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KatieCashew t1_j9dp363 wrote

Reply to comment by ACorania in [OC] % of American students taking a foreign language class by state by ASoloTrip90000

I once read that children of immigrants tend to have a poorer grasp of both languages because they learn the reading and writing and grammar in school while speaking their native tongue at home but not learning the grammar and such as well.

I mentioned it to my friends who were the children of Mexican immigrants, and they both felt that it was pretty accurate. One said that she didn't feel fluent in English or Spanish. Spanish was her home language, but she couldn't read or write it well and wasn't good at the grammar because she didn't study it at school. She learned English at school but didn't speak it at home and didn't have as much practice at a young age.

My other friend also agreed but did feel fluent in both. She said her parents made her take after school Spanish lessons so she would learn to read and write it as well as the grammar. She also said her parents put her in other extracurriculars that made her practice her English as well. She felt like other 1st gen Americans that didn't have those experiences struggle with both languages.

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johnnyGotHisTabla t1_j9dtnbz wrote

>I once read that children of immigrants tend to have a poorer grasp of both languages because they learn the reading and writing and grammar in school while speaking their native tongue at home but not learning the grammar and such as well.

Grandmama's generation was first generation, and they all spoke Italian...but Mama's generation didn't, because their parents would all speak Italian so the kids wouldn't understand them.

That the story I got, anyway.

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bigthink t1_j9ezyhz wrote

My parents' generation immigrated to the U.S. and my older cousins were purposely kept from learning our native language (Vietnamese) out of fear that leaning it would hinder their ability to integrate into English-speaking society. From my own experience, in contrast to some of the anecdotes I've read here, it would have been impossible not to pick up native English fluency being born and raised here and attending public school. I'm grateful for every bit of Vietnamese fluency I still retain as much of it fades from my memory banks.

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johnnyGotHisTabla t1_j9f15pg wrote

>it would have been impossible not to pick up native English fluency being born and raised here and attending public school

Exactly! Yes, I think it was the fear you mentioned that kept Mama's generation from being taught Italian. I'm going a long way back: Mama was born in '46, which was really not that long after the Immigration Acts of '21 and '24 which were aimed at keeping people like my family out of the country. If no dogs or Italians were allowed, maybe don't teach the kids Italian.

I took Spanish in 8th grade in Wyoming in the 80's and didn't learn a damned thing. I can't help but wonder if it was too late, that second languages need to be learned either young or by pure immersion.

I did end up with a fairly strange accent. I speak fluent hick but it's peppered with Brooklynite idioms and accents.

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li7lex t1_j9entio wrote

As someone that was raised bilingual I can guarantee you that what you described is usually a self made problem.
Learning a language strictly in school while speaking your native language at home is only a detriment when children don't get to interact with others after school.
So unless they spend all of their time after school at home only interacting with people in their native language the exposure to both languages should be more than enough to get a child fluent in both languages by the time they finish school.

Being fluent in a language does not require you to know it's grammatical rules. Most native speakers just subconsciously know how to form proper sentences trough enough exposure to the language.

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ChicagoJohn123 t1_j9fpjqk wrote

I'd love to see how 30 year olds feel about that.

I can imagine that you feel more awkward in school where you're literally doing grammar exercises. But I feel like most the people I know who grew up bilingual speak English extremely well (just like the people who played two varsity sports tended to be better at both than they would have been just playing one)

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KatieCashew t1_j9g3k7j wrote

Both the people I mentioned were in their late 20s at the time.

For the one that didn't consider herself fluent in either language, I would have never guessed. In talking with her, (we knew each other a couple years before this conversation) I thought she was fluent in English. She certainly didn't seem to struggle with speaking or understanding to me. But she felt that she struggled with both languages.

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