Family, language and culture learning

Fuquin's desire to learn English is strongly motivated by her family, especially by her desire to both help her daughter and (perhaps seeing the day that her daughter does not want to use Cantonese) to be able to communicate with her daughter in English. Here she discusses that issue (in English) in an interview from 2005 after being in the U.S for two and a half years.

Fuquin:	Mhm. Okay. Uhmmm. Uhhh. (2.0) I I think I think uh learning English uh uh help help me and uh and uh um (+) I I will going on go to school and uh and uh outside example. outside is uh uh my job? Uh I can I can talk talk to my my worker. and uh and the friend every day for the first first ((holds up one finger)). Then (+) uh I (+) when when uh we-weekend weekend I I learning English uh in my home. Uh s- I (+) I learning English with my daughter. My daughter sometime teach me and help me.
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In her interview from a year later (in Chinese), Fuquin describes how a lack of English proficiency prevents her from helping her daughter with her homework.

IR:	Do you help your child with her homework?
Fuquin:	Sometimes I try to teach her. But if I can't help, she will go to her school teacher. If it doesn't work, I have to hire people to teach her. There is no other ways.
IR:	So you meant there were difficulties for you to help her with her homework?
Fuquin:	Yes, a little.
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Immigrant parents often rely on their children for language support. This exchange from 2006 is evidence that this is the case in Fuquin's life as well

IR:	Does your daughter speak English with you?
Fuquin:	Yes. She always wants to speak English with me.
IR:	So she can help you?
Fuquin:	Yes, she helps me a lot.

An unplanned comment by Fuquin's daughter in the 2005 interview is a good illustration of the challenges that adult immigrant language learners face when they have young children who socialize to the new language and culture quickly and who later are critical of their parents for relying on them. In the excerpt below, after being asked a question about future goals and hesitating a bit with her answer, Fuquin's nine year old daughter interrupts.

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With this comment, Fuquin's daughter makes a public assessment of her mother's English language ability - a potentially face-threatening act. Fuquin, however, appears not to be particularly bothered by her daughter's interruption and asks the interviewer to go on, to repeat the question.

Immigration, language, family: starting over

Fuquin described immigrating to and life in the U.S. (like several other learners in the Learner Portraits project) as ‘starting over'. She also described an opportunity for her own new start or socialization to English language and U.S. culture together with her expected child's language socialization.

356 education
6th question

Fuquin:	I feel when I came to the United States, had my new house, I started a new life here. When I became pregnant, I feel I started my life again from a zero point. I have more opportunities to learn about American culture. What I have experienced before in China is totally different from what I'm encountering here. Just like starting from zero. Why I want another child is also because I feel I don't have enough knowledge of American culture. I will learn with my second child. As my older daughter, I hope she can make progress in her study and I can help her.
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At another point in this interview, Fuquin stated that she plans to get "spend more time getting in touch" with U.S. culture with her second child.

Here, Fuquin discusses her strong feelings about the necessity of learning English and the processes of language, family, and acculturation.

IR:	I think this question wants to get at what the influences of language might be on the feelings and lives of immigrants.
Fuquin:	So I feel, there are differences between British English and American English in some pronunciation. My daughter can understand American English very well, but she is very lazy when it comes to writing. I want to learn English with my daughter so we can also have better communication. She is changing as she grows. She likes to talk in English with American kids and she does not want to speak Chinese. So I hope she can help me with my English. And I hope after I pass my citizenship exam my English will be much better. English learning is my biggest concern. I need English for everything I do. If I master it, a lot of things will be much easier for me.
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