My sister, Chrissy Wai-Ching Leung, was born September 19, 1979 , in Chicago , Illinois . She's always been the artsy, fashion-obsessed one in our family, wishing even at an early age to travel abroad in order to increase her repertoire of exotic and cosmopolitan styles. In 1994, at the start of my third grade year, she got her wish when we moved to Nice , France , for three years. During our stay in France , we went to an International School that was primarily taught in English, but Chrissy picked up a lot more French than the rest of my family. After we moved back, she continued to be interested in fashion design, and upon her graduation from high school, she began to attend the Design School at NC State University in Raleigh . During her junior year in college, she studied abroad for a year in Hong Kong , where she took art classes and intensive courses on Cantonese.
Returning to Raleigh for her senior year, Chrissy met her current boyfriend, Vasili Zolotov, in 2002, within the School of Design , and they have been dating ever since. Their relationship is interesting because of the fact that Vasili was born in St. Petersburg , Russia and came to the US not knowing much English at all. While Chrissy has helped him a lot in learning practical English, she has also taken an interest in learning Russian. The couple has been to Russia twice, and, currently living in Seattle , Washington , they continue to develop their bilingualism together.
Below is an interview on both Chrissy and Vasili's experience with language and its effect on their lives and relationship. Notice the intonation and colloquialisms of each.
Transcription
Interview with Chrissy (counter 15- 47)
Allison : Um, I know that you're studying Russian now, um, and that you visited Russia . How was your visit and how did that help you with the language?
Chrissy : Well, um, I felt like the Russian visit did help me, um, but it was more within, uh, the family life cause I felt like, uh, when I was meeting strangers especially at like shops and stuff I felt like, uh, Vasili would more like take over. I mean he was being Vasili and, um, but then I did try to speak Russian with, uh, some of his friends. So I guess it was more like if it wasn't a stranger I would, um, feel more comfortable speaking it if I was introduced to them in some way. But then I would…if it was a stranger I would just try to kind of like make it sound as realistic as possible.
Allison : Ok.
Chrissy : But kind of copy how Vasili said it, I guess.
Allison : Mmhmm. Well, how does living with Vasili help you learn Russian?
Chrissy : I feel like living with Vasili is like perfect for learning a language because, uh, if I learn a new thing, um, I just say it, you know, that evening, and we'll discuss it and, um, he'll help me with my pronunciation, although people have told me that my pronunciation is really great, actually [laughter]. Um, and… I think, um, it also helps me a lot because, uh, we have Russian friends so often I'll like hear them speak or speak to them, um, and… that helps a lot. If I didn't live with Vasili I don't think I would know so many Russian people here. Oh, and also his parents.
Interview with Vasili (counter 134-159)
Allison : How was coming to U…coming to the US for college, and did you know much English when you came here?
Vasili : Yes, I knew some English cause I heard I think some in school in Russia when I was six years old and I…I took classes, um, for maybe next eight years or so.
Allison : Oh. But did you know more academic English versus like social?
Vasili : Yeah, I think my conversational skills were not very good at the time. I had trouble understanding people and, um, people had trouble understanding me.
Allison : Oh.
Vasili : I feel like that created a number of just social barriers for me, you know, when I just came because, um, you know, conveying a simple message or asking what time it was or how to get to this place or that was sometimes a challenge. I also found I had to repeat myself many times. And…[blender noise] hey Panda…[laughter]
...
Vasili : Hello?
Allison : Yeah.
Vasili : Oh, Chrissy's making a smoothie.
Allison : [laughter] Ok, um…
Vasili : Yes. So I found that I had to repeat myself a lot, and I had to ask other people to repeat…I think it was just kind of, um, you know, one thing is to be taught a language in a classroom, where, you know, you have this Russian speaking teacher, you know, speaking this imperfect English and being kind of slow, um, when she says it. And then here people talk fast and they have, you know, southern accents and all that. Sometimes it was difficult.
Interview with Vasili (counter 184-191)
Allison : Um, do your parents speak English, and did you speak, um, English at home at all during your childhood?
Vasili : No, I kind of always felt embarrassed. My parents always tried to make me speak English to them because, um, they were also learning it for as long as I can remember myself. Um, but I just didn't feel comfortable, ever. I really don't feel comfortable speaking English to Russian people. I don't know why. It just seems to create some kind of just distance, you know, it doesn't feel right.
Analysis
A person's identity is in many ways largely linked to their first language. Because of this, bilingualism within a couple becomes a complex issue. What language does a bilingual couple speak together? The most important factor in deciding this problem is, of course, the language of the place in which the couple resides. In the case of Chrissy and Vasili, they have chosen to entirely speak English, due to the fact that they live in an English speaking community. Nonetheless, Vasili has a network of Russian friends in Seattle, who both Chrissy and Vasili frequently hang out with (as stated by Chrissy). Ingrid Piller, in her study on bicultural couples, found that this phenomenon was very common among people living in foreign countries. In this way, Vasili is able to share not only his language, but also cultural experiences, with people from his own country, and thus help to preserve his culture and identity.
Additionally, being in a multicultural relationship is one of the biggest motivations for learning another language. Chrissy did not necessarily have to learn to speak Russian in order to effectively communicate with Vasili, but she has chosen to pick up the language because she has invested interest in the Russian culture now. Although she studied French for many years, Russian is quickly becoming her strongest second language because, as Gardner and Lambert state, “the integratively oriented learner might be better motivated because the nature of his goals is more likely to sustain the long-term effort needed to master a second language” (16). The couple has also been to Russia on two occasions, and they plan to go back. Because of different motivations, the couple has learned their respective second languages in very different ways. As stated by Vasili, upon his arrival to the US , about six years ago, he knew some English, but most, if not all of it was geared for an academic and not social setting. Because of this, the majority of his conversational English was learned from my sister. The result of this is that many of Vasili's colloquialisms, such as using the phrase “you know”, are from Chrissy. Additionally, Chrissy has a very strong tendency to raise her intonation at the end of sentences, as if every sentence were a question, and Vasili is slightly acquiring this inclination.
There are several factors in the language acquisition of couples, however. Besides the language of the country that the couple lives in and the motivation for each couple to learn language, each is also influenced by personality. According to Assistant Professor of Education and Associate Director of the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural/ESL Teacher Preparation at George Mason University, Virginia P. Collier, there are many factors linked to personality that affect an individual's speed and success in learning a second language. Some of these factors would be level of anxiety, self-consciousness, and confidence. As shown by Collier's studies, this explanation would clarify why those learners in middle school are, as a group, more successful in learning a second language, than those in high school. Teenagers, who are more likely to be self-conscious in front of their peers and more often have an anxiety of looking foolish, will probably not be in the relaxed and shameless state necessarily for learning a language. Confidence or the lack thereof similarly can work as an aid or detriment to the acquirement of language. With the ability to assert oneself comes the inclination to speak more often, and thus the quicker and more effective way to learn a second language.
One interesting aspect about Chrissy and Vasili is their difference in personality. Over last summer, I spent about a month out in Seattle , staying in their apartment. Getting to know Vasili better, I realized that his personality differed from my sister's in many ways. Later, my sister explained many of these differences by the language and culture with which he grew up. In Russia , it is not considered proper to be very emotionally open with other people, and especially with strangers. Because of this, Vasili seems at many times to be shy or timid, until you really get to know him. Chrissy, on the other hand, is very outspoken and social, even to people whom she doesn't know very well. Because of these differences, Chrissy comes off as the dominant member of the relationship, with Vasili as somewhat of a follower. This correlation may also have to do with the fact that, living in the US , Chrissy is more comfortable in social situations since English is her first language, whereas Vasili is still more comfortable in speaking Russian.
Because of this, in the interview, Chrissy tended to speak a lot without me having to ask her many questions. For Vasili, I had to talk with him a while until he would begin to open up. Also, Chrissy states that her pronunciation in Russian is very good. This not only indicates a quick learning of the Russian language coming from her living with a native speaker, but also a self-confidence that helps her a lot in effectively acquiring the language. Because she is very outspoken and unabashed, Chrissy is the type who would, as she stated, speak Russian to Vasili at the dinner table without being embarrassed, and thus is likely easily pick it up. Still, Chrissy stated that, while on their trip to Russia , Vasili would often take over in speaking Russian when she would try to speak it in public. This indicates that, when put in his own linguistic environment, Vasili tends to be more dominant, and so Chrissy's apparent dominance may not only have to do with her personality type, but also the fact that the couple lives in the country in which Chrissy is a native speaker of the language.
Vasili, on the other hand, upon coming to the US , was often misunderstood, probably because of his thick accent and tendency to mumble. Unlike the American culture, which tells us to be outgoing and friendly, the Russian culture teaches that politeness comes from a kind of silent tactfulness. The fact that his culture did not emphasize a confidence in language led to Vasili's somewhat slow learning of English. While I was interviewing Vasili, Chrissy went on with making a smoothie, even drowning him out with the sound of the blender, whereas while I was interviewing Chrissy, Vasili sat by her listening and nervously awaiting his turn. Vasili is obviously not as confident in language as Chrissy, and this fact manifests itself in their relations to each other. Towards the end of the interview, Vasili said that he was embarrassed to speak English around his parents, or even around any other Russian. I somehow could not picture Chrissy being embarrassed trying out her Russian around any sort of audience.
I think that one of the most important things I learned from interviewing Chrissy and Vasili was that the language and culture in which a person grows up affects their relationship to others in a very dramatic way. Regardless of personality traits, a person is influenced so much by culture that it will subconsciously change each person's view of the world and therefore interaction with all other people. A bicultural relationship such as that of Chrissy and Vasili has to do with not only preserving one's own language and identity, but also with compromising cultural experiences and habits.
Attitudes and Motivation in Second-Language Learning by R.C. Gardner and W.E. Lambert
About the
Author
A lot of who I am comes from the fact that I've lived in many places and travelled fairly extensively. I was born in Chicago, but moved to Texas when I was just a month old. After that, I've also lived in Seattle, Washington; Nice, France; and Raleigh. Since my dad is from Hong Kong, I've visited family there, and my grandma is from Puerto Rico, so I have also been there several times. For the most significant part of my childhood, however, I've grown up in Raleigh, where I attended mainly small private schools. My graduating class had around thirty people in it, so Carolina is very different for me.
I like to learn about the origins of language, how we came to use things like slang terms and gestures, and how language might still evolve. I think the whole study of language is fascinating, so this class should be a lot of fun.
My sister, Chrissy Wai-Ching Leung, was born September 19, 1979 , in Chicago , Illinois . She's always been the artsy, fashion-obsessed one in our family, wishing even at an early age to travel abroad in order to increase her repertoire of exotic and cosmopolitan styles. In 1994, at the start of my third grade year, she got her wish when we moved to Nice , France , for three years. During our stay in France , we went to an International School that was primarily taught in English, but Chrissy picked up a lot more French than the rest of my family. After we moved back, she continued to be interested in fashion design, and upon her graduation from high school, she began to attend the Design School at NC State University in Raleigh . During her junior year in college, she studied abroad for a year in Hong Kong , where she took art classes and intensive courses on Cantonese.
A person's identity is in many ways largely linked to their first language. Because of this, bilingualism within a couple becomes a complex issue. What language does a bilingual couple speak together? The most important factor in deciding this problem is, of course, the language of the place in which the couple resides. In the case of Chrissy and Vasili, they have chosen to entirely speak English, due to the fact that they live in an English speaking community. Nonetheless, Vasili has a network of Russian friends in Seattle, who both Chrissy and Vasili frequently hang out with (as stated by Chrissy). Ingrid Piller, in her study on bicultural couples, found that this phenomenon was very common among people living in foreign countries. In this way, Vasili is able to share not only his language, but also cultural experiences, with people from his own country, and thus help to preserve his culture and identity.
A lot of who I am comes from the fact that I've lived in many places and travelled fairly extensively. I was born in Chicago, but moved to Texas when I was just a month old. After that, I've also lived in Seattle, Washington; Nice, France; and Raleigh. Since my dad is from Hong Kong, I've visited family there, and my grandma is from Puerto Rico, so I have also been there several times. For the most significant part of my childhood, however, I've grown up in Raleigh, where I attended mainly small private schools. My graduating class had around thirty people in it, so Carolina is very different for me.