Biographic Information: English, Male, 24 yrs (3)
Themes: Biographical information (age, where participant is from, where participant has lived and lives currently), Participant’s education (aviation/flight school), Participant’s career motivations and aspirations, Participant’s future plans, Languages participant speaks, Bilingualism and benefits of bilingualism, Learning languages, El Paso and life in the border region of the Southwest, Word meanings, “correct” Spanish and English, Slang, Language use based on preferences and situations
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Transcript:
[00:00]
Interviewer: Hello!
Participant: Hello!
I: Thank you for participating in this interview. Today we will be talking about your language, use and backgrounds. Um, I’m going to start asking you a couple of questions about your um background, go on to education language information, and then that will pretty much be it, okay? So, to start off, um can you tell me a little bit about yourself? How old are you?
P: I am currently twenty-three born 2000.
I: Okay. And where are you from?
P: Uhh, I, I was born in Michigan, but I like to say I’m from El Paso ‘cause I’ve lived in El Paso quite a- the majority of my life.
I: Okay, so where do you live now?
P: I live in El Paso.
I: Oh, okay, okay. [1:00] And you mentioned that you used to live in Michigan, um how did you like living in Michigan?
P: Um, it was it was nice, because mostly all my family lives there. Um, I moved down to El Paso when I was about like seven. And I was seven so I started going to school here in first grade and then after first grade well, I graduated high school in El Paso.
I: Oh, interesting. Okay. Um, is that the only place you’ve lived? Or have you previously lived somewhere else?
P: Um, yeah. Actually, I’ve lived somewhere else. Currently. I lived in Alabama for two years and I just moved back to El Paso this year.
I: Oh, nice! And which one out of the, I guess the three different states that you’ve lived in. Is there a certain one that you, I guess, prefer more than the other?
P: Um, I would say climate wise, [2:00] I think I like Alabama climate wise. ‘Cause it, it’s like the it’s like a mixture of like El Paso and Michigan. Um, it’s like green as Michigan, but it’s also warm, like El Paso, and it doesn’t snow there either. Which is a plus for me. Um, but what was the question? Where do I prefer living?
I: Uh, I guess, which one do you prefer, like the most out of all of them? [Oh.] Out of the states you lived in?
P: Yeah. Uh, I would probably say Alabama just for the, the climate wise.
I: Interesting. Okay. Um, so now I’m going to move on to your education. Are you currently attending school?
P: Uh, yes, I don’t go to university, but I’m going to a flight school.
I: Oh, okay, would you be able to tell me a little bit more about your flight school?
P: Yeah, for sure. Um, so, for flight school you start off with like um getting your licenses. That’s what it base, what it goes off by, by. [3:00] Um, you do like a private, your instrument, your multi engine, and then you can get like your certified like flight instructor license so that’s basically what I’m going to school for is to like to obtain those licenses,
I: Mhm.
P: and yeah, that’s basically the school, how it works.
I: So, you’re- I’m assuming, you’re studying to become a pilot?
P: Correct. Yes. [Okay.]
I: What made you choose this career?
P: Um, I guess moving down from Michigan when I was a kid. Um since we first moved down, I didn’t have any family here. And all my family like lived back in Michigan. So as a kid I was always like you know what like, if I became a pilot I could go visit my family every weekend or see them like constantly or frequently. Um, but then, of course, I grew up. We would travel to places. We would like travel through airplane, and I always enjoyed like sitting next to the window and looking out the window. But as a kid, I remember, I would always think like if this is my view like, imagine the pilot’s view like they must have like an amazing view, and I guess the view is kind of what stride me to become a pilot in the first place.
I: Oh, I love that! So, you- have you ever been afraid of heights or anything?
P: Uh, afraid of heights? Not that I know of. I don’t think I’ve oh, I mean, I’ve gone to the Willis hour, which is like really, really tall. I think it was one of the tallest buildings in America for a while. I went up there and I don’t think I was afraid of heights. To be honest, I think that’s where was my first test if I was afraid of heights or not.
I: Well, that’s interesting. Just cause given that you want to become a pilot, I mean, you will be high up in the air. So that why like, I was a little bit curious, if, like, maybe you were afraid of heights yet that’s something you wouldn’t mind doing because of your [5:00] career.
P: Yeah.
I: Nice! And are you um nearly done with school?
P: Uh, yes and no. I think I’d I’ll finish within like a year in a couple of months, cause it, it goes based off of your pace, and how fast um you obtain, like the knowledge or how many times you book a, a class. So so basically in aviation, like the flight schools. It’s not like college, where you have like semesters and certain time periods of like classes like your classes from this time to that time. Uh, at flight school it, it’s more of you book, which ever day you’re available to fly. And the more you book, the more you fly like the faster you’ll probably most likely finish. So, it just it goes based off of your own pace really.
I: Oh that’s interesting. And how is your school schedule, with that being said like you said, it’s everything at your own pace. How do you, [6:00] How is your schedule?
P: Yeah. So, at first um, I, I started with two flights a week, and I’ve noticed I wasn’t making that much progress. So, it felt um so then, recently, I decided to start going four times a week. So, I go Monday to Thursday. Typically, I’m available from nine. So, there are two-hour classes. So, if I book it at nine, I go to school from nine to eleven, and if I book it from eleven, it’s eleven to one. Those are usually the two hours I usually pick. Um, but they go based off of two-hour increments.
I: Oh, okay, okay. And you- like let’s say, if you ‘cause, I know, like in college you get to like, I guess take multiple classes [Mhm.] in this case can you go two hours and then add an additional two hours, or is it just two hours per day and that’s it?
P: Um, you can actually book as many times as you like, really. Um, you can book two, three times a day like that’s [7:00] totally fine as well. But typically, I just do it once a day.
I: Oh, okay, interesting. And your school is that in El Paso, or where is your school located at?
P: Um, it’s actually located in New Mexico. It’s by Santa Teresa.
I: Oh, okay. Oh, nice. So, it’s like pretty close by then?
P: Yeah, it’s like a twenty-five min drive.
I: Interesting. Okay. Um onto the next question, what are your plans once you’re done with your um aviation school?
P: Um, I guess my plans are to obtain all the licenses to the point where I can become a flight instructor. And, uh once they get to that point, I’ll most likely be a flight instructor for the school that I’m currently going to um because at that point I’ll have to like obtain hours. And there’s different ways to attain hours, but [8:00] I’m gonna go down the path of becoming a flight instructor, which basically means I’ll teach others how to fly, and um I’ll make up hours with them as well. While getting paid. So that’s my first goal. Is to be a flight instructor. And then after that maybe apply to like regional airline. And then, once you’re with like a regional airline for a while, then you can then apply to like bigger airlines and so forth.
I: Oh, okay. Um, you mentioned something about obtaining hours. What? What do you mean by that?
P: Um, yeah so to even apply to regional airline, you need at least like a minimum of like 1,500 hours. If you have like a degree or something, I think it goes down to 1,250-hour requirements. But since I don’t have that at the moment, my minimum requirement would have to be 1,500 hours.
I: Wow! And is that the same [9:00] for almost everybody that’s in aviation? Or does it just depend on like where you’re at? Or it’s- [Um.]
P: No, it, it’s kind of for everyone depending if you have a like a college education or not. Really, it’s the only factor that changes with like the requirements of either 1,250, or 1,500.
I: Oh, okay. And then you mentioned, earlier now something about a college requirement when you went into aviation did you need to take prior, like college classes? Or did you go straight into it after you graduated high school? Or how did? How? How is all of that?
P: Uh huh, um. I did go to college for about like, I would say, two semesters. Um, at that point I took a break from college ‘cause I felt like doing my basics and stuff like that. I felt like I, I didn’t feel like I was progressing, I wanted to do uh [10:00] something where I can like jump into what I wanted to do like immediately. So, I took about like I would say, like six months without going to school really like contemplating what I was gonna choose as like my next path in life and um every time I would look at like different college careers and such I, I always fell back to like aviation and flying. Um, so, I brought it up to my parents and so they were like, why don’t you do some research like, see where there’s like a flight school, we can go check it out, and we can go from there, you know. So, I found a flight school which was in Santa Teresa, and I went with my mom to it.
P: And we went to go check it out, and immediately I saw, like the aircraft outside, and I thought I thought it was like one of the most coolest things ever, and we set down for like information and stuff, and like, I remember like hearing the information like I was like already intrigued to start. So then I asked them, and I was like, “Oh, like to start like, when [11:00] does semester start?” You know? Typically ‘cause I guess I have like the college mentality of like semesters and mini-mesters and stuff like that, so, I thought, that’s how it worked. And so, then the person in the office he kind of like chuckled a l- a little bit and he was like, he’s like that, “It doesn’t work like that here like you can start like the next day, like if you want to.” And I was like, Oh, so, then I remember, I turned back to look at my mom, and I was like dang like I can start like get immediately, you know. And so, then my mom was like, well, whenever you want like, go for it and um I remember we booked it, for like I think I went like on a Wednesday, and we booked like my first flight, for like a Monday.
P: And so, in that fast of a time period, I started going to flight school.
I: Oh, well, that’s pretty awesome. So, it’s everything at your own pace, and it’s awesome how you can just go straight into it, and you don’t have to wait for certain semesters, just ‘cause I know in college you sometimes have to wait for certain classes to be [12:00] [Yeah.] um like available, depending on the semester that you’re taking it in. So, I think that’s- [Mhm.]
P: And you can actually start at the age of 16 to start flying aircrafts even if you’re still in high school.
I: Even if you’re still in high school?
P: Yeah. Yeah, you can still fly.
I: Oh, oh.
P: Mhm.
I: Um, you did mention about how you kind of were, I guess you weren’t, sure, exactly what career you wanted to go for at first. So, with that being said, you obviously went for aviation. But did you ever have something else like in mind of I want- maybe I could’ve done this or maybe you were like, maybe you were interested in another career before actually aviation.
P: Yeah. Um, yeah so I, I did have one in mind ‘cause in high school like my senior year, I was really into like fitness, like going to the gym. I enjoyed like um looking up knowledge um towards being like a gym trainer and [13:00] such um so I thought about the path that’s going into kinesiology or becoming like a physical therapist cause I thought like, Oh, like if I enjoy doing this like, maybe if I pick something along that road. But then I, I’ve never really been a fan of like science too much. So I was like, if I go into kinesiology or physical therapy like it’s a lot of like science involved in it. So that was the only thing that was like, uhhhh I don’t know if I actually want to go down that route or not. So, at the end um, when I was doing the basics. The only thing I had said was like a like a business degree was like the only thing but um, even then, I, I guess I never finished it to that extent.
I: Oh, okay, nice. Um, and then you mentioned about how you want to become a certified flight instructor here with the school that you’re at. [Mhm.] Do you see yourself living here in El, in EL Paso in long run? Or is there like other [14:00] places that you would want to like to branch out to?
P: Yeah. Um, yeah. So, to be when I become a flight instructor. Um, since he requires like that many hours, I’m sure I’ll probably be, in El Paso like for like a good like two years, or maybe like a year and a half building up hours. Um, but after that, once I obtain like what I’m required of a thousand five-hundred hours. I, I don’t know ‘cause typically airlines. They go based off of bases of where they, they are like in the U.S. And if I recall correctly, I don’t know if there’s an airline that has a home base here in El Paso. So, if I were to live in El Paso, for example, if my home base was like in Houston, I would have to fly from El Paso to Houston to basically clock into work there and then start. So, I don’t know the- there’s different possibilities of where you choose or what airline [15:00] you choose to work with.
I: Oh, okay. And how do you like living in a city like El Paso? Would you consider it being a small city, big city compared to the ones that you’ve lived in before?
P: Um, compared to the ones I’ve lived before I, I, for sure I think it’s it’s it’s a really small town, in my opinion. Um, it’s not like a small town, but like a city ‘cause I guess you- it doesn’t branch out to more cities like nearby, which makes it feel secluded almost um like for example, when I lived in Alabama, you can fly- like you can like drive up to like Georgia, or you could go to like Nashville, so it it may look like the different choices seem like bigger, and you made it feel bigger of a, of a city or town compared to El Paso ‘cause in El Paso um, the only thing nearby is like Las Cruces, and then, after that, it’s like all desert until you get to like, maybe like Albuquerque. You know. [16:00] So, it does feel a little small at times.
I: Okay. Uh, okay. So now we’re gonna move on to the language information. What was your first language?
P: Uh, my first language, I would say, would probably, it’ll be Spanish. I think Spanish would probably my first language and then after that one, after Spanish, it was English.
I: Okay, did you um, learn these languages at home or in school?
P: Um, so that’s an interesting question. So, I was raised by my parents. They both know English and Spanish very well, so they taught me like Spanish when I was a baby, and to kind of like- ‘cause, they always had the mentality of like picking up English like he’ll pick it up in school really quickly compared to Spanish. So, my parents, they they talk to me mostly in Spanish, to kind of uh [17:00] practice it um but I would always respond back in English, but I understood Spanish perfectly. And uh, I re- when we lived in Michigan well, when I went to school, like everyone spoke English like it was hardly any Spanish, and it wasn’t until I came down to El Paso, which was like in my first-grade school year. Um, I noticed that a lot of kids like it was more Hispanic populated. Um, so it was more kids speaking Spanish than I was used to, so then I was kind of more like oh wow like I understand it, but I don’t know how to speak it fluently, so I guess, living here it motivated me more to actually work on my Spanish, and I would say it probably wasn’t, it wasn’t until like middle school kind of the end of middle school, where I was like mixing English with Spanish, and I felt more comfortable [18:00] using my Spanish with other people. Um, compared to like my cousins that live in Michigan, and they know Spanish like you can hear the difference compared to like how I speak it versus how they speak it. They speak it more chomp ‘cause they don’t really practice it as much as I did growing up here. So yeah, basically.
I: Wow. So um let’s say, you never really would’ve moved to El Paso and you stayed in Michigan. Do you think your Spanish might, might’ve like sounded the same as the way your cousin speaks Spanish?
P: Um maybe. Maybe.
I: Maybe your parents might’ve, could’ve possibly like, helped you not speak Spanish the way that they do, or what are your thoughts over that?
P: Um, I think with my parents I would have spoken to them in English just fine, and they would have been okay with it. But um I do have uncles and aunts [19:00] that, like they speak more Spanish than English, so I feel like having a conversation with them. I would have probably forced myself to have the conversation in Spanish, but it probably wouldn’t have been the best, in my opinion.
I: Okay, interesting. So given that you’re bilingual, when did you become fluent in both English and Spanish. ‘Cause I know you said you learned them at different, like settings (audio inaudible) people. So.
P: Um, I would say I became fluent in both was in high school. I actually for a elective, I picked a Spanish course, cause I was like, oh, I already know Spanish like this should be easy, like an easy A, as an elective, so I remember choosing it, and by that point I didn’t know the days of the, of like the week. I didn’t know them by heart, and it’s funny ‘cause like with like the the Spanish elective, [20:00] it made me actually like, understand, more like Spanish, the proper pronouns and the proper like um, I guess like name for certain things like, for example, like a “pen” in Spanish like, you would think it’s “pluma” but in reality, it’s “boligrafo”. So it actually helped me like understand that like when I would speak Spanish, I wouldn’t speak it in the proper way. So, I, I, feel like that’s what made me it helped me become more fluent. So, I would say in high school is when I became more fluent in Spanish.
I: And would you say that as of today your Spani- the Spanish that you do speak is proper, or do you think your Spanish is more like on the, I guess you can say improper, more like the slang Spanish? How would you describe your Spanish?
P: Um, I would say it’s more of like the slang Spanish. Um, there’s like still, there’s times during conversation um [21:00] where like I don’t know word in Spanish, so like I’ll have the whole conversation like fine, but they’d be like a word that it like it’ll make me like, really think like, “Uh, what’s that word in Spanish?” You know?
I: Yeah. Is there a certain word that you always kind of like can’t remember how to pronounce it but?
P: (laughs) Um, [(audio inaudible) don’t know.] I don’t- no I can’t come up with the word like I’ll, I’ll generally have to have a conversation in Spanish in order- so, like I get to like a word that I don’t know how to translate it, I guess you could say, but it’s like ninety percent, or like neinty-five percent of like Spanish, I can have a full conversation. It’s just like the small words. They’re like they’re a little more difficult. So, I would say, like five percent, I struggle like, maybe five percent of Spanish.
I: Okay, and what languages do you use the most today?
P: Um, I would say outside of home I use more English outside of home. [22:00] At home I use more Spanish for sure. Or like with family, with like, with family members, I’ll use Spanish.
I: Perfect. So you- just the fact that you mentioned that might- it flows right perfectly to my next question. Does your language vary based on who you are speaking to and the environment that you’re in?
P: Yes, I would say yes, a hundred percent. It, it varies.
I: Can you tell me about a time when you had to alter your language because of the situation or the individual that you were interacting with?
P: Um, yeah, yeah. So I remember once I was having a conversation with a friend, and my cousin was next to me, and since he struggled a little bit with Spanish um like he understood it, but he didn’t understand it fully at some time, so he would look at me and kind of look a little confused. So in that point I would be speaking Spanish, [23:00] and then I would translate it for him in English, you know.
I: Oh, okay. Interesting. So, would you say that you’re pretty comfortable um translating for others?
P: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I think I can translate it pretty- fairly well.
I: Do you practice like translating quite a lot or not too often?
P: Um, not too often.
I: Okay. Um, next question is what languages do you speak at work?
P: Uh, at work? Uh, I’ll mostly like 90% use English. There is times where we get customers. Um, they’ll have a question in Spanish, and then at that point, like, I’ll answer in Spanish, of course, but for the most part everything’s like in English.
I: And when it comes to school?
P: When it comes to school, it’s all English for me. Uh, I use English 100% of the time.
I: And with your family? [24:00]
P: With my family it’s a mixture. It’s a mixture of both. Um, the’ll be times where I’ll have the whole conversation in Spanish, or there’s times where I’ll switch up in English with like my parents.
I: And what about with your friends?
P: With my friends? I think we we use like the term like Spanglish. Like we’ll be talking like in English, and then we’ll just switch it up Spanish, and then we’ll like switch it back to English, you know? So, it’s like a mixture of both. But it’s mostly like a lot of slang. I guess you could say.
I: Okay. So more of like the improper Spanish.
P: Yeah, for sure.
I: Uh, you just mentioned that you use a lot of like the Spanglish. How do you feel like when you use that like is, do you feel okay using that? Or do you feel like you’re not a big fan of it?
P: Um, just with my friends. I feel okay with it, ‘cause I know that we both know the [25:00] language fluently, English and Spanish. So it’s like whatever we say, like, we understand it fully. Um, but like for, for like outside of that, I would use like I would try my best to use like proper Spanish.
I: And how do you- when like you just mentioned, outside of that you try to use the proper Spanish. Are there certain like tips or things that you do to not use the splang- the Spanglish with other people besides your friends?
P: Um, yeah, I I’ll basically just try to keep it at one language at a time like that. So I don’t like catch myself like changing um like conversation in English into Spanish, you know.
I: Okay, interesting. Okay. Um, would you say that knowing, has knowing two languages benefited you?
P: I would say, yes. It becomes [In what way?] it becomes really useful. [26:00] Um, like, for example, when I lived in in Alabama. It, it’s a lot of like English based. But I remember I was working at this one store and like they were like, “Do you know Spanish?”, and I think at that time I didn’t put that I knew Spanish in my resume. So when, like my coworkers, heard me speaking Spanish to like a customer, they were like, “You know, Spanish? and I was like, “Yeah, like, I know Spanish like, fluently.”, And I remember, like my managers were like, “No way like we need a Spanish speaker like, like, you have no idea how many like customers we, we get, and they have a question in Spanish, and we can’t really like translate it.” So it it becomes really useful, like in those scenarios. You know?
I: So, in Alabama they also do speak a lot of Spanish then right? There’s, is it [Uh,] um Hispanic population there to, or?
P: I would say, it’s more English. [27:00] It’s heavy like English users. Um, but I know there was like there’s like a population growing of like um Hispanic speakers. So even the community, like in the town I was living in like they knew, like Spanish, was becoming like a second um language that was really needed in that town.
I: Wow! That’s so crazy. (laughs) Do you think it’s beneficial like knowing both languages living so close to the border?
P: Um, I would say yes, it still becomes beneficial, since we get like a lot of people that come from like Mexico, and they’re not like English. They’re not that fluent with English like. I can still have a conversation with them in Spanish, and like not have them worry about like oh, like I don’t know how to translate it, or how to communicate with this person.
I: Okay, and how do you feel living so close [28:00] to the border?
P: Um, it, it feels, it feels good. I guess.
I: Okay, so you don’t mind it?
P: No, no, I don’t mind it at all.
I: Um, onto the next question. We’re almost done. [Okay.] Um, have you ever mixed up both languages? For example, your family members may speak to you in Spanish, you hear their response in Spanish, and then switch to speaking to them in English. I guess it would be kind of like it, this English that we’re speaking before, about before. Has that, has that ever happened to you like, unintentionally?
P: Uh, I guess yeah. It happens to me all the time. Um, like, for example, with like, I have like an aunt that knows how to speak- like she understands English fully, but she struggles a little bit to, to just speak it, but she understands it like a hundred percent, so like she’ll talk to me in Spanish, and sometimes, if I think like the like the best response [29:00] is in English ‘cause, I feel like I’ll butcher it like in Spanish. I’ll give like the response, fully in English and be like, but I know that she understands exactly what I’m saying.
I: Okay, so then you would say you incorporate both languages within your conversation pretty pretty heavily. [heavily]
P: Yes.
I: And then do you aim to fix or prevent this from happening in your conversations with others? Or you’re okay with it?
P: Um, I think I’m okay with it. I think my Spanish is pretty good for it to be like used [Okay.] pretty confidently.
I: Has anybody ever like corrected you in any way for certain- for using certain terms that weren’t I guess, used right by you.
P: Oh, for sure, all the time. And and I take that criticism ‘cause sometimes I’m like, “Is that the-” like I question myself like, “Is that the correct way to say it?” [30:00] And then, like they’ll be like, “No, no, this is how you say it instead.”, And it’s like, “Oh, okay, okay.”, like, I’ll know for next time.
I: Okay, and would you say that happens pretty often, or it’s like every once in a while?
P: Um, I’m say, like, it happens like every blue moon.
I: Okay, would you be able to like kind of tell me, I guess, about a time that it did happen to you that really caught you by surprise?
P: Um, let’s see. If I can think? I don’t know if a conversation comes to mind about that.
I: Okay, no, that’s that’s okay. Um, okay, I have one last question for you.
Um, in your language, let’s see. Where is it? I have just jotted it down. Okay, you mentioned about how certain like words that you thought were used properly, weren’t. We, we mentioned it before about the pen. Is there [Uh huh.] another word that you have possibly [31:00] thought you were using right, but weren’t? Like you ended up finding out what the actual way of saying it was?
P: Yeah, so, um in high school, it, it, that’s like, when I took the elective. That was where it actually opened up my eyes of like, how bad I was pronouncing things like, for example, like carpet um like in Spanish. I guess you could say this slang would be like um would be like, um carpet would be like “la carpeta.” But in reality, it’s “el- la alfombra” and stuff like that.
I: Okay. Wow, that’s pretty interesting. Okay. Um, I think those are all the questions that I have for you. Um, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down and conduct this interview with me. I truly appreciate it, and I hope you have a wonderful evening.
P: Of course, thank you very much.
I: and best of luck with your career.
P: You as well.
I: Thank you. I’m going to go ahead and end um [32:00] the recording, okay?
P: Sounds good.
[32:07]
New Mexico Border Spanish Corpus 