Interview analysis
I interviewed two people. The first interviewee is Jennifer. She is english and 26 years old. I worked with her at VUE cinema in the Sheperds Bush shopping centre. The second one is Deborah. She was my flatmate. She is 22 years old. She came from Germany and was in London to learn english. I have chosen to speak about two persons of the same age but with different origins. I think it is more interesting to compare different cultures because you can analyze if these cultures are similar or not. This interview is dealing with two different cultural aspects: working conditions and leisure activities.
Questions of my Interview
Question 1: Are you satisfied with London’s transport system?
Question 2: Which is your favourite means of transport?
Question 3: What do you think about the transports during the night?
Question 4: Do you agree with paying to go into the centre of London by car?
Question 5: Do you feel safe in the public mean of transport?
Question 6: Do you think the tube is too expensive?
Question 7: Do you know if men and women have equal working conditions?
Question 8: How hard is it to find a job?
Question 9: Do you think that working conditions are worse for foreigners?
Question 10: Do you like your working conditions?
Question 11: Do you think that English people work too much?
Question 12: How many hours do you work?
First interviewee : Deborah, German
Deborah’s favourite transport is the tube. She is satisfied with it although it is expensive. She thinks the bus system is not nice because buses are never on time and, therefore, not reliable at all. She considers that night buses are convenient although you have to wait at least for 30 minutes to get the bus. Finally, she told me that public means of conveyance are very expensive compared to other countries.
She totally agrees that people have to pay for the congestion charge during the week; the centre would otherwise be overcrowded by cars. Deborah feels safe in the public transportation because everything is monitored. She thinks the problem is when you leave the tube and you need to get a cab because you are not sure which person is giving you a ride.
Deborah doesn’t exactly know about the job equality between men and women but she told me that London is a cosmopolitan city and immigrants have chances to get a job. According to her experience, it is very hard to get a job in London because it is too competitive! She mentions that, compared to France, it is easier to get a job, because the employment rate in England is higher. She thinks the conditions to get a job are equal if you are fluent in English. In her opinion, it depends more on the skills you have.
She is working 18 hours a week as a cleaner in private houses. Her working conditions are good. She has never worked in a company and that is why she could not tell me what the working conditions are in english companies. She definitely thinks that English people work too much because she sees the situation of the family she works for.
Second interviewee : Jennifer, English
Jennifer is not satisfied with London’s transportation system because of its price, but she needs to use it to move around in the city. She prefers to use the tube than the bus to skip the traffic jam of the centre of the city. She told me that night buses are very convenient when she wants to come back from pubs with her friends. She thinks the congestion charge is a good idea because it reduces considerably the traffic jam. In her opinion, the transportation system is quite safe, although you need to be careful at night in buses in different areas of London. Jennifer insists on the fact that the tube is too expensive, although she has a special student rate.
She thinks men and women working conditions are equal in most of the companies and the wages are roughly equivalent. Jennifer is a guest assistant in the same cinema I worked and she works in the cinema to finance her studies. She adds that it is difficult to find a job, especially if you want an interesting one.
Jennifer is sure that working conditions are the same for foreigners but fluency in English is required. She tells me that in her job there is no racial discrimination because the staff is from various origins and continents. She likes her working conditions because her colleagues are very friendly and moreover she can watch movies for free.
She works about 20 hours a week as a student. She thinks most of the English people work too much because the life in London is very expensive and they need to earn enough money to live properly. She mentionned to me that to climb steps in the company, you need to accept to work at least 45 hours a week.
My opinion about interviewees’s responses
Globally, Deborah and Jennifer gave me the same responses even if they don’t have the same origin. They both prefer the tube to travel across London. I agree but sometimes taking a bus is faster except during rush hours. I mean that buses are complementary to trains because the tube doesn’t go everywhere. They complained about the expensive price of London’s public transport. I observed that everything is expensive in London, which is why the tube is expensive too.
As far as the congestion charge to go downtown London, they agree to pay during the week maybe because they don’t have cars. However, it is a good way to reduce the traffic jam and, consequently, the pollution.
They think you need to be fluent in English to find a job. According to my experience, I know that if you are not able to understand English, you can’t do your job properly. I mean, if you misunderstand a customer, he or her can complain to the management.
They think there is no racial discrimination but I think that, even if London is a cosmopolitan city, you are sometimes not hired when you don’t have the British nationality. I mean it, because I was looking for an IT job through the Internet and I didn’t get any answer. It is difficult because your employer doesn’t trust you and doesn’t know if you want to come back to your country.