<Begin Segment 6>

TI: So, so going back to your family life, when you talked to your mother and father before school -- this probably all Japanese?

NH: All Japanese. And then after I became five, I had to go, we went, they registered me to Piedmont Avenue School, which was one block further east, no, west. Anyhow, I went there, and I was in kindergarten for two years, because I didn't know enough English to go to first grade.

TI: And so it was just the teacher teaching you English, is that how you learned?

NH: And the other kids.

TI: And so were there other Japanese in school, too?

NH: I don't remember any. I was the only one.

TI: How about the Italians? Were they in a similar situation where some of them spoke Italian?

NH: I have no idea. I mean, I don't remember, but anyhow... but I know I had a good time. I don't know, I always had a good time.

TI: And as you learned English, did you teach your younger siblings English, or did they do the same thing? Did they speak Japanese at home...

NH: They spoke Japanese at home.

TI: And then they learned...

NH: They learned, I guess we sort of all learned English together, you know, in a kind of way. And one learned it at school.

TI: And then how about your mother and father? Did they start learning any English?

NH: Uh-uh, no, not very much. They, they learned enough English to get along, but that's about it. But they didn't, there was no, no training in English, no.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.