Please introduce yourself.

• Language(s) spoken — when and how learned.

• Age
• Place of birth
• Time living in NYC / US
• Place of employment
• Other family in NYC
• Number of children & ages
• Time since last seeing family in country of origin

Please tell me about your community.

• Roughly how many people from your village/town/city are in NYC?
• How many speakers of your language do you think there are in NYC?
• Do you know in which areas of the city your community mostly lives?
• What do you feel drives people to leave your community back home?
• Where do you normally interact with your community in NYC? Do you interact
with other language communities as well? Which ones?
• Do you attend any community celebrations in NYC?
• Does your community have any formal or informal organizations or leaders?
• Has your group ever organized or united to work on a project together, for the
community? If so, how did it work? If no, is this something that would interest
you in being a part of?
• Are there any major religious divisions in your community, e.g. Catholics/
Protestants/Evangelicals?

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• Do you attend religious services? Where?____________________

Please tell me about how you use your native language.

• Is speaking your native language a strong part of your identity?

• Since moving to the U.S., have you stopped speaking your native language, or do
you speak it less than you did before you moved to the U.S.? Why or why not?

• What language do you speak most in NYC?

• Where do you use your native language in NYC? (e.g. home, extended family,
work, telephone, street)

• Do you wish you could speak your language more often?

• If you have children —

• Which language do you use the most with your children?

• Do you ever speak with them in your native language? Why/Why not?

• Does the child’s mother/father speak to them in his language?

• Do you and the child’s mother/father generally agree about language choice
with the children? Do you ever argue about language issues?

• How comfortable do you feel in speaking your native language in public? Why?

• Do you read and write in your native language? If so, when/where?

• Does the child’s mother/father also speak a native language? If yes, does (s)he
speak the same language as you do or a different one? Which one?

• What language are your children most fluent in? Do they understand any of your
native languages? Do they speak any of your native languages? If not, do they
express any desire to learn?

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• How can you sum up your children’s attitudes towards your native languages?

• Do you think it is important that they learn the language? Why/Why not?

• Do you think your native language can help them? Hurt them?

• What do they lose by not being able to speak the language?

• Do you think there are ideas or feelings that can be expressed better in your native
language?

• Do you feel there is a language barrier between you and your children?

• Can your children be ______ without speaking _______?

• Do you think it is important that they marry someone from the same from the
same area/ethno-linguistic group?

• Do you think your native language is endangered?

• Are younger generations shifting to Spanish back home?

• If so, what do you think the causes are?

• Do many children learn the language in NY?

• Has anyone ever made negative comments about you speaking your native
language back home? In NYC? If so, what are some of the negative things people
have said about you when you speak your native language? And how has this
made you feel?

• Have you ever felt that you were treated differently in NYC for speaking a native
language? If so, what happened, how were you treated?