JUA: Language & Culture

J U A

Language and Culture

Quincy Market

• To learn different perspectives of language and culture, we went to Quincy Market.

• We interviewed immigrants who worked at Quincy Market.

Tufts University

• To learn perspectives from immigrants, we interviewed Ngoni from Zimbabwe at Tufts University.

• He explained about his experiences at Tufts University and in America.

North End

• We went to North End, which is a town of Italian immigrants.

• We interviewed Italian immigrants to learn their thoughts about American culture and learning English.

China Town

• We went to China town where most of the Chinese immigrants are living.

• We interviewed several Chinese immigrants about there opinions about language and culture.

Language: Need to learn/Don’t need to learn. • Quincy Market: Need to speak English in

order to apply for jobs. • North End: Interviewed Italian-American;

said that Because of too many stereotypes there are a lot of cops around.

• Tufts: Interviewed international student from Zimbabwe. Said that he learned English and spoke very well before he came to the U.S.

• Chinatown: Toured area, interviewed passersby. They said that a majority of the Chinese population do not speak English. The reason why is because they are only there to make money for themselves and support their families.

Immigrants are adapting to American culture

In the early 20th century, the North End became the center of the Italian community of Boston. It is still largely residential and well-known for its small, authentic Italian restaurants and for the first Italian cafe, Caffe Vittoria. Immigrants in North End kept their culture also well-suit the American culture. Many of the restaurants have English menu or waiters who speak very good English. People who live in North End also eat american dishes, they also drink coffee eat sandwiches. Not only Italians, but also Americans and other cultures are all well-accepted by the society of North End.

North End

The only historically Chinese area in New England, Chinatown, Boston is located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, Centered on Beach Street. There are two major groups of people in china town-----People came from china and ABCs(America born Chinese). In order to live and work here they all speak English. And actually ABCs are just like normal Americans except their Aisan faces. They also translated some common English words to Chinese by the its’ sound. We use those words everyday. For example “hi” known as “嗨”，”bye” known as “ 拜” . They have almost the same sounds. Today China Town has become a great place for Ameicans and other foreigners to diet out and have fun.

China Town

Retaining the Traditional Culture

Quincy Market• Interviewed People’s

Perspective.• Retained Cultures like

Turkey,Thai Food.• Thai, Turkey Types of

Clothing is Still Worn.• Most people still keep their

culture because of it is the family traditionals.

Tufts University• Started off with Meeting

Our Speaker Ngoni.• Ngoni was from Jambabwe,

which is a British-African country therefore he was able to speak english without much of Trouble.

• Keeps only the Cultures that he had Learned, Not the cultures that are already in countries.

cont.

North End• One Pharmacist we had ask

said he maintained his cultures by having to be in a Italian Like Town.

• Italian food (ex. Pasta,spaghetti)

• Italian restaurant (ex. Utensils, Food, Types , Background)

• Italian Languages (ex. Spoken in Streets by People)

• Italian ingredient

Chinatown• Retained the culture by

having their own food, language, and traditionals.

• Languages: Chinese and Little bit of English

• Most of the stores in Chinatown have Chinese made Products. (ex. Chinese Weapons, Pottery, Food, Utensils)

• Chinese Traditional Chess Game, “Xiangqi” is Played in the Streets by the Elders.

• Lots of People Don’t use Cars instead using Bus, Train, Bicycle.

Tufts University-Quincy Market1.Asking Questions to Ngoni

Student from Jimbabwe2. Hermes, Jake, Zach Getting into the Talk of Ngoni

1. Asking Questions to Woman from Turkey2. Asking Different Perspective from

American Woman

Northend - Chinatown1.Asking Pharmarcist Questions about Languages and Cultures.

2. Italian Types of Buildings, Road.

1. Chinese Traditional Weapon2. Ordering from the Chinese Restaurant

Summary of experienceOne of the two most important things I learned from this trip was that I still need to learn how to think curiously quickly and under pressure in terms of the world around us. When we went to visit the Tufts international student, I had already had my question written down, ready to ask, but when I went to ask it, I looked it over and I realized that I had made the incorrect assumption that the Tufts international student would not be completely fluent in English, when that was not at all the case, the complete opposite in fact. As I sat listening to him, I made my attempt to think of another question so that I didn’t look like the unproductive one.

• I watched as the other students were able to think about the replies to our questions and generate more questions from them (and I say that they were “generating” questions because I knew that 4+ questions that they asked had nothing to do what had prepared but were significantly more thoughtful than what they had prepared.) Alas, my efforts were in vain, I could think of nothing, and before I knew it, forty minutes had passed, and the meeting was over. By the time we left, I felt like a bit of an idiot, having come to a meeting and contributed absolutely nothing to the conversation, as well as having listened to a Zimbabwean international student from Tufts speak even better English than I can and can still very much retain his home language. (I guess there are a lot of advantages to living in a British colony in Africa…)

• The other important thing I learned was that despite having taken three years of Chinese, my spoken Chinese is absolutely terrible, especially because I have so much trouble listening to and understanding conversations, and I realized at this point that I desperately need to go to China sometime soon, preferably before I lose all of my Chinese. We were able to interview the owner of a store in Chinatown, and her Mandarin was extremely good as far as I saw, or according to Hermes Xie, enough to carry on a good conversation, but nothing fantastic. I still thought her Mandarin was remarkable, having started learning Mandarin in college. (Her first language was Cantonese.)

• The main reason she had been able to hone her conversational Chinese was because she had practiced so much in college with her Chinese-speaking friends, so she was able to submerge herself in it. I, on the other hand, am a bit too shy (mainly because I am completely aware that my conversational Chinese is terrible) and need to open up and at least try to speak Chinese with the other Chinese-speakers at lunch at our humble, little school of NHS. When I tried to speak Chinese to her, I got about one sentence out. When she replied to it with rather fluid Chinese, I stood there for a few seconds, dumbfounded, which was followed by one in-English “Sorry, what was that?” Although I had failed, I was proud of myself for at least temporarily breaking a mental barrier.

• I believe that this trip was extremely beneficial, but in all the ways for which this trip was not meant. I was able to come to the realization that I need to exercise and develop my curiosity for the outside world. I also realized that (let’s be frank) my conversational Chinese is below par, and the only way to really learn how to speak it well is to tie a weight to your leg, dive in head first, drown yourself in it, and figure out how to live underwater for however long you choose you submerge yourself. Once you can do that, you can stay submerged in that language for as long as you like