First Interview -- Process Description,Personal Review and Transcript of the Interview

Process Description:
1. Describe the preparations.
Before the interview, questions are very important to me. During the class, we divided those questions into four parts, which are personal information, country, study abroad, and the life in the U.S., and I chose 7 questions from 10 core questions for my question list. While, the questions might be changed during the interview, therefore, I divided five aspects of questions as I want to ask to my interviewee. Then, I need to decide my first interviewee. At that time, I am still confused that the student from which country I would like to interview them. Because I lived off campus with a Vietnam family, so it urged me to know more about Vietnam and the people from that country. I started to find the international students from Vietnam, and make appointment with her. Before a few days of the interview date, I emailed my question list to my interview, and let her know what kind of question that I would ask to her in advance. Since she do not like recorder pen, I prepared a note book to record the entire interview process. On the interview date, I printed the question list out and I think it could help me to remind the question during the interview.

2.How did you approach people?
I asked Thao if she has any Vietnam friends in SCSU, and she helped me to contact with one of them. She told me that a girl is willing to be my interviewee, but she do not like recorder pen. I agreed of that, Thao gave me the email of that girl. Then I got my interviewee's name and her email address, and started to connect with her.

3.When, where, and how did you conduct and record the interview?
I made an appointment with Trinh at 1pm, February 27. Because I did not have her mobile phone number, thus, I went to the library a little earlier. As we planned, we meet with each other in front of the library, where there is a lot of sofa. Then, I suggested that we could change the interview place to the second floor, where there are a lot of computer, but we need to talk with each other in a low voice. Since Trinh does not like recorder pen, so I wrote the whole questions and answers in my notebook.

4.Whom did you interview?

Trinh Diep, a Vietnamese girl studied in SCSU for almost two years in pre-nursing major. She is a minded girl, and willing to help others. She has two sisters and one brother, and she also good at Vietnamese, Mandarin (Chinese official language), English, and Cantonese.

Personal Review:

Describe the interview. What did surprise you?

During the interview, I felt very enjoyable. "Compared with the formal interview, your interview is more likely chatting with friends" Trinh said. At the beginning, the professor suggested us to interview someone for thirty minutes at least. I thought that would be impossible for me at that time. While, when I stated my interview, I found that the time flows so fast, just thirty minutes is not enough. Even though, this is my first time to interview someone, I did not feel nervous. To me, the most important thing is how to build the relaxable atmosphere. I brought two cans of coffees, and used a more easy way to communicate with her. From this interview, Trinh let me know more about Vietnam and her active life attitude, and I could learn a lot from her. For the process of my interview, I changed a lot of my questions during the time I talked with Trinh. I found that I listed two same questions in my question list, but I did not recognize it before the interview. The third, I used more than one hour for the whole interview. I think that I need to focus on these aspects in my next interview.

 

Transcription of the First Interview

Course: English 191

Country: Vietnam

Interviewer: Beibei Wei

Interviewee: Trinh Diep

Date: February 27th  2011

Me: Good afternoon, my name is Beibei Wei, nice to meet you!

Trinh: Good afternoon, I am Trinh, nice to meet you too!

Me: First of all, thank you for coming, and being my interviewee. During this interview, I divided the process into five main parts, which are the basic personal background, your family, country, study, and living situation in the U.S. Aspects. Here are the majority of questions that I will ask to you during the interview. Is that ok?

Trinh: Yes, that would be fine.

Me: Ok, let's begin our first part --your basic personal background. Could you tell me something about yourself, such as your name, major, hometown, and how long have you have been here.

Trinh: My name is Trinh Diep; I have been here for almost two years. Pre-nursing is my present major. I was born in a south side of Vietnam city called Ho Chi Minh, which I think is the most crowded city in Vietnam. In my hometown, it is really hot, and rainy in the summer.

Me: You said that your hometown is the most crowded city in Vietnam, why do you think of that?

Trinh: Actually there are many people live in the Ho Chi Minh City, but it is not that clear in the daily times. However, when the festival is coming around the corner, you will find that hundreds of people jostle each other on the streets.

Me: In my hometown, it would be also like that. During that way, people may be able to feel the atmosphere of the festival.

Trinh: Yes, I think so.

Me: You also mentioned that the weather of your hometown is hot, so how did people through the summer vacation?

Trinh: I am not sure about other people. To me, I prefer to stay at home in my summer vocation. Sometimes, all of my family members travelled to another city, but it would not be very long time, because it was really hot outside. You cannot be imaging that the temperature of my hometown could never below at 25 centigrade.

Me: Yeah, if I were you, I will do the same thing as you.

Me: Ok, the second part is your family. How many people are there in your family, and what are they do?

Trinh: You mean the person who lived with me in my Vietnamese home?

Me: Yes.

Trinh: There are seven people in my family. My father, mother, two sisters, one brother, I, and my aunt are also live with us. I am the oldest children in my family. My father and mother have their own business. One of my sisters is going to graduated from college, and another one will be graduated from the senior high school in this year. The youngest brother is a junior high school student now.

Me: Wow, what a big family! I am so envious of you that you could talk and play sister and brother in the free time. In most of Chinese family, we just permitted to have one child. 

Trinh: I know something about that. It is called family planning, right?

Me: Yes, that is correct. So, how is the relationship in your family?

Trinh: In weekdays, we did not talk with each other very often, as my parents were busy with their business. I need to get up early in the morning, and did homework after school. Sometimes, we went to the restaurant or cooked at home at the weekend.

Me: What will you do for fun in your free time in Vietnam?

Trinh: I would like to go out with my friends, and sang KALAOK. While, most of time, I will stay at home.

Me: I know that you can speak Vietnamese, Mandarin (Chinese official language), English, and Cantonese. I confused that how can you speak so many different languages?

Trinh: Because two of my grandpa came from China, one is from Fujian province, and another is from Guangdong province. We usually communicate with each other by Vietnamese, and Cantonese (which is a kind of dialect in Guangdong province).

Me: Is that meaning you also learnt Mandarin from your family members?

Trinh: No, actually, I learnt it in a specialized Chinese school. Meanwhile, my parents could speak Chinese quite well. Therefore, I have more chances to practice it in spoken aspect.

Me: Yes, a suitable partner could help you to promote your weak fields more efficiently.

Trinh: That is right.

Me: Now, it's the third part of the interview, which is about your country --Vietnam. In this area, I just have two questions. The first is what is the deepest impression in your mind about your country? And the second is what kind of food do you think could represent the soul of Vietnam food?

Trinh: As I said, because of the location, my country is very hot, while, I could went to the beach in the summer vocation, and that is my favorite thing to do with my family and friends. Uh, I think that Pho, Spring Roll, and Eggs Roll situated an important site in Vietnam food.

Me: It seems that you really like these foods, right?

Trinh: Yes, I like it very much.

Me: Could you describe a little about these three foods?

Trinh: Pho is a kind of soup noodles. People usually use rice noodles instead of flour noodles. As I think, the most important thing in Pho is soup, we need beef bone, ginger, aniseed, white onion etc. to make soup. Meanwhile, time also plays a significant role in making soup. You have to wait at least six hours to let essential part of the bone come out. Compared with Chinese Spring Roll, we use rice wrapper instead of flour wrapper, and it teats more light. The construction of Chinese Spring Roll is similar as Vietnamese, but we have another name called Egg Roll. I know that you lived with a Vietnam family, what do you think of it?

Me: I could just say that it is my cup of tea.

Trinh: I am glad that you like it.

Me: Well, we will move back to your personal aspects, and begin our fourth part --Study. When did you decide to come to the U.S. for studying?

Trinh: Actually, I have studied in two universities for one year in total, but the majors I learn are not my ideal one. My ideal specialty is architecture, but the admission score was too high for me at that time. 

Me: You told me that your major is pre-nursing now; it seems that it is not your ideal job, or you change your mind?

Trinh: Yes, when I came here at the first time, I am not sure what kind of major that I would like to choose. My uncle told me that the knowledge I learnt about architecture here is different from the one in Vietnam, thus, if I go back to home after graduate from the university, it might be a challenge for me to find a good job in this filed, and he suggested me to choose nursing. So that, I try to chose this major in my second semester. Now, I am really enjoyable in this major. It lets me know how the life is. During the courses, I would recognize how a little cell effects on the whole body, what kind of food could translate the energy we need. 

Me: It looks that you like your major pretty much. You have studied in here for almost two years, could you compare the different between the SCSU and the universities you’re studied in Vietnam. What do you think the different between them in educational system?

Trinh: When I studied here, I felt more comfortable. The professor helped us to catch the main point in the courses, and linked the theory to our life. To me, the theory is not the words anymore; it is very useful in my daily time. While, I felt that the professor usually focus on the content in the textbook in Vietnam.

Me: I also think of that. It seems that studying here gives a confident to me.

Trinh: Yeah, I think the interest is hard to develop, but if we are interested in anything, that would be a very enjoyable thing.

Me: Yes, I agree with.

Me: Finally, we have the last part --the living situation in SCSU. Why did you decide to come to SCSU instead of studying or working in your own country?

Trinh: As I said I could not study my ideal major in my hometown, I want to study in a educational system to study more about the different things. My uncle lived in here, so that he could take care of me sometimes, and my parents also think of that.

Me: Do you feel alone when you miss your home in Vietnam?

Trinh: Every time when I missed my home, I would think of the things I learnt from here, my parent’s expectation. I need to know that compared with my friends in Vietnam, I am luckier than them, as I have another chance to change the life in the future.

Me: When you came here at the first time, what is the first impression to you?

Trinh: Cold, really cold. Because I first came here on January, the temperature was pretty low at that time. I have to wear a lot of clothes to keep warm. There are few of people walk on the street, especially in the cold days. Meanwhile, maybe Saint Cloud is a small town; the festival atmosphere is not that strong.

Me: What was the hardest thing about transitioning to the U.S.? (Culture shock) Trinh: I think the hardest thing for me is dealing the relationship with the people here. Everyone is very nice, they could be saying hi to you, but it is hard to be their real friend.

Me: Hum that might be a task for us to learn about. You have been here for a long time, what is your opinion of the American diet?

Trinh: It's ok. I have already become accustomed to the food here. But, to me, the food is too salty and sweet. I also find that even though we have the same food in Vietnam, the tastes is different from here.

Me: Yes, I also think of that. I like light food, so that I usually cooked by myself. By the way, do you have any plan for the future?

Trinh: I am not sure right now, as I do not know what my future will be. I hope that I could go back to my country and find a suitable job for myself. After all, I am familiar with Vietnam.

Me: At last, could you use some simple sentences to describe your life now?

Trinh: I think that I have grown up and change a lot. When I felt angry, I would seriously think of it first, and then made the decision. I have the experience to deal with something by myself. Being more responsible and take care of me.

Me: That's sounds really nice. It seems that you have adapted to the environment here quite well. Here is my entire interview. Thank you for coming and to be my interviewee. 

Trinh: It is very nice to talk with you.

Me: It's my pleasure.