<Begin Segment 16>

RP: What about language issues within the family? Did your parents speak strictly Japanese or did they, did they know a little bit of English or...

YW: They spoke English. But they spoke Japanese to us, the children in the house. And then we responded to them in English. So, I never was able to speak Japanese, but I could understand it.

RP: Uh-huh. So you never went to language school at all?

YW: Oh, my husband and I tried taking our children when we got older but we didn't make it. [Laughs] It was too difficult.

RP: You said that you're mother and father spoke, because they had a very strong accent, that on occasion you would be ashamed of it, of them and didn't want your friends to hear it.

YW: Oh, I never did want them to be around me when I was with my friends. Because they had an accent. They spoke English, people could understand them, but it was different. And I just didn't want them to be near my friends. I don't know how my friends felt, but I'm sure it didn't make any difference to my friends.

RP: So your friends would come over to the house regularly? We're talking Caucasian friends?

YW: Uh-huh. Not regularly, but once in a while they'd come over.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.