Integration in American culture
In his family community context, language use is mixed: Imanuel speaks Kinyarwanda with the adults and English with his nephews and nieces who were born in the United States. However, with his own children, Imanuel uses Kinyarwanda. In the past, when they lived with his extended family and were around other children, he used English with them. Now that they live in a nuclear family unit, he tries to maintain his Rwandan heritage by using Kinyarwandan with the children. Imanuel's wife reports that they speak Kinyarwandan with their children everyday.
| I: | and there is the language too. You speak Kinyarwanda to your children |
| R: | in Kinyarwanda, yes |
| J: | yeah, every day. |
Another community in Imanuel's life is his involvement with soccer, his favorite pastime, and the players he meets regularly playing soccer. Imanuel belongs to a team which meets twice a week and has games with other local teams on a regular basis. He reports that all the other players on his team are Mexicans but that because he is on the team, together, they only speak English.
| IR: | Do you feel attached to a certain community here or a specific group of people here at Portland? For example, do you belong to a soccer team? | |
| Imanuel: | Yes | |
| IR: | Or other things like that? | |
| Imanuel: | Yes I belong to a soccer team | |
| IR: | Ah that's true, that's good and you do this every week or…: | |
| Imanuel: | yes we play twice a week. | |
| IR: | oh yeah? | |
| Imanuel: | during su, during su, during summer, we play every Saturday and Sunday | |
| IR: | Okay very good. What's the name of your team? | |
| Imanuel: | I forgot my team | |
| IR: | laughs | |
| Imanuel: | They're … we play with Mexicans | |
| IR: | ah good ah do the others or does everybody speak Spanish? | |
| Imanuel: | Pardon? | |
| IR: | you told me that you play with Mexicans | |
| Imanuel: | yes | |
| IR: | your team, do you speak Spanish | |
| Imanuel: | no, we speak English | |
| IR: | English all the time | |
| Imanuel: | All the time, yes, yes. | |
| IR: | so it is you and | |
| Imanuel: | and the Mexicans | |
| IR: | and the Mexicans, yes | |
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