Interviews
Learning Spanish (Spanish)
(Spanish) I was learning Spanish, more or less, but that was not enough because I learned only about the job. I had to learn the grammar and vocabulary, but I didn’t have money to go to school, or for a tutor. And an Argentine told me that I should go to night school, that it was free. [The night class] is not for foreigners [who want to learn the language] since every class was taught in Spanish and the official language was Spanish. Nearby was a school, and I went to take a class. I studied mathematics for six weeks. I received my diploma from an Argentine primary school, and afterward I enrolled in high school in the evening, which was difficult for me. But at least I persevered until I finished Argentine high school…and there I was able to learn many things. Afterward they suggested that I attend the university…I said no. I did not come to Argentina to study and that is not to earn a degree but to learn Spanish. Now I have to enjoy myself.
Date: February 23, 2007
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Interviewer: Takeshi Nishimura, Ricardo Hokama
Contributed by: Centro Nikkei Argentino
Explore More Videos
Requested assignment in Europe to avoid combat in the Korean War
(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.
Family’s Japanese roots and values
Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California
Facing housing discrimination in Rhode Island
(1934–2018) Japanese American designer, educator, and pioneer of media technologies
Adjustment to American life
(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor
Immersed in Japanese culture and language
(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City
Relating to Hispanic immigrant families at detention center in Laredo, TX
(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City
Teacher who helped with lisp
(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i
Politics in ethnic studies
(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline
Acculturation
(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.
Japanese are more accustomed to foreigners
(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.
Training for football by carrying 100-lb bags of grass over mountains
(b.1925) Nisei of Okinawan descent. Had a 38-year career in Japan as a baseball player, coach, scout, and manager.
Teaching at the military language school during World War II
(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i
Lesson learned from community college faculty
(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i
Learning English upon discovering that family could not return to Peru
(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.
Her early life in Canada
(b.1912) Japanese Canadian Issei. Immigrated with husband to Canada in 1931