Languages (was Re: [Sca-cooks] globetrotting)

[Avraham haRofeh]

> It was more a matter of my grandparents refusing to teach us Italian
> because they felt it would make us less American.   They came to this
> country and felt that in order to be American they had to speak only
> english. (of course all their fighting was done in italian)

My grandparents refused to teach us Yiddish so that they COULD fight in
front of us. <grin> When they realized I understood what they were saying,
they switched to Polish.

My great-grandfather, z"lt, by the time he died spoke and read 5 languages
with varying degrees of fluency: Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, Polish and
English. I'll probably push another button here, but I am astounded by
current-day immigrants who come to the US and are unwilling or unable to
learn the language. The entire concept of "bilingual education" is bizarre
to me. Just my $0.02.

Avraham

****************************************
Avraham haRofeh of Northpass
     (mka Randy Goldberg MD)