Linh Nguyen is my favorite nail technician in Richmond, Virginia. She goes by the American name of “Tina” which she selected. Tina was born and raised in Vietnam. Her family members migrated to the United States over the course of her life. To migrate to this country legally takes a long time as well as a lot of money. Some of her family settled in Virginia and worked in a nail salon to earn a living. Linh Nguyen, whom I will call Tina, eventually came to the country at the age of 20. Shortly after arriving, Tina met and married her husband. She moved into the same neighborhood as her husband’s family, who is also from Vietnam.
Interview
When Tina came to the US she had a difficult time assimilating into our culture. She did not …show more content…
First, Tina and her family do not rely heavily on doctors and medicine. When they are sick they tend to self-medicate with their own home remedies. Tina tries not to take anything stronger than aspirin despite feeling bad. She would rather consult her parents or in-laws for advice. When Tina has a cold and is coughing patrons give her the “get away from me” loo; like she is contagious. I have offered her a cough drop on several occasions but she has never accepted one because she prefers her special tea. The other area where she experienced some negativity involves institutions of authority such as the police. Tina stated that, “Police and not good people” and I until recently I would have disagreed with her. She has told my family about instances where they were stopped by the police in Vietnam and they were asked for money to get out of the trouble. She even feared calling tax authorities about her taxes and asked my mother to go with her to meet them. She was scared which my mother could not understand because she had all of the proper …show more content…
The employees communicate among themselves in Vietnamese however they use broken English when talking to customers. Language is perhaps the most frequently cited contributor to ethnic identity (Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1990; Hurtado and Gurin, 1995; Miller and Hoogstra, 1992). During the interview what stood out to me was the lack of English spoken by Tina. The common misconception is that because people do not speak fluent English then they do not comprehend English; this is totally incorrect. Their language is a sign of identity and camaraderie. The fact Vietnamese Americans are establishing and maintaining businesses show that they are intelligent members of our
Interview
When Tina came to the US she had a difficult time assimilating into our culture. She did not …show more content…
First, Tina and her family do not rely heavily on doctors and medicine. When they are sick they tend to self-medicate with their own home remedies. Tina tries not to take anything stronger than aspirin despite feeling bad. She would rather consult her parents or in-laws for advice. When Tina has a cold and is coughing patrons give her the “get away from me” loo; like she is contagious. I have offered her a cough drop on several occasions but she has never accepted one because she prefers her special tea. The other area where she experienced some negativity involves institutions of authority such as the police. Tina stated that, “Police and not good people” and I until recently I would have disagreed with her. She has told my family about instances where they were stopped by the police in Vietnam and they were asked for money to get out of the trouble. She even feared calling tax authorities about her taxes and asked my mother to go with her to meet them. She was scared which my mother could not understand because she had all of the proper …show more content…
The employees communicate among themselves in Vietnamese however they use broken English when talking to customers. Language is perhaps the most frequently cited contributor to ethnic identity (Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1990; Hurtado and Gurin, 1995; Miller and Hoogstra, 1992). During the interview what stood out to me was the lack of English spoken by Tina. The common misconception is that because people do not speak fluent English then they do not comprehend English; this is totally incorrect. Their language is a sign of identity and camaraderie. The fact Vietnamese Americans are establishing and maintaining businesses show that they are intelligent members of our