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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4416 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 9 of 54 09 March 2014 at 12:23pm | IP Logged |
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Your parents almost certainly have enough English to enable them to go about their everyday lives in the
USA. Why should they expend lots of mental energy trying to be perfect when they can already communicate perfectly well? Being comfortable in a language is good enough for the majority of immigrants the world over. Who cares about grammar issues? Most natives certainly don't. Edited by beano on 09 March 2014 at 12:23pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5753 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 10 of 54 09 March 2014 at 6:57pm | IP Logged |
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I interpret the OP's comments more as frustration than hate. And to one of his questions, my mother has been in the US for about 60 years and cannot functionally speak English. If...
1...my siblings and I all moved away, and 2...my uncles and aunts became unavailable to help, and 3...she did not live in the local Chinatown (she recently moved) then my mother would be unable to go about her daily life. It's an illustration of the importance of our micro-environment in helping us to learn a language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6391 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 11 of 54 09 March 2014 at 8:42pm | IP Logged |
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That was a reference to the thread about hating one's native language.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5128 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 12 of 54 09 March 2014 at 10:45pm | IP Logged |
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And here I was all ready to spill on the horrible English of MY parents, when I realize that what you are after
is the English spoken by people who have lived for years in an English speaking country :-) I am afraid I cannot contribute there. As a general comment though, I have never quite understood why some people who move to another country are stuck in their home language, but I suppose between hard working days, with little extra time for languages studies, and perhaps the need for security, it is hard to let go of your native language. Otherwise, I see that you are about to fall into the same trap as many newcomers, of having so much enthusiasm and so many questions that you almost wear people out. I was also like that in my first time (read my first two years) here on the forum, but I was incredibly fortunate in that I was treated with kindness and mountains of patience. To pay it forward, you are most welcome to PM me if there is any advice you think I can give. I see that you can be quite detailed in your questions, so I cannot guarantee that I can help you with everything, or that I have the capacity to answer everything, but I am willing to try. Otherwise I believe someone (Iguanamon, was that you? :-) suggested you start your own log, and that is great advice. In your log you can ask many of the questions you have asked in threads, and you can show everyone what you are made of. I did not comment on your introduction thread, but I read it, so I will give a comment now. Many of us have spent so much time on our languages that we cannot help but smile at the plethora of languages on your wish list. And it will prove difficult to take on so many languages. On the other hand, dogged determination may do the trick 12 years ago we bought a new house with a garden, and I wanted to make this amazing rose garden. I brought in a lot of my gardening friends and walked through my garden, showing where I wanted all the different roses, and they just smiled at me. I was so clueless, and my garden lacked everything necessary to grow roses, so they did not even know where to begin to tell me how unrealistic my dreams were. But today, I open my garden to the public every year so that others can see what roses you can grow in our climate, I have been on local and national TV and in over a dozen news papers and magazines with my garden. I have won dozens of prizes with my roses,and I give lectures on roses and produce rose jelly commercially. So don't give up on your dream, kid :-) If you focus enough, you may have a shot. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 09 March 2014 at 10:48pm 10 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tbreit Newbie United States Joined 5009 days ago 17 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 13 of 54 09 March 2014 at 10:46pm | IP Logged |
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My grandparents arrived in the U.S. from Germany in their teens. They eventually learned to speak English very well. My mother was born in the U.S. and could only speak German. She started school and was made fun of. She made it a point to learn English as best she could. She can no longer speak German, and can only understand very little. What a shame, but times were different back then.
After that lengthy history lesson, I guess my point would be, don't be mad at your parents. I never was. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4850 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 14 of 54 10 March 2014 at 7:19am | IP Logged |
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My parents do not speak English.
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| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6391 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 16 of 54 10 March 2014 at 12:09pm | IP Logged |
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It's not like anyone *wants* to be in what you call a ghetto, tbh. I'm sure they just see that as the only option. Everyone would want to integrate AND keep their own language&culture. Maybe many believe that this option is only open to those who learned the language in their home country.
Part of the problem is the attitude to the bilingual kids. For a short time they might not be on par with their monolingual peers, so that's where the idea that you have to forget your mother tongue comes from. Needless to say this is even more false when applied to adults. As for my parents, dad is at something like basic fluency, I guess. He can get by just fine while travelling, and he's been using Ilya Frank's method to improve beyond that. He spends a lot of time driving so that's a great time for audiobooks. Mum used to know a lot, but it was the USSR and she had no opportunities to practise. I suppose she *could* get by while travelling, though - she just doesn't need to, since apart from her mum*, everyone speaks better English than she does. Normally if she has a specific question, she asks me in advance how to say this or that thing. I challenge her to come up with something on her own and correct her grammar. Sometimes she surprises me by understanding something complicated, sometimes by not understanding something easy. *My grandma is a funny case. I like how with these pre-made phrases, she practises a lot and aims to say them with a nice pronunciation. And she somehow sounds like she understands what she is saying, even when she isn't. Unlike mum, I don't think she would understand a response almost at all. Edited by Serpent on 10 March 2014 at 12:17pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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