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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Most Americans don’t speak their “heritage” language. I don’t speak German or French, the languages of some of my ancestors. It’s ok. It happens eventually to almost everyone. [/quote]

That's very different and you know it.  [/quote]

How is that different? Pretty sure that first generation of Germans or French spoke German or French to their own kids.[/quote]

Interestingly my mother is first generation German and was born in the USA in 1945. Her parents spoke German at home to each other since they both immigrated as young adults but they actually forbade my mother and her brother to speak German. Like, ever. Even at home. Not only was there a pretty clear anti German sentiment at that time in America but the mind frame was just different. Everyone valued assimilation.

As it is, my mother understands German perfectly but can speak it only minimally. I can’t speak it at all. And there you have it. The same thing will happen to everyone after a few generations in a new country. [/quote]

Nope.  Times have changed.  Many immigrants now want to keep their toes in the culture and language they've left behind.  You can't extrapolate attitudes and practices from the 1940s to today. [/quote]

Good luck to them. Their kids are in a new place and may even marry outside their culture and it just gets diluted. They don’t stay forever in insulated claustrophobic bubbles.[/quote]

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