Time transcripts of interview 2-varun [00:00:00.01] [ Interviewer ] Alright can you give me your name and something about yourself? [00:00:04.38] My name is Varun Narayan and I study Biomedical Engineering at the Ohio State University [00:00:09.38] [ Interviewer ] Can you tell me what the subject of your story is? [00:00:12.22] The subject of today's story is that I just wanted to tell you some things about my life. [00:00:17.26] I live with my two parents and they're both from India [00:00:20.98] so my life is definitely different than most other poeple's. [00:00:24.79] [ Interviewer ] Can you explain some differences you have in literacy with your family? [00:00:29.95] Well, my family, primarily they talk in an Indian language called Tamil. [00:00:35.17] I never really learned how to speak it but I understand it perfectly [00:00:40.62] so my parents usually talk to me in Indian or in Tamil and I respond in English. [00:00:46.26] For me its pretty much like what they are saying in Tamil [00:00:51.94] I like translate it in my head to be English and so I don't really notice [00:00:55.92] but my friends when they come over, they have no idea what my parents are saying [00:00:59.98] and I just have to speak for them. [00:01:02.21] [ Interview ] You never learned Tamil for what reason? [00:01:07.30] Well, I don't know, I mean... [00:01:11.40] I never really thought I would need to learn it. [00:01:15.04] My parents did not really push me to learn it. [00:01:21.71] So, mostly I just grew up speaking English because I have, well, I live in America so... [00:01:25.51] [ Interviewer ] Has your Indian heritage or literacy come into play since you've been at Ohio State? [00:01:32.35] Not really, there are some Indian groups but I never had like a wish to join them, umm... [00:01:40.73] [ Interviewer ] What are some things that maybe your family says differently [00:01:45.88] or differences in literacy that you would notice that would sound funny in English? [00:01:49.46] Well my parents really have a hard time saying the word cemetary. [00:01:53.74] I do not know why. I have to explain to them just call it a graveyard. [00:01:58.55] Also the movie Avatar that came out as the blockbuster James Cameron movie. [00:02:04.34] Its actually an Indian word so my parents pronounce it like the Indian word [00:02:10.31] which sounds really weird. Its "Avatar" and so they always call it that and I have to correct them. [00:02:16.02] [ Interviewer ] Do you ever feel like people talk to you differently [00:02:21.62] because you have an Indian accent? [00:02:23.16] What accent? [00:02:25.27] Well, no, definitely I think so because for some people I think its hard to understand [00:02:30.97] what I'm saying but I mean they're always very helpful and I have to repeat myself a lot [00:02:37.07] but I don't think its that big of a problem. [00:02:39.25] [ Interviewer ] How do people react when they observe your family life for the first time? [00:02:44.04] Well the first time my friends came over to my house, umm, like, my parents would [00:02:49.69] talk to me in Tamil and I would just have to like translate [00:02:52.73] and be like a middle-man for my friends. [00:02:54.79] So like after they would leave, like the next day in school they would be like, [00:02:58.57] "Hey Varun, I had no idea what your parents were saying to me" [00:03:02.04] because it sounds like gibberish to them so it just sounds like my parents [00:03:06.15] are saying something in gibberish and then I ask them a question like, [00:03:08.59] "Hey, do you want some food?" or something like that. [00:03:11.41] [ Interviewer ] Oh so your parents talk through you. They talk to you first. [00:03:14.86] They don't even attempt to talk to them. [00:03:16.81] Yeah most of the time because all of my friends have told me [00:03:20.12] that they really find it hard to understand my mother. [00:03:22.21] My father not so much, but my mother, so I have to act like a middle-man [00:03:26.65] [ Interviewer ] Is it weird meeting people who do not know about your family, here at Ohio State? [00:03:31.41] Well meeting new people in any situation is always weird because you have to [00:03:35.63] put yourself out there. Umm, you don't have the advantage of having your parents know [00:03:42.61] someone so you have to get to know each other. [00:03:45.43] So, its mostly on you so its always pretty weird. [00:03:48.92] [ Interviewer ] Thank you very much. [00:03:50.41] You're welcome.