Blog 4:

During my second to last visit to my Nepalis family we encountered other people. World Relief had been able to relocate our family to another place near their relatives. A nephew of hers spoke English very well, though he was young, he'd spent three years in the US and knew the language. When he spoke Nepalis and English he did a lot of code switching, or speaking a different language depending on the individual. I noticed whenever he spoke to us he automatically switched to speaking in English, but the second he turned to a relative he switched back to Nepalis. He was also very formal when speaking to us, but more casual when speaking to his relatives. I noticed this in the words and manners he used when speaking to us in contrast with the relaxation he projected when speaking to his family. This changed after about an hour of conversing and he became more informal with us. I also had a very large sense of familiarity being with them, or the degree to which the circumstances were predictable or known to me. The family joked, laughed, and played around so warmly it was hard not relax. Though I am not Nepalis, their warmth and way of interacting with one another reminded me of my Mexican culture and family. This is why I was able to relax, know, and even predict some of their behavior, even though I didn't know their language.

I already knew a bit of code switching due to me being able to do it with English and Spanish. However, now I'm more aware of how other people do it and in the future I'll be able to understand that it's very common with people who can speak different languages. I will also be more aware of code switching for other things like prestige and social status and how they're shown in terms of manners, politeness, and words. I've also realized that I can have more familiarity with others from different cultures and languages if I try to find things or behaviors that are universal or related to my cultures.