And that is really the point- its is all of our experiences, which
is why we need to be tolerant and understanding.
My family is a big mix, my father's grandparents came from Italy,
never spoke English. My father's parents spoke both, and so on.
My mom's mom came from Belgium as a 19 yr old war bride. She learned
English and became a secretary in NYC (but she was 19 and married to
an American who did not speak French- the international language of
love).
My mom's father was Jewish and spoke English and some Yiddish. His
grandparents spoke Yiddish and Russian.
I, unfortunately, speak only English and very bad French. I have
been trying to learn Spanish, but as I have said in my earlier
posts, leaning a new language as an adult is REALLY hard. And, as an
added benefit, now all my French and Spanish gets all confused and
comes out as some strange combo of both languages.
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "dfsavgny" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, MarioAPNJ@ wrote:
> >
> >
> > My father came here after WW I and spoke badly broken English
until
> he died
> > at age 90, nearly 70 years later. He and many of his generation
of
> > immigrants preferred to live in Italian enclaves and speak
Italian
> among themselves;
> > yet he worked hard to put me through college where I chose to
become
> an
> > English teacher. And so Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's words last
> night hit home:
>
> My father was born here, but being one of the eldest first
generation
> siblings, his first language was italian. he and his older siblings
> went to school not speaking english. they in turn taught their
parents
> and younger siblings to speak english.
>
> The same thing is happening today. My daugther is a public school
> teacher (1st) with mainly immigrant students. They are learning
> english. they are teaching their parents.
>
> It would have been nice at the beginning of the 20th century if
> governments had made some accommodation to the new immigrants in
terms
> of language. But they were a cheap labor commodity. Much like the
> immigrants of today.
>
> This discussion has moved off of its original focus. If AP has a
> hispanic affairs liason and some officers speak spanish, then we
are
> doing the right thing.
>
> But what it moved onto quickly was xenophobia.
>
> Foreign languages should be mandatory begining in 1st grade. That's
> when you learn.
>
> I have not heard Italian spoken in my family in 20+ years. I miss
it
> so much that I just began taking lessons in Manhattan one night a
> week. It's much tougher when you are older.
>
> America is what it is because of immigrants and their
> semi-assimilation. That never changed.
>
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