0:04 - 0:17
Hi everyone! My name is Julianna, I am a sophomore here at Adelphi University and am
currently in the nursing program. I have three guest speakers here with me for our first
episode of our podcast “ Cultural and Linguistics Journey in the U.S”
0:18 - 0:30
Me and my three guest speakers we are all in the sociolinguistics class that we take here
at Adelphi, and we are currently in our last week of the semester and thought we can
share our thought about the class,
0:31 - 1:00
So for me since taking this class I feel it has really shown me how culture and identity
play such a big role in someone's life. I feel something that truly shows someone's
identity and culture is based on the way they speak. I actually speak 3 languages English,
Italian and Spanish. I do know some German but not as well as the others. Growing up, I
did mostly speak English but I did speak a lot of Italian with my grandparents since they
are both immigrants from there.
1:01 - 1:34
Part of this class was always mostly talked about accent, and something i can relate to
this class and my life, is going on vacation when i did i see how a lot of people knew i
was from new york for how i pronounced things or even having a slight accent, but while
being here in new york i see how people know im italian by the way i sound when i
speak, so to me it's just crazy seeing how in different places no matter where you go
someone can kind of always tell what you are based off what you speak or the culture that
surrounds you.
1:35 - 1: 45
So for today's podcast episode I decided to create a google form and ask people to answer
questions based on their experience on language and culture differences here in the
United States.
1:46 - 1:58

I felt the responses we got better helped better understand how language shapes and
reflects on someone culture identity as well as having navigating through linguistic
diversity in different social context
1:59 - 2:15
I divided the questions into five different sections. which were background and language
history, language use and learning english. social and cultural experiences, language
identity and perceptions in the U.S and lastly slang and language in the U.S
2:16 - 2: 50
For my first section of questions which was about background and language history,
some questions we asked were if they were from the United States and if not where are
they from and when did they come to america. , What was their education like in their
home country, If they spoke any English before moving to the U.S and if they did how
well do they think they spoke I also asked if they still speak their native language and if
they do, with who they speak it with. And the last question was if their home country had
any different dialects or variations of their language that they spoke
2:51 - 3:10
I saw that the majority of those who took the test are from the United states, but we did
have a few people that werent. The ones that were not from the United states had come to
America either less than a year ago or between 1 to 3 years. They also had not attended
school in their home country. And as for speaking english, they did speak some before
coming here
3:11 - 3:37
Although some did say they spoke English before coming here, there are some who felt
they spoke English more fluently than others do .Everyone that answered the question
about still speaking their native language, said that they do still speak it at home or with
their family and friends. Everyone has also said that their native language has different
dialects or variations of the language which was very interesting to me
3:38 - 3:49
Although we did have section 1 kind of be more questions about people who are not
from the United States, we tried to make sure the next Section of questions is more open
to who is and who wasn't just to get more different answers.

3:50 - 4:07
So I decided to ask if they speak more than one language and if they do with who. ive
got a lot of different answers which was great. Some answers we got were Croatian,
Albanian, Cantonese, Punjabi, French, Creole, Italian and turkish. A lot of the time they
spoke these languages with their family and friends.
4:08 - 4:25
An important question I had was if they did not speak english, how were they
communicating with any english speakers. A lot of the answers we got were by using
translators or interpreters, we even had some people say they used body language and
gestures or even using pictures and handwritten notes.
4:26 - 5:05
I thought this question was very important to ask because I am Italian and there is this
whole stereotype that it's like Italians talk with their hands. So I feel like I do see it in
myself whenever I talk. I do use my hands like i dont sit still, so seeing how there's other
people that speak other languages and the way for them is by them using body gestures
and hand movements. So I found it very interesting that I'm not the only one or like
Italians aren't the only ones that do that.
5:06 - 7:17
Another question we had asked was if speaking another language ever affected how you
learned in schoolPeople said that it either had no effect on them when learning or it
actually helped them better understand things. I know for a lot of people in middle school
or high school that the language classes we had in my middle school was Spanish, or
chinese But you could also take ASL. but i feel like i never really heard anyone take ASL
or chinese it was mostly spanish. So growing up in a household where my mom and my
other grandma did speak more Spanish it was kind of like knowing how they speak and
learning it kind of helped me understand it. But when I got to high school you have
different languages you could choose from, which was Spanish, Italian and french. I
ended up switching and taking italian once i got to high school because i felt that
language was more spoken throughout my life so i was able to more connect with it i
personally think it helped better my understanding when learning italian at school I was
learning the “formal” italian and at home i speak two different dialects, i speak napolitan
and calabrese. My grandpa is from Napoli and my grandma is from calabria so thats
where the two dialects come from. There were certain words where even from the two
dialects it was very different. Like the word “peephole” it means very differently from

each other which is very interesting. So the language varies from the location that they
are, if you are more up north or south. It just depends so i feel like learning the “formal”
italian in school and then knowing the two different dialects it helped me understand
more and when talking to other people who spoke a different dialect I was able to talk to
them from knowing both dialects and the formal.

7:18 - 7:45
Some people that came to America, did take ESL classes which helped them learn
English and some that did not take ESL classes they had learned English through tv
shows, movies, music, work or even social activities. While learning English or have
already known English, some had taken a little longer to feel comfortable speaking
English compared to a lot others who felt they understood it a lot quicker and are more
comfortable
7:46 - 8:30
A common thing I do as someone that speaks multiple languages, I find myself
constantly switching between languages. After taking this course we learned is called
translanguaging We learned that there are many benefits that come from doing this,
whether it helps people understand better what you're saying or even helps them learn a
language. Most people actually said from the google form that they do translanguage
frequently or at least sometimes. Throughout this course we even saw how
translanguaging has helped people express themselves more and made them feel
comfortable when speaking. But some people also said they felt doing this may feel more
confusing for someone they are talking to.
8:31 - 9:20
A way I can connect this to me and something that happened was for a group project we
did this tutoring session with these kids from an elementary school, and they were all
spanish speaking so when we first met with them we didn't know their culture or
background, so everything was in english. And it was confusing for them, but as we met
with them we changed up our work and translanguaged with them, we put some things in
english and in spanish and you would see they were reading it more and they began to
feel more comfortable, we even learned stuff they liked like soccer and made a lesson
about it and you can see they wanted to lean, so that was very great
9:21 - 10:11

For the next section of questions we asked. It was more Social and cultural experience. I
feel a culture is our identity, it's how we portray ourselves too. It is important we hold on
to what makes us, us. Everyone had basically felt they still hold a good connection with
their culture, whether it is by using the native language,or having certain traditions they
still do. Part of my culture is traditions, a big tradition I guess italians have is for
Christmas Eve we do the seven fishes. We do seven fishes because it represents the seven
gods as part of Italian culture so that's a big tradition we always do, there are also some
feasts i go to in brooklyn, so its traditions i still do that kind of connect me to my culture
10:12 - 11:16
One question we asked was if they feel that to be considered successful or professional in
the U.S requires you to speak English. Everyone had answered yes. I feel this is
something that a lot of people look for when hiring for a job if you are a fluent English
speaker. But I think if you can speak more than one language or even translanguage while
communicating it should be considered a skill because it's like as new generations come
around nobody is really ever staying connected to their culture, or aren't interested in
learning another language. So I feel like older generations pass it on. They try to teach the
younger generation another language just to stay connected, i even know some people
that are Italian that don't speak as much as I do. And it is because their grandparents
didn't teach them or weren't interested. And they have a regret wishing they learned to
stay connected.
11:17 - 11:56
For the section language, identity and perceptions in the U.S we wanted to know how
people felt when showing their culture and background. About half of the people that
answered said they have experienced discrimination against them for their culture and
background and the other half says they haven't. A lot of them had said they feel people
in the U.S judge others based on their accent or language skills. Like I said before, if you
did not speak english or spoke “broken english” you were considered unprofessional. I
feel like tats so weird to say because no matter what wherever you go or whoever you're
with everyone speaks differently,
11:57 - 12:16
A lot of people make assumptions about people for the way they sound or speak. I feel a
lot of the times you would hear people make fun of others' accents and it could really be
damaging to someone's mental health. Especially younger kids when in school, i think if

they heard someone making fun of their background or their language, it could ruin their
self esteem and not make them want to learn or speak.
12:17 - 12:33
Over time we hear how languages change, I feel the standard English language evolves
slowly. We obviously did not have the slang or the terminology people used 30 years ago.
A lot of people have said they feel that to fit in while being in the U.S you need to
understand or use slang.
12:34 - 13:17
To finish off this podcast episode on a good note, we asked what piece of advice they
would give people coming to the U.S or someone who wants to improve their language
skills and cultural adaption. A lot of people have said they learn about other cultures and
customs. I 100% agree with this, I think if you took time out of your day to learn about
someone's culture and background it can really mean a lot to them and want them to
communicate and feel comfortable where they are and who to talk to.Another piece of
advice I saw a lot was never be afraid to make mistakes, we all make mistakes and we all
learn from them. A mistake will only show us how we can improve so we should never
let a single mistake bring us down
13:18 - 13:42
But that's all I'm going to now have my 3 guest speakers talk and tell you guys their
thoughts and experiences with this class and the questions from the google form. Hope
you guys enjoyed it. And hope you get to reflect on your cultural and linguistics journey
as well.
13:43 - 14:08
Hi, this is Tyasia. So I would like to share about my experience growing up. I never, well, my
country’s language is more of a dialect. It’s what Americans would consider broken down
English.
14:09 - 14:52
So as a child, I grew up speaking that way because I was surrounded by my family and
friends of the same culture. In the neighborhood we lived in, there were a lot of people with
the same culture and similar backgrounds.But since they’re not from the same country, they
had different accents that I would catch onto. Then I would be confused by the accent I was
hearing from home, even though it was kind of from a similar culture.

14:53 - 15:23
Growing up, I lived in Jamaica, Queens. So as I transitioned to this neighborhood in
Bellmore, Long Island, my voice started to change because I wasn’t surrounded with people
that looked like me or similar culture as me. It was just me and my family.
15:24 - 16:19
Due to me mostly spending my days at school, growing up I
mostly picked up on what the other kids were saying and what l was seeing from school
than at home.So my accent started to change. I started to sound more like what’s
considered “standardized English” or proper. Most of my friends were not from the same
culture as me, so I just picked up on how their voices sounded. I wasn’t speaking how I
would speak as if I was with my family.
16:20 - 17:03
I lived in Bellmore from when I was eight till now actually, but from seventh grade was when
I was kind of surrounded by people more like me. So my voice started to pick from what I'm
used to hearing at home since I'm more surrounded by people that look like me.
17:04 - 17:42
And so as I got older I started to sound different. I started to sound more like the mixture of
both standardized English and my native dialect. I also am able to code switch between accents and sayings.