What do Bilinguals think about Bilingualism?
Graduation Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of
English Language and Literature
Notre Dame Seishin University
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts
by
Tomomi Tanabe
2010
Contents
Abstract
1
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
2
1.2 What is Bilingual?
2
1.2.1 Introduction
2
1.2.2 Definitions of Bilingual
2
1.2.3 Categorization of Bilingual
3
1.3 Attitudes and feelings about bi-lingualism
3
1.4 Bilingual education at schools
5
1.5 Focus of the thesis
6
1.6 Conclusion
7
Chapter Two: The Study
2.1 Introduction
8
2.2 The questionnaire
8
2.2.1 Overview
8
2.2.2 Method
8
A) Subjects
8
B) Questionnaire
9
2.3 Result
10
2.4 Summery
28
Chapter Three: Discussion
3.1 Introduction
29
3.2 Summary of the questionnaire results
29
3.3 Discussion of the results
29
3.3.1 Q1.Background of the subjects
3.3.2 Q2. Skills of language (Speaking, Reading, Listening,
Writing)
3.3.3 Q3. What language do you use when you speak to these
people?
3.3.4 Q4. What language do you use on such a situation?
3.3.5 Q5. Do you think you are bilingual person?
3.3.6 Q6. The people who answer “Yes”, do you want to be a
bilingual person?
3.4 Discussion of the research questions
32
3.4 Limitations of the questionnaire
32
3.6 Conclusions
33
References
34
Appendices
35
Abstract
Today, it is not uncommon for people to use more than two languages in
the world. A lot of Japanese go abroad and lots of foreigners come to Japan and
they use their own languages. People who use two languages are called
“Bilinguals”. Some non-bilingual people are envious of them, however, for the
bilinguals themselves, what do they think about themselves? This thesis tries to
find out the thinking of bilinguals about bilingualism.
I gave a questionnaire to 38 subjects who were three types of bilinguals.
They were Returnee children, Brazilian school students and Korean school
students and teachers. The questionnaire had seven questions to reveal their
background, skills, and thinking. In Chapter One, I presented the definitions of
bilingual and some examples of bilingual education. In Chapter Two, I reported
the study. Chapter Three discussed the results of the study, and then to showed
the significance of the results.
The questionnaire discovered that each bilingual has their own form of
bilingualism. The difference is shown in where the boundary between the
bilingual and non–bilingual for them is. Most of the subjects said though they
wanted to be bilinguals, they had to be bilinguals because of their environment.
These results suggest that people think about bilinguals more severely than
no-bilingual people.
4
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Recently, “Bilingual” has become a well-known word. It is uncommon to be
bilingual people in these surroundings. But many people work and study abroad
and use more than one language. There are lots of people who are called
bilinguals, however, how do we distinguish between people who are bilingual and
those who are not bilingual? We will focus on the definitions of Bilingual in this
chapter.
1.2 What is a Bilingual?
1.2.1 Introduction
We may think a bilingual person is the person who can use both of two
languages in a native-like way however, there are so many different definitions of
bilingual that exist today. We will look at some of the definitions in the next
section.
1.2.2 Definitions of Bilingual
It is difficult to decide the definition of bilinguals because there are many
kinds of bilinguals in the world. There are three types of definitions.
1.
The narrowest sense is "A native like control of two languages." ,
Bloomfield (1933)
5
2. The broadest sense is that “Bilingualism is understood … to begin at the
point where the speaker of one language can produce complete, meaningful
utterances in the other language.”, Haugen (1953).
3. In general, a bilingual is accepted to be “the person who has a skill of
using two languages.” ,Yamamoto (1991).
Now, we will look at another view of bilingual by categorizing bilinguals
into some groups distinguishing them by language skills.
1.2.3 Categorization of Bilinguals
There is another way to categorize Bilingualism. At first bilingual device
two types. One is Societal bilingual and another is individual bilingual. Societal
bilingual is that it happens on the situation some languages coexist in a
community with their own function. Individual bilingual is that it focused on how
processes did the bilinguals pass or how much can they have the faculty of using
two languages. We can classify individual bilinguals more detail according to skill.
There are some kinds of bilingual for example, Passive Bilingual, Dominant
Bilingual, and Balanced Bilingual. A Passive Bilingual is the person who is a
native speaker in one and is capable of understanding but not speaking another
language. A Dominant Bilingual is the person being more proficient in one of the
two languages (in most cases native-like). A Balanced Bilingual is the person who
is more or less equally proficient in both languages, but will not necessarily pass
for a native speaker in both languages.
6
1.3 Attitudes and feelings about bi-lingualism
A Bilingual person can experience “Culture shock” which happens when
the person who goes abroad, and have to challenge new cultural surroundings and
a loss of a familiar cultural environment, Rhinesmith (1984). Culture shock
makes their feeling changed. There are stages of Culture Adjustment. The
following 10 steps of cultural adjustment by Rhinesmith show how cultural shock
can be like a roller coaster ride of emotions.
Figure: 1 Rhinesmith's Ten Stages of Cultural Adjustment
The 10 stages of cultural adjustment in Figure 1 show the changes in
feeling when people get integrated into a foreign culture. Also, there is not an
exact step to assimilate into the culture abroad. The following Ten Stages of
Adjustment which Rhinesmith outlined shows the emotions toward culture shock
can be like a rollercoaster ride. (Morikami, 2006, p. 4)
Stage one through to stage five when the person is exposed to a new
culture. The sixth stage is the start of the time to accept the new culture. Stages
seven through ten are period when people leave the new culture.
7
Comparing with Returnee Children, Brazilian school students and Korean
school students, which stages are there? The Returnee Children, have been
abroad and they learned their second language in the new culture and then came
back to their own culture. That’s why, they had those ten stages of Cultural
Adjustment. Most Korean school students and teachers were born in Japan and
live in Japan. They are the stage one through to five. However the Brazilian
school students, who came to Japan and learned a second language in the new
culture, are at stage six.
However, which stage they are depend on themselves
and we cannot decide the stage clearly.
1.4 Bilingual education at schools
1.4.1. Introduction
In this section, we will look at the two bilingual education schools. One is
the Brazilian school and the other is the Korean school in Okayama.
The Korean school in Okayama
In Japan, there are lots of Korean residents in Japan and schools for these
people. Their ancestors came to (were taken to) Japan after second world war and
they decide to live forever in Japan as Koreans. They made some the Korean
schools for themselves all over Japan. They are classified into “kakushu-gakko” in
School Education Law of Japan. One of them is in Mizushima, Okayama. The
school is called officially “Okayama Korean elementary and junior high school.”
There are preschool, elementary school and junior high school. In 2010, 86
children take classes. Most of the school days are same as Japanese schools. They
come to the school from Monday to Friday to take classes and some of them come
8
on weekend for their club activities. In the school, they use Korean and they learn
the Korean language and racial education. Some of them will go to the Korean
high school in Hiroshima after their graduation and go to the Korean University
which is the only one university for Koreans. All the teachers in the school were
students in these Korean school students and they don’t have the Japanese
official teaching certificates. They finished their teaching course at the Korean
University and after that they teach in the Korean schools all over Japan.
The Brazilian school in Okayama.
Around the time of bubble economy, lots of people who leave their homes
in search of temporary work came to Japan from Brazil but most of them couldn’t
use Japanese. For such people, Japanese schools were established. In Soja City,
Okayama Prefecture, there are lots of Brazilians and there is a Japanese school.
In there, they study Japanese to get a grade of the Japanese Language Proficiency
Test. There are three classes with their level of Japanese. The students are
labourer or their family.
1.5 Focus of the thesis
We have looked at the background to bi-lingualism and at two bi-lingual
schools in Okayama.
Research question 1:
What do bi-linguals think of being bi-lingual?
Research question 2:
Are there any differences between the Koreans and
Brazilian bilinguals?
9
1.6 Conclusion
We have seen the kinds of bilingual and the bilingual education of the two
schools in Okayama. In Chapter Two we will look at the bilinguals answers to the
questionnaire. By looking at these bilingual’s answer, we will be able to find out
what bilinguals think of themselves.
10
Chapter Two: The Study
2.1 Introduction
We looked at what bilingualism is, the types of bilingualism and attitude
and feelings of bilinguals. There to being bilingual in Chapter One. Now we will
see the result of questionnaire to find out the bilingual person’s thinking of
bilingualism and whether each bilingual’s answers are different or not.
2.2 The Questionnaire
2.2.1 Overview
The aim of this questionnaire was to find out if each bilingual’s answers
are different or not, and ask if their background and skills of languages make
their thinking different or not.
2.2.2 Method
A) Subjects
The subjects who were to answer this questionnaire are three types of
bilingual people.
Returnee Children
First are the returnee children. These subjects have been abroad or now
stay abroad and go to junior high school, high school and university. Their ages
were from 14 to 22 years. All of them were my friends of friends.
11
Brazilians
The second are the Brazilians in Japan who came to Japan as laborers.
They went to the Brazilian school in Soja City, Okayama Prefecture and they took
Japanese classes. The subject’s ages were from 22 years old to 65 years old. All of
them came to Japan as laborers. In that Japanese class, they were separated into
three level classes. I asked subjects in the top two level classes. In the top class,
there were Japanese-Brazilians (Nisei or Sansei) people. The middle class, there
were students who can understand Japanese and all of them came to Japan to
work as labors in Japan. Their language skills were different across the two
classes but all of them use Japanese for work.
Koreans
The last are the Korean residents in Japan. The subjects were the
students and teachers of the Korean school in Mizushima, Okayama. Korean
residents do not have Japanese nationality but they were born and grew up in
Japan and their nationalities were South Korean or North Korean.
B) Questionnaire
1.
The questionnaire comprised six questions. The questions follow.
1.
Please tell me about your background.
2.
Skills of language (Speaking, Reading, Listening, Writing)
3.
What language do you use when you speak to these people?
4.
What language do you use on such a situation?
5.
Do you think you are bilingual person?
6.
The people who answer “Yes”, do you want to be a bilingual person?
12
The first question was subject’s background which helped to find out what
kind of bilingual person was the subjects were. The second question was about
their language skills of both languages which found out about subjects’ skill of
“Speaking”, “Reading” “Listening” and “Writing”.
The third question and fourth
questions were about the use of languages which found out the actual use of their
both languages. The fifth and sixth questions were about their thinking about
bilingualism.
2.3 Results
Returnee Japanese children
The returnee Japanese children subjects were eight people.
1. Please tell me about your background
・Nationality
The nationalities of these subjects were Japan, Japan and Mexico (both
dual nationality).
・Where were you born?
Five subjects were born in Japan, one was born in Canada and another
one was born in Mexico.
・Where have you lived overseas?
All of the subjects have lived in Japan, other places were Saudi Arabia,
Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, England, America, Jamaica, Mexico, Jordan and
China.
13
2. Skills of language (Speaking, Reading, Listening, Writing)
The skills (speaking, reading, listening and writing) of their languages
were; for these subjects, their two languages were Japanese and English.
Figure 2: The number of Japanese Skills of Returnee Japanese children.
Japanese
Speaking
4
Reading
1
4
Listening
3
2
0
1
3 (Average)
4
2
2 (Neither bad nor
good)
2
4
Writing
1 (Bad)
3
3
4
1
5
6
4 (Perfect)
7
This figure means; the length is the skills, breadth is the numbers of
subjects and numbers are the answer of the subjects.
For example, four people
think they can speak at Japanese “average level”, three people think “perfect
level”. The reading skill, one think “neither bad nor good level”, four people think
“average level” and two think “perfect level”. The listening skill, four people think
“average level” and three think “perfect level”. The writing skill, “neither bad nor
good level” was two, “average level” was four and “perfect level” was one.
14
Figure 3：The number of English Skills of Returnee Japanese children.
English
Speaking
1
Reading
1
Listening
1
4
2
Writing
1
4
2
0
4
2
5
1
2
3
1 (Bad)
1
4
5
6
2 (Neither bad nor
good)
3 (Average)
4 (Perfect)
7
The number of people who think they can speak English “neither bad nor
good level” was one, “average level” was four and “perfect level” was two. For the
reading skill, the number of people who think they can read English “neither bad
nor good level” was one, “average level” was five and “perfect level” was one. The
number of people who think they can listen to English “neither bad nor good level”
was one, “average level” was five” and “perfect level” was one. The number of
people who think they can write down in English “neither bad nor good level” was
one, “average level” was four and “perfect level” was two.
15
3. What language do you use when you speak to these people?
Table 1：The answer of Returnee Japanese children for “what language do you use when you speak to these people?”
Father
Mother
Brother
Friends
Friends
and sisters
(at school)
(out of school)
Teacher
J
E
J
E
J
E
J
E
J
E
J
E
Returnee subjects 1
100%
0%
90%
10%
25%
75%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
Returnee subjects 2
100%
0%
100%
0%
50%
50%
5%
95%
0%
80%
0%
100%
Returnee subjects 3
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
Returnee subjects 4
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
0%
100%
50%
50%
0%
100%
Returnee subjects 5
99%
1%
99%
1%
99%
1%
5%
95%
90%
10%
0%
100%
Returnee subjects 6
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
95%
5%
95%
5%
20%
80%
Returnee subjects 7
100%
0%
100%
0%
-
-
100%
0%
100%
0%
50%
50%
99.9%
0.1%
98.4%
1.6%
79.0%
21.0%
43.6%
56.4%
62.1%
35.0%
24.3%
75.7%
16
Table 2: The answer of Returnee Japanese children for “What language do you use when you are spoken to by these people?”
Father
Mother
J
E
J
E
Brother
Friends
Friends
and sister
(at school)
(out of school)
J
E
J
E
J
E
Teacher
J
E
Returnee subject 1
100%
0%
90%
10%
25%
75%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
Returnee subject 2
90%
10%
90%
10%
50%
50%
5%
95%
20%
80%
0%
100%
Returnee subject 3
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
Returnee subject 4
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
0%
100%
50%
50%
0%
100%
Returnee subject 5
99%
1%
99%
1%
99%
1%
5%
95%
90%
10%
0%
100%
Returnee subject 6
100%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
95%
5%
95%
5%
20%
80%
Returnee subject 7
100%
0%
100%
0%
-
100%
0%
100%
0%
50%
50%
-
98.4% 1.6% 97.0% 3.0% 79.0% 21.0% 43.6% 56.4% 65.0% 35.0% 24.3% 75.7%
Table 1 shows us the answer of the question “what language do you use when you speak to these people”. When they
speak to these people Most of subjects use Japanese to their parents, brothers and sisters and friends out of the school. On
the other hand, they use English to their friends at school and teacher.
Table 2 shows us the answer of this question “What language do you use when you are spoken to these people?” ;
they use Japanese to their family. On the other hand, 75% of them use English when they are spoken to their teacher.
17
4. What language do you use on such a situation?
Table 3: The answer of Returnee Japanese children for “What language do you use in such a situation?”
Watching TV
or DVD
Returnee
subject 1
Returnee
subject 2
Returnee
subject 3
Returnee
subject 4
Returnee
subject 5
Returnee
subject 6
Returnee
subject 7
Reading
Magazines or
Listening to
music
newspaper
Shopping
Playing sports
Calling
In your dream
Getting angry
J
E
J
E
J
E
J
E
J
E
J
E
J
E
J
E
30%
70%
50%
50%
10%
90%
10%
90%
10%
90%
50%
50%
50%
50%
10%
90%
30%
70%
90%
10%
20%
80%
70%
30%
5%
95%
50%
50%
20%
80%
20%
80%
95%
5%
100%
0
60%
40%
100%
0
100%
0
95%
5%
100%
0
100%
0
-
-
100%
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
90%
10%
90%
10%
90%
10%
99%
1%
99%
1%
0
100%
20%
80%
95%
5%
90%
10%
50%
50%
70%
30%
95%
5%
80%
20%
100%
0
100%
0%
100%
0
95%
5%
90%
10%
70%
30%
90%
10%
80%
20%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
70%
30%
58.2%
41.8%
55.0%
45.0%
47.5%
52.5%
73.3%
26.7%
70.7%
29.3%
64.2% 35.8% 89.1% 10.9%
18
61.4% 38.6%
Table 3 shows the answer of this question. They use Japanese and English
almost fifty-fifty when they listen to music, go shopping and play sports. Other
situations they use Japanese more than English.
6. Do you think you are bilingual person? Why?
Five people answered “Yes” and two people answered “No”. Their reasons
are that; “I can use both languages”. “I can live without trouble in both countries”.
“I think bilingual person mean the person who use both languages very good and
use equal level. In my case, both of my language skills of speaking, reading,
listening and writing may reach more than daily life level but it is not perfection
to use. For that, I cannot say I am a bilingual person clearly.” “I can live without
trouble in the daily life but it is true that both of languages are half-finished. I
can’t assert I am a bilingual person. ”
7. The people who answered “Yes”, do you want to be a bilingual person?
The number of people who answered “Yes” were four, “No” were one and
“Half” was one. For the subjects who answered “Yes”, the reasons were; “I can
communicate with many people.” “It is convenient to know many languages and
especially English I can use all over the world.” For the subject who answered
“No”, the reason was that; “I have never thought about that.” For the subject who
answered “Half”, the reason is that “I was not become a bilingual with consciously.
I just needed to English. ”
19
Brazil.
There were seven Brazilians.
1. Please tell me about your background.
・Nationality
All their nationality was Brazilian but their parent’s nationality was
different, their nationality was Japan, Brazil and Brazil and Japan (both dual
nationality.) For that these subjects were Japanese ancestry Nisei or Sansei.
・Where were you born?
All the subjects were born in Brazil.
・Where have you lived overseas?
They have lived in Japan and Brazil.
2．Skills of language (Speak, Read, Listening, Write)
For these subjects, their two languages were Japanese and Brazilian.
Figure 4: The number of Japanese skills of Brazilian.
Japanese
Spraking
2
3
Reading
4
Listenig
4
Writing
1
0
2
2
2
1
1
3
1
4
2 (Neither bad nor
good)
3 (Average)
2
4
1
1 (Bad)
5
20
4 (Perfect)
1
6
7
The Japanese language skills were that; the speaking skill, the number of
people who think they can speak Japanese “neither bad nor good level” was two,
“average level” was three and “perfect level” was two. For the reading skill,
“neither bad nor good level” the number were four, “average level” was two and
“perfect level” was one. For the listening skill the number was “neither bad nor
good level” was four, “average level” was one, and “perfect level” was two. For the
writing skill, the number who wrote “bad” was one, “neither bad nor good level”
was four, “average level” was one and “perfect level” was one.
Figure 4: The Brazilians’ skills in Portuguese.
Portuguese
Speaking
7
Reading
7
2 (Neither bad nor
good
Listening
7
3 (Average)
Writing
7
0
1
2
3
1 (Bad)
4 (Perfect)
4
5
6
7
The Brazilians think they can use these skills perfectly.
21
3．What language do you use when you speak to these people?
Table 4: The answer of the Brazilians for “What language do you use when you speak to these people?”
Father
Mother
Brother
Friends
Friends
and sisters
(at school)
(out of school)
Teacher
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
Brazilian 1
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
Brazilian 2
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
Brazilian 3
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
Brazilian 4
50%
50%
50%
50%
0
100%
50%
50%
100%
0
80%
20%
Brazilian 5
50%
50%
50%
50%
0
100%
0
100%
50%
50%
100%
0
Brazilian 6
0
100%
1%
99%
0
100%
50%
50%
50%
50%
100%
0
Brazilian 7
5%
95%
95%
5%
1%
99%
50%
50%
50%
50%
-
-
15.0% 85.0% 28.0% 72.0% 0.1% 99.9% 42.9% 57.1% 57.1% 42.9% 71.7% 28.3%
.
22
Table 5: The answer of the Brazilians for “What language do you use when you are spoken to by these people?”
Brother
Friends
Friends
and sister
(at school)
(out of school)
Father
Mother
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
Brazilian 1
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
Brazilian 2
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
Brazilian 3
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
Brazilian 4
50%
50%
50%
50%
0
100%
50%
50%
100%
0
80%
20%
Brazilian 5
100%
0
100%
0
0
100%
0
100%
50%
50%
100%
0
Brazilian 6
0
100%
1%
99%
0
100%
50%
50%
50%
50%
100%
0
Brazilian 7
5%
95%
95%
5%
1%
99%
50%
50%
50%
50%
-
-
0.1%
99.9%
57.1%
42.9%
71.7%
28.3%
22.1% 77.9% 35.1% 64.9%
42.9% 57.1%
Teacher
Table 4 shows us the answer of the question “what language do you use when you speak to these people”. They use
Brazilian more than Japanese to their family and they use Japanese to their friend and teacher
Table 5 shows us the answer of this question “What language do you use when you are spoken to these people?” They
use Brazilian more than Japanese.
23
4．What language do you use in such a situation?
Table 6: The answer for Brazilians for “What language do you use on such a situation?”
Watching TV
or DVD
Reading
Magazines
Listening to
music
or newspaper
Shopping
Playing
sports
Calling
In your dream
Getting angry
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
J
P
Brazilian 1
100%
0
50%
50%
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Brazilian 2
100%
0
50%
50%
50%
50%
100%
0
-
-
100%
-
-
-
-
-
Brazilian 3
100%
30%
70%
30%
70%
100%
100%
0
100%
0
50%
50%
0
100%
30%
70%
Brazilian 4
100%
0
50%
50%
50%
50%
100%
0
-
-
100%
-
-
-
-
-
Brazilian 5
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
80%
20%
-
-
100%
0
Brazilian 6
20%
0
100%
0
20%
0
100%
0
-
-
20%
60%
-
-
100%
0
Brazilian 7
20%
80%
10%
90%
10%
90%
100%
0
-
-
40%
60%
0
100%
10%
90%
61.4%
38.6%
57.1%
1.4%
100%
0%
100%
0%
70.0%
38.0%
68.0%
32.0%
77.1% 15.7%
33.3% 66.6%
Table 6 shows the answer of this question. Most of the time, they use Japanese in these situations.
24
5．Do you think you are bilingual person?
The number of people who answered “Yes” were three, “No” was four.
For the subjects who answered “Yes”, the reason was that “I can
communicate with or speak to both languages speakers.” For the subjects
who answered “No”, the reason was that “I cannot use Japanese enough.” “I
don’t have any confidence.”
6．The people who answer “Yes”, do you want to be a bilingual person?
The person who answered “Yes” was one.
Korean
The Koreans were 24.
1. Please tell me about your background.
Their nationality was South Korean or North Korean. There are 10
people North Korean, 12 South Korean and no answer was two people.
2. Skills of language (Speaking, Reading, Listening, Writing)
For these subjects, their two languages were Japanese and Korean.
25
Figure 5: The number of Japanese skills of Koreans.
Japanese
Speaking
2
Listening
3
Reading
1 3
Writing
2 1
0
1 (Bad)
22
2 (Neither bad nor
good)
21
3 (Average)
20
21
4
8
12
4 (Perfect)
16
20
24
The Japanese language skills were; the speaking skill, two people
think they can speak Japanese “average level” and 22 people think “perfect
level”. The listening skill, three people think “average level” and 21 people
think “perfect level”. The reading skill, “neither bad nor good level” was one,
“average level” was three” and “perfect level” was 20. The writing skill,
“neither bad nor good level” was two, “average level” was one and “perfect
level” was 21.
Figure 6: The number of Korean skills of Korean.
Korean
Speaking
1 2
Listening
3
Reading
1 2
Writing
1 2
0
12
15
3 (Average)
10
15
8
2 (Neither bad nor
good)
6
11
4
1 (Bad)
9
12
6
16
20
26
4 (Perfect)
24
The Korean language skills were that; the speaking skill, one thinks
they can speak Korean “bad” level, two think “neither bad nor good” level, 12
people think “average level” and three think “perfect level”. The listening
skill, “neither bad nor good level” was three, “average level” was 15 and
“perfect level” was six. The reading skill, “bad” level was one, “neither bad
nor good level” was two, “average level” was 11, and “perfect level” was ten.
The writing skill, “bad” level was one, “neither bad nor good level” was two,
“average level” was 15 and “perfect level” was six.
27
3. What language do you use when you speak to these people?
Table 7: The answer of Korean residents in Japan for
“What language do you use when you speak to these people?”
(J: Japanese, K: Korean)
Father
J
Korean
K
Brother
Friends
Friends
and sisters
(at school)
(out of school)
Mother
J
K
Teacher
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
93.3% 6.7% 91.6% 8.4% 75.8% 14.2% 12.0% 91.8% 84.8% 15.3% 21.1% 78.9%
(All data are Appendix A)
Table 7 shows us the answer of the question “what language do you use when you speak to these people”. They use
Japanese with their family and their friend out of school and use English to their teacher and friends at school.
28
Table 8: The answer of Korean resident in Japan for
“What language do you use when you are spoken to by these people?”
(J: Japanese, K: Korean)
Father
Mother
J
J
K
K
Brother
Friends
Friends
and sister
(at school)
(out of school)
J
J
K
K
J
K
Teacher
J
K
Koreans 95.8% 4.2% 95.6% 4.4% 75.9% 14.1% 11.6% 92.2% 76.9% 23.1% 16.9% 83.1%
(All data are Appendix B)
Table 8 shows us the answer of this question “What language do you use when you are spoken to these people?”
They use Japanese to their family and friends out of school and use English to their friend at school and teacher.
29
4. What language do you use on such a situation? (Korean)
Table 9: The answer of Korean for “What language do you use on such a situation?”
(J: Japanese, K: Korean)
Koreans
Watching TV or
Reading Magazines or
Listening to
DVD
newspaper
music
J
K
J
K
J
K
90.0%
10.0%
89.5%
10.5%
82.6%
13.3%
Shopping
J
K
99.4% 0.6%
Playing
sports
J
K
67.9%
38.1%
Calling
J
K
73.3% 27.8%
In your dream
J
K
85.0%
14.4%
Getting angry
J
K
72.0% 28.0%
(All data are Appendix C)
Table 9 shows us the answer of this question. They use Japanese more than Japanese on all of such a situation. When they
play sports, they use Korean about 40%.
30
5. Do you think you are bilingual person?
The people who answered “Yes” was 12, “No” was eight and “Half”
was four. The reason was that “I don’t understand/ use both of languages
perfectly.” “I’m a smart person.” “I can use both languages in dairy life.” “I
can use both languages perfectly.”
6. The people who answer “Yes”, do you want to be a bilingual person?
The person who answered “Yes” was three, “No” was six and “Half”
was three. The reason was that; “I have never thought about that because I
am a bilingual when I was born.” “My environment made me a bilingual.”
“I’ve never thought I want to be a bilingual. I got both languages naturally by
going to school. It is good to speak two languages. ” “Bilingual is convenience
for dairy life.”
2.4 Summary
We looked at the result of the questionnaire in this chapter. Some
answers are same and some was different in each subjects. We know the
skills and the using of both of languages of the subjects and the thinking of
bilinguals. In Chapter Three, we will discuss more details of each question
and compare three types subjects answer.
31
Chapter 3
3.1. Introduction
In Chapter One we saw what Bilingual is. In Chapter Two we looked
at some types of bilingual people and their thinking by asking Returnee
Children, Brazilians and Subject teacher and students. Now we will discuss
the result of questionnaire in more detail. We will look at the difference of
these three types of bilingual’s thinking.
3.2. Summary of the questionnaire results
In Chapter 2, we looked the result of the study. All of the subjects can
use both languages. However the background connected with their language
skill. All of the Brazilian subjects use Portuguese more than Japanese. On
the other hand the returnee subjects and the Korean subjects use Japanese.
3.3. Discussion of the results
We looked at the results of the questionnaire in Chapter Two. In this
section, we will look at each question in more detail and discuss it.
3.3.1. Background of the subjects
There are five nationalities; Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Brazil
and Japan and Mexico (both dual nationality).
The Returnee Children were born in some countries and have lived
many countries all over the world. Brazilians were born in Brazil and have
lived in Japan and Brazil. Korean residents in Japan were born in Japan and
32
have lived only in Japan.
3.3.2. Language skills (Speaking, Reading, Listening and Writing)
The Returnee Children’s answer showed they thought they can use
both Japanese and English skills at almost the same level. Most of them
stated and “average level” in both languages for each skill level. Brazilian’s
answer showed they thought they can use Portuguese more than Japanese.
They answered their skills of Portuguese “Perfect level”. On the other hand,
most of them answered their skills of Japanese was “neither bad nor good”.
Most Koreans thought they can use Japanese at a “Perfect level” and Korean
at a more than “Average level.”
In these three groups, the Returnee Children can use both languages
almost same level. The Brazilians can use more Portuguese better than
Japanese.
3.3.3. What language do you use when you speak to these people?
Returnee Children use Japanese to their family and their friends out
of school but they use English more in the school. They use both English and
Japanese at the same time and they speak to their teacher in English
because some subjects still live abroad.
Brazilian students use Portuguese with their family. They use both
languages to their friends but they use Japanese to their teacher. The
Brazilian students are migrant workers and most of their families live in
Brazil and they cannot use Japanese, that’s why they use their family to
33
Portuguese. They use Japanese to their teachers because the school is
teaching Japanese and the teacher cannot use Portuguese well.
Koreans use Japanese without school. They use Korean to their
teacher and friends at the school because they learn Korean in the school
and it is good for them to use Korean in the school.
Each of the subjects use Japanese to their family and the difference
happens in the using to their friends and school. There is no difference
between “when they speak to these people” and “what they are spoken to by
these people.”
3.3.4. What language do you use in such a situation?
We will see the subject’s use of both languages in daily life because
these situations are connected with dairy life.
Returnee children use both languages the most same times other two
types of bilinguals. They use each language almost fifty-fifty times when
they listen to music, go to shopping and play sports and in the other
situation they use languages not lean toward one language.
Brazilian students use Japanese more than Portuguese most of the
situation. When they listen to music they use both languages. Koreans use
Japanese more than Korean in these situations. What is interesting is that
some people answered they use Korean when they play sports.
3.3.5. Do you think you are a bilingual person?
In this question, we will discuss the bilingual thinking. To answer
34
this question more freely, it is not shown the definition clearly and just
written down “the bilingual means the person who can use two languages”.
The subjects who answered “Yes” were 21 people, who answered “No”
were 12 people and who answered “Half” were five people. They answered
“Yes”, because they can use both languages without trouble in their life. But
one person who answered “No” said he use both languages in daily life level
but it is not perfection to use. For that, he cannot say I am a bilingual clearly.
This means the definition of bilingual is different with bilinguals.
3.3.6. The people who answer “Yes”, do you want to be a bilingual person?
Most of the person who answered “Half” or “No” said the reason that
they don’t become a bilingual with consciously and they must be bilingual
because of their environment, especially the Koreans said this answer.
3.4. Answering the research questions
The first research question is “What do bi-linguals think of being
bi-lingual?” In the question six, most of the subjects said they become
bilinguals because of their environment. They don’t become bilinguals with
their wish. However, some subjects think to be a bilingual affirmative. They
said it is convenient in their dairy life. For the subjects who think they are
bi-lingual, they think of being bi-lingual good.
Second research question is “Are there any differences among
Returnee Children, Korean and Brazilian bilinguals?” According to question
4, Returnee Children can use the two languages with well-balanced. The
35
Koreans use Korean in the school they don’t use so much out of the school.
3.5. Limitation of the questionnaire
There are 38 people from three different types but the number of
each type of them was very different. It needed to ask same number of people
for each type of subjects to get well results. We might have got more different
and interesting results if we had asked other types of bilinguals for example
people of mixed parentage and the people who have two mother tongues as
the language of their country.
3.6. Conclusions
In this chapter, we discussed the results of questionnaire. The
answer revealed the bilingual thinking of bilinguals and the skills of three
groups of the subjects.
Through this research we have revealed the bilinguals have their
own opinions about bilingualism and with them they decide for themselves
whether they are bilinguals or not. Some of them think they are not
bilinguals although they think their languages skills are more than average
level. Their attitude toward bilingualism depends on their background.
There is difference in the thinking of bilinguals between the bilingual
people and non-bilingual people. The non-bilingual people tend to envy the
bilingual people, however sometimes the bilingual, themselves, don’t think
well. We need to understand them and make our community more
convenient for the bilinguals.
36
References
Bernd, K, 2004 Bilingual Upbringing of Children.
Accessed at December
seventh 2010. http://www.bklein.de /buc/buc_classification.php
Morikami, M. 2006 Culture Adjustment. Thesis at Notre dame Seishin
University. pp2-9
Rhinesmith, 1984, Returning Home, Canadian Bureau for International
Education, p. 7.
ＪＡＣＥＴバイリンガリズム研究会（2003 年）『日本のバイリンガル教育』、
三修社出版
宮原 温子（2010）
「 日本語英語バイリンガル大学生の言語使用状況 Languages
Usage Survey by Japanese-English Bilingual Students」 目白大学人文学研究
6, 181-196,
山本雅代（1996 年）『バイリンガルはどのようにして言語を習得するのか』 明
書店出版
山本雅代著（1991 年）『バイリンガル－その実像と問題点』大修館出版
37
Appendices
Appendix A:
Table 7: The answer of Korean residents in Japan for
“What language do you use when you speak to these people?”
(J: Japanese, K: Korean)
Brother
Father
Friends
Friends
Mother
Teacher
and sisters
(at school)
(out of school)
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
Korean 1
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
10%
90%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 2
100%
0
-
-
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 3
50%
50%
50%
50%
90%
10%
5%
95%
100%
0
2%
98%
Korean 4
100%
0
100%
0
-
-
0
100%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 5
95%
5%
95%
5%
100%
0
0
100%
80%
20%
100%
0
Korean 6
95%
5%
95%
5%
50%
50%
0
100%
95%
5%
0
100%
Korean 7
90%
10%
80
20%
95%
5%
100%
95%
5%
100%
0
Korean 8
90%
10%
90
10%
90%
10%
10%
90%
90%
10%
5%
95%
Korean 9
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
10%
90%
100%
0
0
100%
38
Korean 10
90%
10%
90%
10%
-
-
0
100%
80%
20%
0
100%
Korean 11
100%
0
85%
15%
90%
10%
0
100%
60%
40%
0
100%
Korean 12
90%
10%
90%
10%%
90%
10%
0
100%
50%
50%
0
100%
Korean 13
70%
30%
70%
30%
90%
10%
0
100%
10%
90%
0
100%
Korean 14
100%
0
100%
0
-
-
0
100%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 15
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
20%
80%
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 16
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
10%
90%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 17
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
10%
90%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 18
90%
10%
90%
10%
70%
30%
2%
98%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 19
98%
2%
98%
2%
98%
2%
2%
98%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 20
95%
5%
95%
5%
90%
10%
2%
98%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 21
97%
3%
98%
2%
50%
50%
2%
98%
99%
1%
100%
0
Korean 22
90%
10%
90%
10%
50%
50%
0
100%
70%
30%
0
100%
Korean 23
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
5
95%
5%
95%
0
100%
Korean 24
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
0
100%
100%
0
0
100%
93.3%
6.7%
91.6%
8.4%
75.8% 14.2% 12.0% 91.8% 84.8% 15.3% 21.1% 78.9%
39
Appendix B：
Table8: The answer of Korean resident in Japan for
“What language do you use when you are spoken to by these people?”
(J: Japanese, K: Korean)
Father
-
Mother
Brother
Friends
Friends
and sister
(at school)
(out of school)
Teacher
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
Korean 1
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
10%
90%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 2
80%
20%
-
-
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
100%
0
Korean 3
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 4
100%
0
100%
0
-
-
0
100%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 5
95%
5%
95%
5%
100%
0
0
100%
50%
50%
0
100%
Korean 6
95%
5%
95%
5%
50%
50%
0
100%
95%
5%
0
100%
Korean 7
95%
5%
95%
5%
95%
5%
100%
95%
5%
100%
0
Korean 8
90%
10%
90%
10%
90%
10%
10%
90%
90%
10%
5%
95%
Korean 9
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
10%
90%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 10
95%
5%
95%
5%
0
0
0
100%
20%
80%
0
100%
40
Korean 11
100%
0
85%
15%
90%
10%
0
100%
60%
40%
0
100%
Korean 12
90%
10%
90%
10%
90%
10%
0
100%
50%
50%
0
100%
Korean 13
70%
30%
70%
30%
90%
10%
0
100%
10%
90%
0
100%
Korean 14
100%
0
100%
0
-
-
0
100%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 15
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
20%
80%
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 16
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
10%
90%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 17
100%
0
100%
0
0
0
10%
90%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 18
100%
0
100%
0
70%
30%
2%
98%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 19
99%
1%
99%
1%
99%
1%
2%
98%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 20
100%
0
100%
0
90%
10%
0
100%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 21
100%
0
100%
0
50%
50%
0
100%
100%
0
0
100%
Korean 22
90%
10%
90%
10%
50%
50%
0
100%
70%
30%
0
100%
Korean 23
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
5%
95%
5%
95%
0
100%
Korean 24
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
0
100%
100%
0
0
100%
95.8%
4.2%
95.6%
4.4%
75.9%
14.1%
11.6%
92.2%
76.9%
23.1%
16.9%
83.1%
41
Appendix C:
Table 9: The answer of the Koreans for “What language do you use on such a situation?”
(J: Japanese, K: Korean)
Watching TV or
DVD
Reading
Magazines or
Listening to
music
newspaper
Shopping
Playing sports
Calling
In your dream
Getting angry
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
K
Korean 1
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
50%
50%
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 2
0
100%
0
100%
0
0
100%
0
-
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
Korean 3
100%
0
98%
2%
95%
5%
100%
0
50%
50%
95%
5%
100%
0
50%
50%
Korean 4
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0%
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 5
100%
0
80%
20%
95%
5%
100%
0
100%
-
95%
5%
100%
0
90%
10%
Korean 6
100%
0
90%
10%
90%
10%
100%
0
70%
30%
70%
30%
70%
30%
70%
30%
Korean 7
100%
0
90%
10%
99%
1%
100%
0
70%
30%
70%
30%
70%
30%
70%
30%
Korean 8
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 9
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 10
100%
0
100%
0
50%
50%
100%
0
50%
50%
50%
50%
40%
60%
50%
50%
Korean 11
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
100%
0
50%
50%
50%
50%
70%
30%
30%
70%
42
Korean 12
90%
10%
80%
20%
90%
10%
100%
0
80%
20%
50%
50%
-
0
50%
50%
Korean 13
80%
20%
80%
20%
50%
50%
90
10%
50%
50%
90%
10%
90%
10%
50%
50%
Korean 14
100%
0
100%
0
50%
50%
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 15
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
10%
90%
10%
90%
100%
0
10%
90%
Korean 16
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
50%
50%
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 17
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
50%
50%
50%
50%
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 18
100%
0
90%
10%
90%
10%
100%
0
70%
30%
70%
30%
70%
30%
70%
30%
Korean 19
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
95%
5%
70%
30%
90%
10%
70%
30%
Korean 20
90%
10%
90%
10%
98%
2%
100%
0
70%
30%
70%
30%
70%
30%
70%
30%
Korean 21
100%
0
100%
0
70%
30%
100%
0
50%
50%
50%
50%
100%
0
50%
50%
Korean 22
50%
50%
100%
0
80%
20%
95%
5%
1%
99%
70%
30%
95%
5%
98%
2%
Korean 23
100%
0
100%
0
95%
5%
100%
0
95%
5%
100%
0
100%
0
100%
0
Korean 24
100%
0
100%
0
80%
20%
100%
0
100%
-
100%
90%
10%
100%
0
90.0%
10.0%
89.5%
10.5%
82.6%
13.3%
99.4%
0.6%
67.9%
38.1%
73.3%
85.0%
14.4%
72.0%
28.0%
43
27.8%
Appendix D: English questionnaire
School (
1.
)
name (
)
Please tell me about your background.
Where is the person born?
Where have you lived overseas?
nationality
Father
Mother
You
Skills of language (Speak, Read, Listening, Write)
Example:
S
R
L
W
Language 1)
Language2)
S
R
S
L
R
W
L
W
44
What language do you use when you speak to these people?
What language do you use
What language do you use
when you speak to these
when you are spoken to by
people?
these people?
Japanese
Brazilian
Japanese
Brazilian
Father
%
%
%
%
Mother
%
%
%
%
Sister or
%
%
%
%
Friends
%
%
%
%
Friends
%
%
%
%
Teacher
%
%
%
%
brother
What language do you use on such a situation?
Japanese
Watching TV or
Brazilian
%
%
%
%
Listening to music
%
%
Shopping
%
%
DVD
Reading
Magazines or
newspaper
45
Playing sports
%
%
Calling
%
%
In your dream
%
%
Getting angry
%
%
Do you think you are bilingual person?
Yes / No
Why do you think?
The people who answer “Yes”, do you want to be a bilingual person?
Yes / No
Why?
46
Appendix E: Japanese Questionnaire
アンケートにご協力いただき有難うございます。私はノートルダム清心女子大
学文学部英語英文学科 4 年の田邉智美です。卒業論文のテーマとして「What do
bi-lingual think about bi-lingualism?( バイリンガルはバイリンガリズムに対
してどう考えているか？)」を研究しています。そのため、バイリンガルである
だろう方たちにこのアンケートをお願いしています。 このアンケートは、卒業
論文の作成に関すること以外では、決して利用いたしません。もし、このアン
ケートの中で答えたくない箇所がございましたら、空欄のままにしておいてく
ださい。
アンケート
学校 (
)
年齢（
）名前 (
)
1. あなたの家族について教えてください。
どこで生まれました
今までどこに住んでいまし
か？
たか？（複数可）
父
母
あなた
47
国籍
２．言語能力（スピーキング(S)、リーディング(R)、リスニング(L)、ライティ
ング(W)）について教えて下さい。
S
例:
R
L
左のように線で繋いで下さい。
W
あなた
言語 1) 日本語
言語 2) ポルトガル語
S
R
S
L
R
L
W
W
４．言語使用について教えて下さい。
あなたは、次の人々に話しか 次の人々に話しかけられた
けるとき、何語で話します
とき、何語で話しますか？
か？
日本語
ポルトガル
日本語
ポルトガル
語
語
父
%
%
%
%
母
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
兄弟
友達（学校内）
%
%
48
友達（学校外）
%
%
%
%
先生
%
%
%
%
隣人
%
%
%
%
５．次のような場合、あなたは何語を使いますか？
日本語
ポルトガル
語
%
%
マンガや新聞を読む
%
%
音楽を聴く
%
%
買い物をする
%
%
スポーツ
%
%
電話をする
%
%
夢の中
%
%
怒ったとき
%
%
テレビやＤＶＤを観
る
＊バイリンガルとは、二つの言語を使える人たちのことを言います。
49
６．あなたはバイリンガルだと思いますか？
はい／いいえ
なぜそう思いますか？
“はい”と答えた人は、バイリンガルになりたかったですか？
はい／いいえ
なぜですか？
ご協力ありがとうございました。
50