country and culture that you want to know more about.

I want to know more about Japan and the culture of Japan because it's very close to our country. It's next to our country and it's kind of familiar. There are a lot of similarities with Korea, but if you think about it, I think I don't know much. And I've watched a lot of anime growing up, so it's very nostalgic to me, the whole city in Japan. So I think I want to know more and I want to be fluent in Japanese so that I can travel there more often and get the full extent of it. Yeah, and I also like Japanese music, especially rock music and rock bands in Japan, so I would like to understand the lyrics of it.

Do I have to say more?

You can.

And in Japan, the cities and the districts in Japan are very different, and each has its own culture and tradition. So I think learning more about it would really widen my perspective.

Yeah, sure. Alright, nicely done, nicely done.

Thank you.

Now we'll move on to part three. First question: What do you think is the best way to learn about foreign cultures?

I think the best way is, like I mentioned, to learn the language of that culture or country because you can understand more, and you don't have to look for translations on the internet. So yeah, learning the language.

Thank you. And what do you think is the biggest problem when working in a foreign country?

Your friends and family aren't really close to you, and you can feel lonely, so I think that's a big problem.

And one more, some people say that reading is the best way to know about a culture. Do you agree?

Not really, because you can't see the picture when you're reading. You can just imagine it in your own head, so I think going there is the number one best thing, and watching videos is the second.

Okay, good. Alright, made it to the end.

Oh, thank you.

Okay, a little bit of feedback. As you know, there are four categories for the IELTS. There's first, fluency and coherence, and pronunciation, vocabulary or lexical resource, and finally grammar, the range and the accuracy. So in terms of the first two, fluency and coherence, and pronunciation, I thought you were really strong throughout the test. That was a very nice job.

Thank you.

The pronunciation is very good and you speak with a very natural rhythm. Occasionally pausing just to think of an answer, but that's totally natural. So both of those were pretty good. The only possibility for improvement is, especially in parts two and three, there's an opportunity to give longer answers. And really start to build points on top of points and using words to connect ideas. That would be a way to move your score up a little bit further.

Vocabulary is good, words generally used accurately, really a very good control. The only thing within vocabulary would probably be to try to expand your range. You used a few good words, you mentioned that you were introverted and that Japanese anime gave you a nostalgic feeling. Those are good words, but finding a way to add even more would probably help if you were studying for a test in the future.

Just like vocabulary, your grammar, you have very good control of grammar.

Thank you.

And it's sort of the same thing. It would be, I mean, I guess in terms of mistakes, I heard a few very small things. In part one, I think you mentioned you don't do something "much often". You know it. And in part one, I think there was one place where you used the present tense to talk about your hometown in the past. So we want to remember, if we're talking about the past, we would put it in the past tense. And I think in part two you said "get the full out of it", "full extent". So just dropping a word here or there or a different modifier. But like I said, the control is really good. The thing to do to improve would probably be to get more range. So more present perfect tenses, more past continuous. And part of that is giving slightly longer answers. In particular, in part three, you have a chance to give a paragraph-level answer, and the more language that you use in your answer, the more we can see and then sort of give you points for. That's also true in part two where your answer was a little bit short. But if you think of the sort of two minutes as an opportunity to fill it up with as much language as possible, it is always good, and that should include a range of verb tenses if possible.

But based on today, I would estimate your score around a 7.0. So it's a very good test, very good job, very natural speaker, very clear. And the way forward, the way ahead, would just be adding more range to all those things. So thanks for coming in.

Thank you. Have a good day.

好的，让我们开始。你能告诉我你的名字吗？

哦，我的名字是Chong An Saul。

很高兴见到你。

是的。

请告诉我，你现在在工作还是在学习？

我现在在学习。我目前在Don Documents大学上学，我主修音乐表演。

你喜欢你的学习吗？

是的，我对音乐充满热情，这就是为什么我选择了这个专业。

那么你在空闲时间喜欢做什么呢？

我通常会看YouTube或者和朋友们一起出去玩。我在首尔到处逛。我住在首尔，这是我第一次访问首尔，所以很酷。

非常好。让我们谈谈你的家乡。请告诉我，你的家乡在哪里？

我住在Bundang，它靠近江南，但不像其他地方，我不经常去，因为要花一个小时左右。但那里很好，很安静。

你喜欢它的哪些方面？

我喜欢那里非常安静，有很多学校，所以在那里长大比其他地方更安全，我认为这很好。

是的，确实如此。你不喜欢它的哪些方面？

我不喜欢去首尔的每个地方都要花一个小时。是的，不是很远，但也不近。

好的。现在让我们谈谈变化。你从童年到现在变化很大吗？

我想是的。

你能告诉我一些关于它的事情吗？

我小时候非常内向和安静，但随着时间的推移，我努力融入他人，我认为我的性格因此发生了变化。

你计划明年有什么变化？

我实际上计划出国。我计划明年参加一个交换项目，所以我认为那会是我最大的变化。

你喜欢变化吗？

我想我喜欢变化。如果有机会，我想尝试新事物。

是的，为什么呢？

保持原样有点无聊和单调，所以我认为尝试新事物总是好的，无论结果是否积极。

是的，确实如此。你的家乡有任何变化吗？

我不认为有。他们说要建一个新火车站，但已经花了10年了。是的，没什么变化。

好的。第一部分就到这里。第二部分，你有一个问题，可以用一分钟准备并做笔记，然后我们将开始回答。

好的。

好的，一分钟到了。你要描述一个你想了解更多的外国国家和文化。

我想了解更多关于日本及其文化的知识，因为它离我们的国家很近。它和我们的国家相邻，有很多相似之处，但如果仔细想想，我觉得我了解的不多。而且我从小看了很多动漫，所以整个日本城市对我来说非常怀旧。所以我想了解更多，我想流利地说日语，这样我可以更频繁地去那里，并充分体验它。我也喜欢日本的音乐，尤其是摇滚音乐和日本的摇滚乐队，所以我想理解它的歌词。

我需要说更多吗？

你可以。

在日本，各个城市和地区都有自己的文化和传统。所以我认为了解更多会大大拓宽我的视野。

好的，做得很好。

谢谢。

现在我们继续第三部分。第一个问题：你认为了解外国文化的最好方法是什么？

我认为最好的方法是学习那个文化或国家的语言，因为你可以理解更多，不需要在网上查找翻译。所以是的，学习语言。

谢谢。你认为在外国工作最大的困难是什么？

你的朋友和家人不在你身边，你会感到孤独，所以我认为这是一个大问题。

再问一个问题，有人说阅读是了解一种文化的最佳方式，你同意吗？

不完全同意，因为阅读时你看不到画面，你只能在自己的脑海中想象。所以我认为去那里是最好的，观看视频是第二好的。

好的，做得很好。

哦，谢谢。

好的，一些反馈。如你所知，雅思有四个评分标准。首先是流利度和连贯性，然后是发音，词汇量或词汇资源，最后是语法，范围和准确性。关于前两个，流利度和连贯性，以及发音，我认为你在整个测试中都很强。做得非常好。

谢谢。

你的发音非常好，说话节奏非常自然。偶尔停下来思考一下答案，但这完全是自然的。所以这两方面都很不错。唯一可能改进的地方是，特别是在第二部分和第三部分，有机会给出更长的答案。并真正开始建立观点，使用词语连接想法。这将是提升你的分数的一种方法。

词汇量很好，词语使用一般都很准确，控制得很好。唯一的建议可能是扩大你的词汇范围。你使用了一些不错的词，比如你提到你很内向，日本动漫给你一种怀旧的感觉。这些都是好词，但找到方法增加更多会有帮助，如果你在为未来的考试做准备。

就像词汇一样，你的语法控制得很好。

谢谢。

类似的情况是，我听到了一些非常小的错误。在第一部分，我认为你说过你不经常做某事。你知道的。在第一部分，我认为有一个地方你用现在时谈论过去的家乡。所以我们要记住，如果我们在谈论过去，我们要用过去时。我认为在第二部分你说“get the full out of it”，应该是“full extent”。所以只是这里或那里掉了一个词或用了不同的修饰词。但正如我所说，控制非常好。改进的方法可能是增加更多的范围。更多的现在完成时，更多的过去进行时。部分是给出稍微长一点的答案。特别是在第三部分，你有机会给出一个段落级别的答案，你的答案中使用的语言越多，我们就能看到并给你更多的分数。这在第二部分也适用，你的答案有点短。但如果你把这两分钟看作是一个机会，尽可能多地填满它的语言，这总是好的，并且尽可能包括各种动词时态。

但基于今天的表现，我估计你的分数在7.0左右。所以这是一场非常好的测试，非常好的表现，非常自然的讲话者，非常清晰。前进的方向就是在所有这些方面增加更多的范围。感谢你的参与。

谢谢。祝你有美好的一天。