"Highschool-Schüler B"

G01: SJ: How old are you?

G02: B: 17.

G03: SJ: Which grade do you actually attend?

G04: B: Do you mean like which grade am I actually in?

G05: SJ: yeah

G06: B: Senior in high school, 12th... but all my courses are freshman courses in college.

G07: SJ: wow... that's great! For your high school graduation you are required to pass level 2 in a foreign language, right? So, do you think it is necessary to learn a foreign language?

G08: B: Yes, that's true. I thnk it's good that it's required to learn a foreign language since it broadens people's views since they no longer see the world in a narrow minded view, rather a broadened world view. It has the ability to change someone's perception of how they see their life and demoralizes a lot of old american practices such as white supremacy.

G09: SJ: That's right. Well, what languages do you speak?

G10: B: English and German.

G11: SJ: When did you start to learn German?

G12: B: Well I started to learn German in about 7th grade, but I didn't start taking the classes until 8th grade.

G13: SJ: How old were you at that time?

G14: B: About 12 or 13.

G15: SJ: you said that you started to learn German earlier? What was your motivation for it?

G16: B: I was fascinated with the concept of knowing another language. I thought it was cool. My older brother was taking German in high school at the time and thats what influenced me to take German over another language.

G17: SJ: Do you like to speak other languages?

G18: B: Yes, I do.

G20: SJ: Have you ever met a native speaker?

G21: B: Many.

G22: SJ: So, besides classroom, did you ever talk in German or did you communicate in English with them?

G23: B: We switch between German and English. With some of them, I speak mostly English. With others mostly German.

G24: SJ: So, the other people spoke English, too.

G25: B: Yes. Most were living here for a year and are able to communicate well in English.

G26: SJ: What was the situation like, can you explain a little bit?

G27: B: Which situation...? Haha.

G28: SJ: talking in German

G29: B: Just talking about life and what we've been doing on skype or facebook, reconnecting basically since they've been gone for awhile now.

G30: SJ: Ok :) Have you ever been to a non-English-speaking country?

G31: B: Not one where no one spoke English, no. I've been to Canada which has a lot of French speaking citizens, but that's it.

G32: SJ: Can you imagine to live in a non-English-speaking country for a while? Maybe as an exchange student in college or as an incentive later in your job?

G33: B: Yes, I'll be going on an exchange year this August.

G34: SJ: Oh, that's great! Do you think you’ll be able to communicate with others in their mother tongue or do you expect them to communicate with you in English?

G35: B: I'm going to have to learn to speak to them in their native language in order to effectively communicate with them. I think they will help me at first when I'm trying to learn the dialect versus what I've learned in school, but at the end of the time there I will be speaking no English.

G36: SJ: So, you'll go to Germany?

G37: B: No, Switzerland.

G38: SJ: Are you looking forward to it?

G39: B: YES.

G40: SJ Awesome!

G41: B: I think so :D

G42: SJ: In your opinion, what’s the most common or spoken language in the world?

G43: B: Probably English.

G44: SJ: Probably? Could there be any other option?

G45: B: Possibly Mandarin Chinese or Spanish. The Chinese population would account for it being the largest spoken language.

G46: SJ: ok.... But you first mentioned English, dDo you think everybody should learn English at school and speak it properly so they can communicate with everyone?

G47: B: It certainly doesn't hurt since you can go to merely any country and find someone who you will be able to communicate with in English.

G48: SJ: You mentioned, Mandarin Chinese as one of the largest spoken languages. Do you think English will lose its dominant role in the world one day

G49: B: It's possible. It's dependant upon to where power shifts, if it shifts away from America/UK and towards China, then Chinese could dominate. The problem is that it's a very hard language to speak and cannot be caught onto necessarily, so I think it may not dominate. It's a possiblity though. But if America and the UK holds the power they possess, they will be able to keep English as the primary language of the world. Even if all of Europe was able to extract the power from the US to themselves, I still believe English would keep it's domination since they all speak English and communicate in places such as the EU meetings in English.

G50: SJ: You said a lot about America and the UK and the power they have, why do you think that English is THE world language?

G51: B: Cause America and UK have built empires and colonized other countries throughout history. They are empires. They spread their own culyure and language. America and UK have built empires and colonized other countries throughout history. They are empires. But what I mean by that is, in places like Africa, American and British militaries came and conquered. They spread their culture and language to these people and therfore these people speak English.

G52: SJ: Are you glad to live in a country like the US which is so dominant concerning their world superiority and besides that they speak THE world language?

G53: B: Not really. I think it's kind of pathetic, the need for superiority. We're supposed to be a land of opportunity and acceptance of all races which just isn't true. We aren't superior. We aren't any better than any other country. Our government is still corrupt in places, maybe not to the degree of other countries, but we are not any better in my opinion. We have scandals, although they may not be as horrible, they are still what they are. People like to turn a blind eye to the hatred that boils under American soil, but in reality it's not what it's cut out to be. And racism still thrives in the hearts of many Americans, shown through xenophobia with finding a "need" to regulate Mexican immigration. First of all, if we provided an accurate perception of the American way and culture, we probably wouldn't have half the immigrants we have. They come here thinking our streets are lined with gold and find out otherwise. By putting ourselves as the best nation, we're also causing our own problems. But then again we are also very powerful, but is the power really invested in the right hands? I don't think so.

G54: SJ: Do you think many young Americans do share this opinion?

G55: B: No, not at all. They'd probably view me as unamerican. Most people accept what they've been taught their whole lives by the government. As for I don't.

G56: SJ: I see. So, you regard yourselve as being more open-minded and less stereotypical American.

G57: B: Yes.

G58: SJ: Nice ;) So, that was a very interesting view! thank you very much for the interview!