Context

For this assignment, I interviewed my grandmother– referred to as ‘N’– and asked her about her/our familial history. Because she only speaks Russian, the entire interview was conducted in Russian (with some scattered English that we both understood). This chosen excerpt takes place 50 minutes into the interview. The bracketed text is used to provide helpful context for what’s being talked about, and the italicized portions of text are my partner’s (Jonah’s) comments, which were provided before I explained my relationship to my informant.

Interview

K: Do you know the word [*in English*] ‘tradition’?

(Kristina clarifies the shared meaning of the central theme of the interview before continuing.  I find it interesting that she asked in English – perhaps the English word conveys a certain meaning that the first language does not.)

N: Traditions?

K: Did your family celebrate more Korean traditions or more Soviet/Russian traditions?

(Although this is a closed question, it still comes with a lot of depth.  Although the interviewer could have just answered “Korean or Soviet/Russian”, they knew to further explain the situation.  I think this was a good starting question to ask here, because even if the interviewee had answered “Korean or Soviet/Russian”, Kristina could have easily asked follow-ups about the circumstances of the traditions.)

N: What happened was, my parents left back to Russia. So when we came back there, we were living amongst Russians. There were very few Koreans in Russia where we lived. So in our family, we had more Russian traditions. We were different from our other relatives. It was only our father that decided to go back to Russia. Everybody else in my extended family stayed in Uzbekistan. And when there’s a lot of people of the same nationality, those traditions remain alive. Like in NYC, if you go to Chinatown– what’s there?

K: It’s like Brighton Beach. [predominately Russian/Soviet neighborhood in Brooklyn; close to where we will] 

(Although just a small comment, Kristina shows her attention to the conversation, and helps the interviewee to clarify their comparison between their family and others.)

N: Yeah like Brighton Beach, or areas here where there’s groups of Uzbeks or Armenians– When there’s  many of them living together, then they continue to practice their traditions. But in our family, since we lived isolated, we didn’t really do that– that’s why we don’t know the language [Korean] or anything *laughs*

K: This reminds me of how we’re living in America now, but we still practice little traditions like whenever we go on a trip, we always sit down together right before– you know?

(Kristina uses this shared experience to relate to the interviewee, and her input makes the interview feel much more like a natural conversation.  However, one issue may have been that with this comment, Kristina moved away from the topic of the interviewee’s family history, and shifted to the present.  Perhaps there could have been more information gained by asking more about the family history.)

N: Yes. But that’s because even living here, we live amongst a lot of Russians. And we’re like Russian children.

K: Yeah, but we don’t really talk to them, and they don’t do the sitdown with us. We do it ourselves…

(Here Kristina sort of disagrees with the interviewee, which I find interesting.  By disagreeing,  Kristina challenges the interviewee to further give their opinion on what culture they are more affiliated with.  Kristina’s question also points to a larger question: are you part of a culture if you practice its traditions, but do not interact with others in the culture?)

N: No no, look. But we still do Russian traditions, that’s the difference. If we lived in Uzbekistan, like my mother’s sister and her family– they practice Korean traditions. First birthdays, for example. Or weddings. For those, they have Korean writing and symbols during the ceremonies.

K: And they know the language. 

(Kristina affirms what the interviewee previously said, and with just this little comment, she is able to shift the interviewee’s line of thought from traditions to language, another important part of culture.  In general, the topic of the conversation has been shifting quickly throughout.)

N: Yes, and they know the language. Understand? They all talk together, and though they might not read or write in Korean, they talk it. 

K: Oh you mean Olya [my mother’s sister]?

N: Well, her too. But in general…

K: Mom only has one sister– Oh! You mean your mother’s sister?

(It is interesting that Kristina uses “mom” with the interviewee, and shows her close the two are.)

 

Reflection

I found it incredibly helpful doing this exercise with a partner and being able to talk through the feedback they had for me. Jonah pointed out several things that I wasn’t aware of, such as when I disagreed (or rather, tried to clarify her point by pushing back) with what my grandmother. It obviously wasn’t a thought I had while me and her were talking. I realized the nature of our close relationship played a huge factor in the way I interacted with her. Had I been interviewing someone I wasn’t as close to or  just met, I would’ve been more conscious of my speech and comfort. The fact that me and my grandma also share a similar ethnicity and cultural history, I came into the conversation with my own experiences/insights about some of the questions I was prepared to ask her. But Jonah also noted that he thought my comfort to interact with my interviewee in this way, made sense and worked well for the purpose of the interview. Ultimately, I believe my personal intuition carried me through the majority of the interview. Having known this person my entire life, I definitely felt less pressured to present a polished question or be anxious in her presence.

Having to not only transcribe this from speech to text, but also from Russian to English was quite a challenge. While I was translating, I knew I wasn’t capturing her voice to its fullest. Even when it was a direct translation, the vocabulary across the two languages are invariably weighted differently. For example, when my grandmother says “Understand?”, it has a very conversational tone, whereas hearing it being said in English feels much more rigid or even a bit condescending, depending how you read it.

A final thing I wanted to note was the balance of talking. I chose this portion of the interview partly because I talk a bit more– though even then, I’m only really talking to add details or clarifications versus questions–, and I wanted to show that for the purpose of this exercise with my partner. Many other parts, however, it’s very much my grandmother taking the reins and steering the narrative to her liking. But I didn’t mind this at all! One of my favorite attributes about her is how lovely a storyteller she is (trust me when I say her words sound so better in her Russian than the English I translated it to haha). I found that the heavily one-sided conversation we had for an hour and a half, only answered 4 of the 13 questions I had prepared. But all of her answers were rich in detail and offered new details I could’ve never imagined to have asked for. So one thing I can affirm is that the depth and liveliness of information you receive from an interview depends heavily on your informant. While well-thought out questions can steer conversations in precise ways, I’ll never forget asking my grandmother her a closed question and then receiving a comparative analysis of birthdays and a drunk driving metaphor her boss once told her. And my initial question, which concerned neither, was still beautifully answered and explained in the middle of it all.