Are you or your kids Bilingual?. If yes in what language?

[munchee]

That’s so unfortunate - having the ability to communicate effectively with people with perspectives different from your own is such a gift. Especially if your friend’s DD happens to have a talent for language that’s being suppressed by this mantra

As an aside - this is an interesting topic. I will say that I have little patience for immigrants who come to the US without knowing English and who don’t do what they can to learn English once they’re here - to try. I’m glad we have a “no citizenship without proof of competence in our national language - the language of our heritage and our trade and our law” requirement, and I personally would support demanding fluency rather than mere competence, as some European countries require. I think anyone who has a right to vote has a responsibility to do his best to fully comprehend what he’s voting on.

Yes, I’m so agree with your view. When we’ve committed to live in other country, we need to know the basic, which is: the language and culture. Even if the culture is totally different with our own, we still need to recognize and respect it. Also for language, even if we can’t be as fluent as local, or we still have thick accent thats very hard to get rid off, at least we should be able to communicate using local language.

 

[AGBF]

I am not bilingual, but my husband is. He was born and raised in Italy and received his education at a classical high school followed by an Italian university where he earned a degree (a Laurea in lettere). So he was able to read and write Italian fluently at one point in his life. He opted to make his life in the United States, however. He received two masters degrees from Ivy League schools here in the United States and after a brief return to Europe that was mandatory under the terms of his Fulbright scholarship, he settled here. He has refused to speak Italian with anyone except his family members (who, now, he only speaks to on the phone overseas). He would get angry if I ever tried to speak Italian with Italian speakers in his presence and would pretend he didn't know the language.

I have noticed that, like kipari's children, when he speaks on the phone with his sister in Italian sometimes one of them will substitute a word from another language that fits easily with the Italian. It isn't really the equivalent of "Spanglesh" because it isn't a melding of two languages. (My sister-in-law has studied English, but she speaks it in a very stilted way.) It is just a word substitution once in a while.

My husband has always loved to speak Spanish with native Spanish speakers and has gone out of his way to speak to waiters and workers in Spanish. Apparently his Spanish was good enough to get him throgh a business meeting in Mexico City once. He has truly dedicated himself to learning German. I am sure he is not fluent, but knowing him as I do and knowing how he has gone about his study of the language, I would bet he can manage now. He speaks some Hebrew and was a Greek and Latin scholar. He has also been pursuing Portuguese on Duolingo.

He once said that like henry Kissinger there is no language that he can speak without an accent. I think that is true. His Italian no longer sounds like the Italians of Italians in Italy! It is far slower! I guess I should add that his English grammar is flawless.

 

[Lani]

No kids - I speak Spanish and SO speaks French fluently. We live in Texas, so the Spanish has been very useful!

 

[Trekkie]

Native proficiency in English and two dialects of Afrikaans. They exist equally in my head but I speak Afrikaans to my mother's family and English to my father's family. I get along quite well in isiXhosa with a very convincing accent but I have huge gaps in my vocabulary. This has led to confusing conversations and questions about why my mother didn't teach me properly. Much surprise when I explain my mother is not Xhosa! Then suddenly my isiXhosa is very good

My husband is culturally Afrikaans but now speaks English.

To our everlasting shame, neither of our children understands one word of Afrikaans Whenever we try to speak Afrikaans to them they tell us to stop speaking that funny language

They spoke isiXhosa to our nanny but since being in the UK they haven't wanted to speak isiXhosa. I've tried a few times but they just reply in English I'll have to keep trying because I'll be devastated if they end up only speaking English.