Project Description
This podcast episode takes a look at literacy narratives from three adult German-English bilinguals who have spent time in the Pittsburgh, PA region. All three learned and acquired German as a first language, and English as a foreign language in German schools.
Gene had learned some English (L2) in school, but spoke a variety of German called Swabian at home. He made his home in the United States in 1957, only occasionally returning to Germany to visit family. Ramon and Britta are in their 30s and are a couple. They spent time in the US because their careers at Siemens required them to work abroad in America. After fulfilling their work obligations, they returned home to Germany where they currently live.
On October 21, 2016, Gene, Ramon, and Britta openly discussed their language and literacy experiences with the two languages (German and English). In our interview, they discussed their perspectives toward language learning and acquisition in different contexts, uncovering insight into how they use German and English for specific purposes.