So I changed to Shirley. My life is change so I should change my name too because I live in the United States. Shirley Nguyen is a manicurist at JT Nails. Like Shirley, tens of thousands of Vietnamese immigrants work as manicurists in the United States. The Vietnamese immigrants who train to be manicurists not only acquire a new set of professional skills, but a new identity as well.
Sound plays a part in merging into a new life, and preserving in memory what has been left behind.
The found sounds of their new country - American radio, American television, language study tapes, naturalization tapes, the soundtrack of new citizenship. The lost sounds of home - music cassettes brought from Vietnam, new Vietnamese videos from the Saigon bookstore in a San Jose shopping mall. These audio artifacts and the stories from manicurists in Vietnamese nail salons in California merge in our story French Manicure - Tales from Vietnamese Nail shops in America . You need the free RealAudio player to listen to audio files.