Interview Analysis. 4 Page essay+4 Page Conversation

SOC3310 Intercultural Communication Dr. Tom Miller Examples of past student final projects Note: These samples are provided to illustrate the desired format and some of the approaches students have taken in the past. (The names have been redacted.) A key part of this assignment is that each of you will have to find what works best for you and your interview subject.

PART ONE EXAMPLES – SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS SAMPLE #1

Final Project: Life History of an Immigrant to America

Introduction

For the purpose of this project, I interviewed my friend A, who goes by N. N emigrated

from Israel in 2016, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Human Rights Studies from Columbia

University. N is twenty six years old and is from Tel Aviv. N was born and raised in Israel, and

speaks Hebrew as her first language, but is fluent in English. We met in June while we were both

interning at the same department in the United Nations.

The interview was conducted on November 22nd, 2017, and lasted about forty-five

minutes. However, due to some technical difficulties, the recording was a bit fragmented. The

interview was conducted at N’s apartment in Bushwick.

Summary

The interview involved us talking about moving to America from Israel. N mentions that

she did not feel Israeli enough when she was in Israel. But now that she is here, she realizes how

Israeli she really is.

The first question involved asking N if she considered America her home. N mentioned

that even though she gravitates towards America and her physical stuff is here, it is not really

home. The most striking point made was that moving here made her realize how Israeli she is,

because of which she is not sure where home is anymore.

The next question involved gauging her opinion of whether this difference between being

Israeli in an American society is something she could reconcile if she stays here long enough, and

she did not believe that would be possible. Nreiterated that she is just differently wired, and sees

thing differently, and reads social situations differently. She does agree, however, that it would

become easier to read into social complexities with time. She further mentions that she is

adopting an ‘American persona’, but it can never change her enough for her to become

‘American’, as she didn’t grow up here. This made her feel sorry that she did not grow up here,

as it is a better place to be. It is something she would wish for her children.

The next question involved discussing whether she would stay here upon graduation or

go back to Israel. N said that she was certain she would stay when she first moved here, but as

time passes she is unsure about that. She says that there might be more opportunities for her in

Israel.

The next question was about assimilating into the American society, especially with her

moving with her partner and specifically making American friends. This question elicited a

response implying her partner helped her deal with the ssues she faced when she moved here,

but it also kept her in a comfort zone of speaking to her partner in Hebrew and being the way

they were in Tel Aviv. Additionally, N mentioned it being hard to make friends, but that also that

that was never one of her priorities. Thus, this has not been an issue to her. However, she did

make it a point not to get too involved in the Israeli community here, as she did not want to stay

in her comfort zone.

The next part of this portion of the interview entailed talking about how her familial

relationships have changes since her move here. She said that she talks to her parents more, and

appreciates them more as it would’ve been much harder for her to be here without their support.

Finally, it was asked whether she had trouble understanding and following the American accent

when she first moved here. She didn’t, as she explained that the Israeli culture is shaped by

American culture so the American accent is the one she understands the best, and in fact is the

baseline she uses for all other accents she encounters.

Analysis

Presentation of Self According to Goffman, we are all dramaturgs playing a role. N

herself talks about how she is a certain way when she is with non-Israelis here, which

represents a role she is playing in American society. She also mentions that when she moved

here with her girlfriend, she continued speaking to her Hebrew, and was the same way with N

here as she was in Israel, which implied that her role with her girlfriend did not change even

with their move. Additionally, she mentioned during her interview that she even speaks English

to her Israeli friends and family in a different manner. This code-switching is in alignment to her

role as a member of the Israeli community. However, it is implied that this role most aligns with

her persona.

Her body language is very relaxed, and she exudes confidence. She does not give the

impression of being embarrassed of her accent or pronunciation, but does not hesitate to ask

how a word is pronounced when she is unsure.

Dialect and Accent N has a heavy accent and sometimes struggles with the

pronunciation of certain uncommonly used words. Her pronunciation of certain sounds such as

the first e in ‘definitely’, are different, with more of an ‘ae’ sound. This is also observed in her

pronunciation of the word “better”. Additionally, her ts and ds are softer. Finally, her

pronunciation of e where is should be ‘ee’ is of i, as in pronouncing deal as “dill” instead of

“deel”.

SAMPLE #2

Interview

I had the opportunity to interview my aunt J who has been here in the United States for

about 18 years. Before I came here I didn’t know anything about her. We just met four years

ago, but she became like a mother to me. We both spend a lot of time together and share a lot

of our problems, she is my aunt but at the same time my best friend. She migrated to the

United States when she was very young and doesn’t have the opportunity to go back Ecuador

yet. I wanted to interview her because I think that it should be very hard for someone who

leave her country so many years and don’t have the opportunity to go back for at least a

vacation. The interview with her took place at a Colombian restaurant called Sebas Sebas, most

of the time we go there to drink a coffee or have lunch together, while having a conversation

about how was our day. Sebas Sebas is like the place where we know more about each other,

give each other support and have a good time together. I knew this restaurant would be the

perfect place to interview my aunt Jessica. I went to her house on a Sunday and took her out to

eat at this restaurant. I brought with me a pen and paper to write down our conversation, since

she doesn’t like pictures or videos neither to be recorded. While we ordered our food, I was

letting my aunt know what the interview was going to be about, and she was okay with it. As I

have mentioned we spend time together and talk about what’s going to go on in our lives, but I

had never asked her the reason for why she came to the United States.

Analysis

When people want to interview someone, it is very important to do it face to face. In my

opinion is much better to do it this way because you can see the interviewee body language

too. Body Language is a key when having a conversation because what the interview does not

tell you in words you can tell how they feel or what they really what to say, just by examining

their body languages. A face to face interview it is also important for the interviewer because

they can be more concentrated when doing the interview. If you have to do an interview over

the phone you are most likely to get distracted with other things going on around you and you

will not be paying attention to what the other person is saying. In this interview me and my

aunt were together, so for me it was very easy to tell the emotions that my aunt was having

when she was answering my questions, I had the opportunity to see her body language and

how she was very concentrated during the whole conversation, I got very concentrated too. I

also recommend to try to find someone who can communicate with you in the same language

as your interview has to be. For example, my interview should have been in English because the

transcription has to be in English, so it was going to be easier for me to tell my aunt’s accents

and the way she speaks another new language. Even though it was a little hard to tell her

accents in the interview, there were times when she included an English word in her answers,

so by hearing some of those words I already could tell the little accent that she has. Since I

know her already for about four years, every time when we go out together, for example when

we are at the mall I hear her speak English in some stores, so I already know her accent and

how comfortable she feels speaking in other language.

Summary

This interview was very interesting for me because I knew more things about my aunt’s

life. All the sacrifices that she had to make, the important and painful decisions that she had to

decided. All the struggle that she had to face to come here to the United States. The problems

that she faced once she was here. Most importantly, how difficult was to her to adapt here and

I can relate to that because even though I am living around four or five years in the U.S I still do

not feel comfortable. People would think that the main problem for someone who is trying to

come to America for the first time, in order to get a better life, better opportunities and achieve

their dreams, is only in the way how they manage to come here. But, people are wrong. The

real struggle is when the person is already here. For my aunt it was difficult to try to get a visa

to come to the United States, but most the major difficulties were when she came here and had

no one to help here. She didn’t know anyone here, she could not communicate with the

majority of people here because of the new language.

Another major problem for my aunt J was the way of living here. In Ecuador she was

used to another completely different life style. There were a lot of obstacles that she had to

face because of her decision to come to the U.S. As she told me, there are times where she

regrets having come to the United States, but the problems and depression that she was facing

after her divorce obligated her to make this decision. She knew that if she had the courage to

stand up for herself, don’t give up and fight for her future, she would not have had to migrate

to another country, but she was so affected that she only saw the option of coming to the

United States. Of course, almost all the time she is happy to be here because she likes traditions

and things that Americans do here, and she is already adapted to this country. First of all she is

always thankful for all the people who helped her at the beginning, she is also thankful to have

a job because she has the opportunity to help her dad in Ecuador, she had the opportunity to

buy her own little house in Ecuador because of all her hard work, she has a family now here and

even though she misses her country, she knows that everything happens for a reason, and that

all of the obstacles that she faced by migrating to the U.S made her be a courageous and strong

woman.

SAMPLE #3 Between Port Said and New York City

In order to conduct the interview, Y and I met on a Wednesday morning at the

corner of 42nd Street and 10th Avenue. I met Y a several weeks ago for the first time. Y

works the night shift of a food truck in Hell’s Kitchen. I was on my way back home from

my Philosophy class in the Upper East Side, when I saw the food truck and suddenly felt

hungry. It was going to be the first time I ate something from a street food truck in New

York City. Therefore, and due to my lack of experience when it comes to New Yorker

street food, I asked Y which plate he recommends. He suggested the rice and chicken

combo with his special sauce. Before he started cooking, I asked Y if I could pay by card.

As I learned then, food trucks only take cash. Unfortunately, I did not carry any cash

with me. Nevertheless, Y prepared the rice and chicken menu for me, despite the fact

that I could not pay him. I promised him that I would come back and so I did. After our

first encounter, I stopped by his food truck once a week and got his rice and chicken

menu with his signature sauce.

We always had a very pleasant chat when I stopped at his food truck. Hence, he

was the first person that came to my mind when this assignment was given to us.

Actually, the food truck is not his but according to Y, business goes down when he is

absent for a while. On that account, I like to call the food truck his. He seemed a bit

hesitant when I first asked him if he would be willing to participate in this interview and

tell me about himself. He was worried about his English skills as he considers his

English rather bad. I explained the purpose of the interview and assured him that I do

not have difficulties understanding him. At the end, he agreed but warned me several

times about his “bad English”.

Y was born in Egypt and his entire family still lives in Egypt; in a city called Port

Said. He has a wife and three children; two girls and one boy. His mother lives very

close to his house where his wife and children live. When he goes back to Port Said, he

visits his mother daily. He used to practice javelin as a professional athlete. He

belonged to the top five javelin athletes in Egypt. Sport made it possible for him to

travel around a little bit.

As mentioned previously, Y works the night shift in the food truck. Hence, we

met on a chilly morning at 8am after his shift. We went to a coffee house I had

suggested. I wanted to invite him as a thank you for his time and help. He refused and

ended up paying my breakfast. I was not very happy about it but I also did not want to

insult him. The place was quite busy and music was playing. Once we sat down, I asked

Y one more time if he felt comfortable with the recording of the conversation. He said it

was okay but that his English was not good enough. As the music was quite loud, I was

worried that the voice memo from my iPhone would only record the music but not our

conversation.

The entire interview lasted 46 minutes. The roles were clearly distributed at the

beginning of the interview. I was the interviewer and Y was the interviewee. At some

point of the interview, the exchange became more natural. I decided to transcribe the

first part of our interview because I think it shows the “transformation” of Y during the

interview. At the beginning, he appeared to be quite tense and his answers were rather

brief. After a short while, he seemed to accommodate himself and feel more relaxed; his

statements became more lively and detailed. Additional evidence of this process of

relief– which unfortunately cannot be fully conveyed through this summary or the

transcription – were the subtle changes of Y’s adaptors, i.e. his posture, gestures, and

facial expressions. My impression was that Y was always aware of the recording.

Our previous conversations as well as the conversation we maintained after the

interview was completed had been more “natural” or fluent than the interview. Both of

us were not thoroughly laid-back. One of the reasons for this could have been the

unusual environment. Usually we meet in the evening at the food truck. Even though Y

became more relaxed after a while, I still noticed a slight change in his way of speaking

and voice when I stopped the recording. Also, I think he made more errors during the

interview than he normally does.

When analyzing my patterns, I noticed that I used nodding as regulator quite

often during the interview. Additionally, I applied “hm”, “ok”, “I see”, and “yes” as an

answer. This is a pattern I had not noticed before. However, a pattern I was conscious

of before revealed itself during the interview; I adapt my way of speaking to my

counterpart. Given that Y did not always formulate entire sentences, I started to omit

parts of a full sentence too. Code-switching is deeply anchored in my language habit;

switching between languages, adapting the word order, or using a different vocabulary.

I have been told that the tone of my voice changes depending on the language I speak.

Though, I cannot hear it myself.

As mentioned before, I noticed that I was not feeling relaxed either. It was very

important to me to make Y feel as comfortable as possible. I felt guilty for having him

doing the interview after he had been working a 10 hours shift. It was him that

suggested the time for the interview. Nevertheless, I felt bad about it.

After the “official” interview we continued to chat. Y then told me that he is

thinking about moving to South Carolina and starting his own business. He would like

to open an Italian Restaurant since he enjoys cooking. He has been living in South

Carolina for a short period before coming to New York City and liked it very much. Not

only are the costs lower in South Carolina but the people are friendlier than in New York

according to Y. If he moves to South Carolina and starts a business over there, he would

bring his wife and children to the U.S.

With reference to Goffman’s statement: “Choose your self-presentations

carefully, for what starts out as a mask may become your face “, I realized that it is quite

difficult to change our “mask” and perform when required. At least that is a conclusion I

discovered for myself.

PART 2 EXAMPLES: TRANSCRIPTS AND C.A. SAMPLE #4

A: What is your name, age, and where were you born?

Y: My name is [Y]. I was born in Mexico in the state of Morelos, I am thirty-eight years old

A: Did you live all your childhood in Morelos?

Y: Part of my childhood I lived in Morelos and after I moved to Pueblo during my adolescence

A: Which did you prefer living in? Puebla or Morelos?

Y: I like both states but I can say that Morelos is my preferred place because of the climate the

climate is very beautiful, it’s very spring, all year round its spring in Morelos, and I like that climate

more

A: At what age did you migrate to the United States?

Y: I migrated to the United States at the age of 18

A: Who did you migrate with? Did you come alone?

Y: I came from Mexico to here married, with my ex-husband

A: What did you leave behind?

Y: In Mexico there were a lot of things left behind, the family was left behind, the friends, the

memories from my childhood that one had there

A: What was the most difficult thing to leave behind?

Y: The hardest part was leaving the family behind

A: How was the process or coming to the United States? Why did you want to come here?

Y: The process more than anything to come here was to form a future, a future that in Mexico one

would not have been able to because of the economy that the country suffers and we decided to

come to New York because it’s in the closest country and that was the choice we made

A: How was your life before migrating?

Y: My life before migrating in Mexico was a normal life, as a child I was going to Middle school,

I was a student, and had a job as a nanny, I would study and then work in the afternoons

A: What’s a memory from your childhood that you like

Y: I memory I have from my childhood is, I liked the afternoons at the Plaza of the town

A: What would you do at the plaza?

Y: We would ride our bikes around the plaza, we would play basketball, these are some memories

I cherish that I won’t forget

A: ->How was your journey to the United Sates?

Y: ((speaker sighs)) -> The journey it was ::: a very long journey of (.) many days

A: ->About how many? How were the conditions?

Y: -> What I remembered was that at (.) first on the side of (.) Mexico it was hot, and the more we

::: walked (.) hh and the more the hours passed (.) toward the border of the (.) U.S the climate was

changing (.) we felt the :::cold (.) and there was :::rain hh I remembered it rained on us (.) our :::

clothes were wet (.) and it was the month of February hh so the temperature was ::very low

A: _>I know there are two ways to cross illegally by crossing el Rio Grande and by foot (.) why

did you decide to :::walk?

Y: ->We decided to walk because although it’s a ::: longer journey we believed that it would be

the safest (.) I remember we would walk a :::mountain (.) and once we had :::finally reached the

:::top we would then have to walk down the :::same mountain on the :::other side (.) and have to

go :::up :::another :::mountain (.) hh I don’t even know how many mountains we walked up and

down hh but it was :::mountains and mountains (.) there was a moment when we were all tired and

exhausted hh we didn’t have water or food (.) it was a very long and difficult walk and in some

occasions we walk on the edge of the mountains (.) hh and they were tall and we had to walk

:::very carefully because if we took a bad step we would fall from this immense and high mountain

(.) hh :::at night it was also :::very dangerous because someone could fall down and below there

was a river

A: -> About how many people were with you when you crossed? (.) Were you all able to cross?

Y: I remember (.) it was a small group of about (.) fifteen people and yes (.) we were all able to

cross I don’t recall if I was the only woman or if there were others with us

A: ->When you finally arrived to the U.S how did you feel?

Y: (.)After all these events we arrived to San Diego California (.) we drove to a house in San Diego

(.) we all felt ::: relieved and happy and we were finally about to eat since we hadn’t eaten in days

(.) we were able to shower we were happy but we still had a long trip since our destination was to

arrive to New York.

A: ->Was there something specific that made you realize how different New York was?

Y: ->Well everything was different there wasn’t anything specific that I noted that there was a

difference between what I saw here in New York and in Mexico because truly :::everything,

everything was different the people acted different, the food was different, the language here, there

are also many languages, everything, everything was different hh (.) -> I remember when we

arrived to Brooklyn (.) we didn’t have jobs and we were looking for a job (.) but we needed clothes

because it was starting to get cold hh (.) and the first clothes we acquired were from the street (.)

It was a typical street in Brooklyn where people we sell their merchandise on the street (.) and I

remember we got closer to look at the sweaters (.) and I still remember that all the sweaters cost

two dollars each (.) and there were many sizes small (.) medium (.) large hh and (.) J I remember

I was with some family members and everyone was excited picking out their sweaters because

they were only two dollars (.) We were excited because they were inexpensive and we would have

clothes for the cold (.) hh and everyone grabbed their packages (.) and when we got home and

opened them their sizes were incorrect (.) the ones that were large were small (.) and it was funny

because were all so happy to have our clothes but then we realized why they cost two dollars (.)

and it was like acquiring something for a low price but bad quality (.) and at the end we just ended

up laughing about what had happened to us. That I’ll never forget J

SAMPLE #5

Transcript

I: (laughs) maybe you want that, maybe you need it. Okay, ever since you’ve come here have

you made any American friends?

N: Yeah, few

I: And like how close are you with them? Do you feel comfortable?

N: So I have one close friend and the others are like I’m friends with them but like im not

sharing personal things with them

I: but has it been easy for you to make American friends or no?

N: no, but it wasn’t like the purpose. Like its not like I haven’t tried to have American friends

necessarily, you know like

I: like you don’t go after them based on their nationality, like its who they are as a person

N: Yeah, but I definitely kind of did not want to be a part of the whole the Israeli groups that

there are here like I wanted to be out there, not to keep like stay in my comfort zone in a way.

Yeah, but Americans are definitely different, weird in some ways. But they would probably say

the same about me and others (laughs) As my dad always tells me thirty two hundred Americans

are not wrong – cannot be wrong

I: why thirty-two hundred?

N: thirty-two thousand? Thirty-two what thirty how many?

I: million?

N: million

I: like the population?

N: the population

I: what? Like this is not like Seychelles or whatever that you would only have thirty-two

hundred people (laughs)

N: Seychelles? (laughs) I don’t why…

I: its this small random place! (laughs)

N: (laughs)

I: how have your relationships with your parents and your brothers changed since you got here?

N: um, its hard to tell, because there have been a lot of changes that are not necessarily related to

me moving here. Um, well I’m not that sure but I might feel closer and a little bit more I don’t

know attached in a way I don’t know I feel like without their support I probably have a hard time

so it kind of like I appreciate that more in a way. But I cannot point to like a visible change, like

not necessarily visible but like any change that I can totally define.

I: Are you still in touch with your friends from Israel? Or did you lost touch cause you got so

busy here?

N: um, with the closer friends, yeah definitely. We’re trying to talk once in a few days, but yeah

I had circles of friends that are not part of my life anymore cause like im not there, so some hate

it. But that’s fine, you know. Friendships.

I: when you got here, did you have trouble understanding the American accent?

N: no, yeah. Like Israeli culture is super like its shaped by American culture, so I was definitely

used to hearing that accent. Like this is the accent that I kind of measure every English I hear

against. You know, this is kind of

I: hm. Baseline

N: Yeah. But it was definitely different. Like it wasn’t easy in the beginning to kind of make this

switch in the language.

SAMPLE #6 (C.A. portion only) I: “Are you close with your Italian side of your family?”

A: “-> (falling pitch) Yea, but just because the simple fact that I lived in Italy, so they were

closer to get to. ::: But.. it’s not a preference thing, it’s just by the simple fact that were closer to

me, :::so.

I: “:::Do you feel that the Italian culture is much different from the ⇑ (speeding up) American

culture?”

A: “:::Ooooh, absolutely.”

I: “What is the strongest difference?”

A: “:::Hmm.., ⇓ (slowing down) there is a ton, but I would say that ((PAUSE FOR ABOUT 3

SECONDS)). This might sound stupid J (laughing), but I think the way that people consider a

friendship in Italy ⇓ (slowing down) is that, your friend is your brother, ⇑ (speeding up) if you

know what I am saying. It’s not just an acquaintance. Here in America, ⇓ (slowing down) or,

rather in New York, because America is pretty big. :::But, I would say New York specifically,

:::eeeh, (slowing down) ⇓ I would say that I can be your friend today, and tomorrow, (falling

pitch) -> but we might not even cross paths. (speeding up) ⇑ I mean, we won’t know each other,

⇓ (slowing down) you know. In Italy, I still talk to the people that knew and saw me when I was

a baby, literally. People that have ⇑ (speeding up) gotten married, and got kids, ⇓ (slowing

down) they still talk to me, you know, :::and it is something that I don’t think I can find, or will

find here in America. Maybe one person out of the ten year that I lived here is still close to me,

ONE. I am not even close to the friends that I had in high school J (laughing) :::So, so that goes

to say about this.

I: “:::Yea, ⇓ (slowing down) I hear you.”

A: “:::Another thing, I was with my girlfriend the other day, and we pointed this out, ((PAUSE

FOR ABOUT 2 SECONDS)). that a lot of people here tend to eat out at restaurants. (speeding

up) ⇑ For example, ⇓ (slowing down) eating at home in Italy is almost like religious. :::Like, you

have to be at :::home, eeh, (speeding up) ⇑ it’s like, it’s like, ⇓ (slowing down) it’s a MUST.

You know, here it’s like people eat out, there is not really any time to spend with your :::family,

or to even sit at the table to talk about whether your day was :::good or bad, (falling pitch) -> you

know, :::so, (speeding up) ⇑ I feel like that’s something that I am losing as well, (slowing down)

⇓ while I am living here in America.”